The Haven Social Club

Rick Garvin, born and raised in Ontario, now living in Alberta, is an artist who performs acoustic folk/swing/countryish and blues music. He is a multi-talented musician with a velvet -smooth voice who brings well crafted songs that are both entertaining and thoughtful. His was heavily influenced by the Ontario folk music scene in the 1970’s , starting with Gordon Lightfoot, Brent Titcomb, Stan Rogers, David Bradstreet and many more. In University he was stirred by the reggae wave in the seventies with Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh and Bob Marley and also by the country/swing/bluegrass movements of the times.

In the early eighties, he appeared several times on west coast television, performing original songs. In the eighties he played guitar and saxophone in the band The Real Live Dance Band and performed throughout BC and Alberta. He then learned traditional Irish tunes on mandolin. In the mid-nineties he performed with the band, Stone Whistle which was a Celtic rock fusion band that played all original and Celtic traditional tunes. Garvin contributed vocals, guitar and mandolin with the band.

The band released a CD entitled Salamanders in 1995 to rave reviews. In 1999, he moved to Edmonton and played bass in the Tracy Cadman Band, a new country, band in Northern Alberta. Rick also did sound for a lot of bands in the eighties and nineties including a lot of festivals. He also worked in film and video production industry for several years in the nineties.

Rick released a solo album in 2007 entitled Evolution, recorded in 2001–2007.

Rick Garvin’s Myspace Page