Many first knew Ariel Posen as the mind-bendingly gifted guitar player with fellow Winnipeg act, The Bros. Landreth. Over the years, he’s lent his six-string talents to a wildly eclectic array of artists, ranging from John Mayer to Tom Jones. Ariel Posen’s international stature as a rising guitar star became so substantial that it came as something of a surprise to many when in 2019, he put out his own debut album as a singer-songwriter, How Long. 

Ariel's solo career, which initially began as a side project for this guitar ace, quickly became his full-time occupation. His work as a recording artist combines his guitar wizardry with a penchant for biting, heart-on-sleeve lyrics and a sweet, soulful voice. Over the course of several solo LPs and EPs now, Ariel’s unerring knack for timeless grooves and melodies has continued to evolve and his music now connects with audiences around the world.

The September 2023 release of his third full-length album Reasons Why sees him headlining tours all across North America and Europe. The autumn leg of this trek was kick-started by a massive show in Los Angeles, where Ariel was among the luminaries playing at Eric Clapton’s legendary all-star guitar-centric concert series Crossroads. 

And from there, the tour took Ariel straight to Alberta, where he took some time to drop by CKUA studios, guitar in hand, to talk about his meteoric rise, sharing the stage with guitar gods, and his inspired brand-new album. In this solo session among the stacks of records in CKUA’s storied music library, Ariel shared a wide-ranging conversation and very intimate, stripped-down performances of songs from the new record. 

Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer 

Sound mixing for this session provided by Duke Paetz.