Tony Turner has been active the Ottawa folk music scene since 1994 when he joined Writer's Bloc, the Ottawa songwriter's collective.

Since then, Tony has won the 1998 Ottawa Folklore Centre’s songwriting contest with "The Old Music Shop"; been the managing organizer of Writer’s Bloc; written and performed countless songs contributed songs and been musical director for three productions by the Lakeside Players community theatre group and acted in and produced music for another staged play and released his first CD in 2002.

This musical journey began as teenager at high school dances where he says he spent more time watching the bands than actually dancing. This led to his first guitar lessons at age 14 and soon to a folk/rock trio in high school. Here's the evidence...

At 20 Tony hit the road for Alberta with some fellow musicians. While in Edmonton he enrolled at the University of Alberta where he majored in geography.

“In Alberta I began to understand the diversity and beauty of the Canadian landscape and how it has shaped the people. It's hard to appreciate differences when you stay in one place. Now I look for opportunities to travel to different places whenever I can.”

After marrying, Tony worked interpreting satellite pictures and mapping. “Maps are representations of the real landscape and the way we organize ourselves on a large scale. I find I'm often considering the big picture, whether it’s through maps of the earth or thematically in song”.

Tony now has his own environmental consulting business in Ottawa where he lives with wife Sharon and daughter Andrea. But music is still an important part of his life.

As a mainstay on the Ottawa folk music scene, Tony has become a guiding member of Writer’s Bloc, organizing and hosting the monthly meetings for the collective. He's played at several editions of the Ottawa Folk Festival, including being a Main Stage host/performer at the 2000 edition.

He also leads a small folk group at the First Unitarian Congregation runs the annual Song Along songwriters event and organizes songwriting workshops with artists such as Ian Tamblyn. Tamblyn was one of the founders of Writers Bloc in the 1980’s and the producer of Tony's new CD.