Songwriter Showcase – Noah Zacharin

Oct 16, 2023
06:30 PM - 09:30 PM

Noah Zacharin is a widely acclaimed guitar master, multi-genre songwriter, and dynamic performer. He was given his first guitar at age 9, wrote his first song at 13, and began performing at 14. In December 2015, Zacharin became a full-time recording and touring musician, and is more thrilled than ever to be doing what he has always done. Born in Montreal, Zacharin is no longer an urban dweller, splitting his time between a home by the forest near Madoc, and an off-grid cabin on the Canadian Shield. As the road has begun to return he spends time—mostly in the States—as well.

He has been called “a stunning guitarist…no stylistic boundaries” (Holger Peterson, CBC, Stony Plain Records), “a wonderful songwriter and performer” (Paul Mills, Borealis Records), “a poet, a songwriter, a singer we have been waiting for” (the late Penny Lang), “a great guitarist/ singer/ songwriter…a wonderfully musical player” (Randy Finney, Founder TFGA), “in a league of his own” (Brian Gladstone, Founder and AD Winterfolk Festival), “one of the best songwriters this country has produced” (the late great Rick Fielding, recording artist, radio host), and “deserving to be mentioned in the same breath with names such as James Taylor and David Wilcox” (Minor 7th).

Noah Zacharin’s 9th solo CD, the newly-released Points of Light (produced by Danny Greenspoon and released on Sonic Peach) is a mix of solo and band performances. Rhythm is established by Russ Boswell and Gary Craig, and the record features cameos by Marc Ribot, Denis Keldie, Burke Carroll, Roly Platt, Kevin Turcotte, and Kevin Breit. Zacharin’s previous recordings have all garnered popular and critical praise. Strange Rider made a number of ‘Best-Of’ lists for 2016; of 2018’s a Startle of Wings—an intimate 14-song journey through genres, concerns, and rhythms—renowned DJ Michael Stock (WLRN) said: “a beautiful album…rare to hear an album of solo vocal and guitar sound so full.”

As a soloist he has opened shows for Odetta, David Lindley, Dave Van Ronk, Jesse Winchester, Alex de Grassi, and Fairport Convention, and performed internationally in 100’s of venues from club to concert hall. As a producer and instrumentalist he has performed with some of Canada’s finest, appearing on some 60 recordings by artists from all across North America. As a writer, his songs have been recorded by popular performer and radio host Laura Fernandez (who also translated the song into Spanish), Rolling Stone (India) cover artist Rehan Dalal, Sohayla Smith, and double-slide master, the late Brian Cober.

He has officially showcased at BC Contact (2008), FARM (Oct 2016), SERFA (May 2017), and SWRFA (Sept 2022). In August 2023 he became an Official Collings Artist.

Noah Zacharin is also an award-winning poet (with “a remarkable ability to articulate efficient, powerfully condensed ideas”: What 18/19) and translator, having won McGill’s Chester-Macnaghten poetry prize and Matrix Magazine’s translation prize. He has published hundreds of poems, translations, and reviews, in periodicals and anthologies worldwide, and is currently at work on a number of manuscripts of poems.

In his spare time Zacharin reads, cycles, walks, and practices tai chi and kung fu. He also practices guitar.


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