So for those new to my blog, my name is James Hardiment, I’m a British born, Canadian singer/songwriter based near Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. I’ve been back in the area for many years now. I invested a lot of money this summer on speakers, mixing boards, microphones, and more so I can finally perform my original music to a live audience.

My style, as I have mentioned in previous blog posts, is a combination of pop, rock, alternative, dance, and Italo Disco. I was lucky, and honoured, to perform in front of audiences this past summer, both in Martintown, Ontario, and also a charity event in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. I have more shows in the works, but I spent the rest of my summer trying to finish mixing my album myself. I had about half of it mixed up in Ottawa, by the super talented sound engineer, Josh Hart, who mixed my first album. It’s not my first time mixing music, however I liked to get a second pair of ears on the project, I was also lacking the equipment to do so for awhile.

I finally bit the bullet, and invested significant amount of personal funds into a new laptop, mixing software, plug-ins, video editing software, and more gear to improve the overall quality of my work. Now that’s finally starting to pay off in a big way. The album is complete, as of last week, and the CDs are made, a process in which I was heavily involved in the creation process. I had an awesome local print shop, based in Summerstown, Ontario, print my CD labels, and cover artwork, onto a nice glossy paper. P&L Printing, and I couldn’t recommend them more! The turnaround time was close to lighting fast, and the end result still gives me tingles! As of writing this I’ve sold over 10 copies in the first few days. Which for an indie artist, that does almost all of his marketing by himself, is a pretty awesome achievement.

Special thanks to Yafa Goawily, and Modern Primitive Cornwall Square, in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, for allowing me to sell my CDs, and photography at their Open House Event on Saturday November 4th 2023. It was really fun showcasing some of my work to the shoppers that passed by.

I spent the better part of an evening burning my CDs one at a time using a vinyl style of disc last week on a Thursday evening. It took about 6 hours to create 40 CDs with one burner, I set up in a quiet corner of Jack’s Pub in Williamstown. A great little restaurant, and bar, which I hope to write a piece on soon, a lovely spot nestled just outside of Cornwall. Their food is so good, the staff so warm, and friendly, and it doesn’t seem as dramatic as the city bars can be sometimes, which is a nice change of pace.

It feels good to finally complete this album, another accomplishment to be proud of in my life, which I try to make the most of while I still can. So many people I have known over the years are no longer with us anymore, some unfortunately younger than myself. I try to work on my passions, dreams, and help others with theirs along the way.

‘Rescue Me’ album interior of the CD, I went with a retro vinyl style for my discs. ‘Cute 4 Ya Height Records’, was a name inspired by a drunkard fellow I encountered at the bar once who was measuring girls with a tape measure, telling them that they were “pretty cute for their height”, it was rather bizarre and amusing at the same time. The same fellow once gave my friend an Asian pear as she was working, tried to give me a block of caramel straight from his jacket pocket in no packaging. Keep in mind I did not know who he was either. That’s part of the fun of entering the nightlife of your local town!

“Wine” CD is currently selling for $10

“Rescue Me” CD is currently selling for $20

Contact me if you would like a copy, on social media, or email, all the links to my socials are at the top of my website as buttons. Be sure to like, follow, share, and subscribe to my channels.

Thanks again fans, for your continuing support,

James

I took a visit from my place in Long Sault, Ontario, Canada up to the lovely little community of Martintown, situated beside the Raisin River about 5-10 minutes away from my home. For those of you reading the blog for the first time, my name is James Hardiment. I am a singer/songwriter based in the area that was originally born in the UK in a place called Rochdale, just outside of Manchester in the United Kingdom. I’ve spent over half my life in Canada now, attending high school here in Cornwall, Ontario (about 15 minutes away from my house).

Being a member of the Focus Art Association in Cornwall, a non-for-profit visual arts club, which I was briefly the Vice-President of last year, I often get emails about local art related events in the community and surrounding areas. Last week I received an email regarding an art event up at the Martintown Grist Mill, when I got in touch they explained the events would be held on various Sundays this summer. When I told the organizer that I was also a singer/songwriter she offered me a chance to perform, I’m still working out the details but if it goes ahead as planned I’ll be sure to let you guys know on my official musician Facebook page! (If you scroll to the bottom of this site all my social links are there!)

According to the sign outside the Grist Mill, it was constructed by Malcolm McMartin’s son in 1846, Alexander, who went on to become a politician, militia leader, as well as a successful businessman. His father Malcolm owned many mills which provided a local service, deemed essential, in an era of poor transportation, it helped to create the town itself, and it’s named after the McMartin family. The mill would operate commercially until 1947. Created with the local fieldstone, the structure is 30 x 55 feet, and 4 stories in height. In 1986 it was near collapse, but has since been restored to the public, serving as both a museum, and local event space, since 2004. In 1997 the Martintown Mill Preservation Society, a non-for-profit organization took ownership and maintain the property, members will also guide you through the space, teaching you about the community, its roots, and origin stories.

It looks like if I do perform it will be outside on a stage that has been constructed in the front entrance of the mill. There appears to be plug ins so I should be able to plug in my speakers, and equipment to play the backing tracks. There will be plenty of musicians performing over the summer hopefully, liven up downtown Martintown a bit! I went down to the river and spotted a Heron, I snapped a picture but I was too far away for it to look good, with just my phone. Earlier in the year there is a big canoe race on the river, would love to check it out someday.

Inside the building you can still see some of the original equipment on display, much of the original gear has been transported to Upper Canada Village, which is a museum town that has a working historic mill for tourists. (Not too far away up the number 2 highway West from Cornwall, it’s a nice drive in the summer months for sure.) The 2nd level of the Grist Mill now serves as a museum, telling the rich history of the settlement, and some of the key people who made a difference over the years. Some artifacts are on display, and old signage, tools that would have been used, scale models of the local structures, and more. It was very interesting to delve deeper into a place I drove past on a regular basis, but actually knew very little about.

I hope to interview one of the members of the Preservation Society soon and go into more detail about the place. That was one of the goals of the blog, and podcast, to showcase towns, and people in the area which are trying to make a positive difference to the community. Many people will go off to a resort or major worldwide destination for a holiday, and that’s fine there’s nothing wrong with that, but there is so much to explore in our own backyards! I just want to show you there’s more out there locally than just work and home, especially now as things start to open back up again, and the world goes back to whatever normal is these days.

If you’d like to learn more about the mill you can visit their official website, I’ll post the link below:

www.martintownmill.org

Be sure to follow me on social media as I mentioned before to find out when I’ll be performing, I’m excited and grateful for this amazing opportunity, I love how supportive people have been for us local artists in the community. Hope to see you at some point, until then you can always check the blog to see what I’m getting up to.

That’s all for now,

James

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