TRURO - And then along came Daniel.
"I'm on a tear here with my brand new baby boy," blues troubadour Charlie A'Court declares after picking up the phone.
"It's a brand new world. Or a brave new world, depending on who you ask," he chuckles, a moment or two into a chat that might normally start with a question of where his music has been taking him of late.
"It's phenomenal," he says, of the joys and wonders of new parenthood. "He's a very healthy, smiley guy."
The McCallum Settlement native, who now resides in Halifax, is still busy knocking off riffs and wailing the blues from a professional perspective, but with the added responsibilities – and new form of entertainment – at home, his activity level and mindset have taken on a whole new realm.
And, he's loving every minute of it, A'Court says..
"We're thrilled. We're over the moon," he says. "It's definitely changed the focus, that's for sure. I have a hard time compelling myself to get any work done because all I want to do is just be with Daniel."
That was especially so on Tuesday, given that his wife, Emily, and Daniel had just arrived home the night before after spending about a month in Montreal with her parents.
When he is not playing on a stage somewhere, A'Court toils in his at-home office. But even getting to that has become difficult in the face of his new distraction.
"It's been hard to convince myself to stay in the office and get work done when I could just come upstairs and play with the baby all day," A'Court laughs.
"It's good. It's a wonderful new chapter," he said, of his life's turn. "I was always looking forward to that day of having a family of my own. I think I was fortunate to have an anticipation of my own personality for being a dad and the feelings that I hoped I would have, I've had them in spades."
As for his son following in his footsteps, A'Court can only chuckle and wonder at the possibilities.
"Yeah, probably, I mean he's got pretty monster hands on him. He might be a piano player," he says.
And, as for his upcoming performance as the opening act at Friday night's Dutch Mason Blues Festival, A'Court says he is also riding high on the anticipation of wowing his hometown crowd.
"I am stoked. I am very stoked," he says, with gusto, especially considering that his tour schedule did not permit him to be available for last year's festival.
"So, I'm looking forward to coming back and, you know, sort of kicking the festival off on the right step for this year."
As for what the audience can expect from him, A'Court was reluctant to tip his hand too far, except to say that it will involve getting back to the basics and will deal with Truro's musical heritage and "...where the music has come from and where it's going..."
"That's my focus for Friday night."
After the festival, A'Court has a three-week double-bill tour with Newfoundland's Chris Kirby, which will take them from the Rock to Toronto and back to Halifax. And, from there, he is off to the Yukon for a home concert tour.
He is also working on a new album of material he has had in his "back pocket" for awhile. After that, fans can expect to hear some influence from the new component in A'Court's life.
"Now that Daniel is here, I suspect that the album after that will probably see a lot more influence, you know, as his personality develops and he becomes more interactive and responsive to my cues as a father."
For more information on A'Court's concert schedule, log on to: www.charlieacourt.com.
