Real actual country music. Or how I see it.
The Sweetest Homewrecker EP Part 1 is coming out February 28.
Genre is a catch-22. Artists find it hard to describe their music in a few words, much less in one word. I grew up with bluegrass, folk and country music in my home. Strictly speaking, my first instrument was a washtub bass. My dad made me one so I could jam along at kitchen parties when I was 4 years old. Years later I remember discovering old time music. I asked my dad (a Scruggs-style banjo player), “What is that mountainy-sounding music called?” He had no idea what I was talking about. It wasn’t until I took a mandolin class with Caleb Klauder from The Foghorn Stringband that I found out. Like so many new lovers of old-time music, I drank the Koolaid and travelled around the southern USA in a string band, playing square dances and camping out in Clifftop, West Virginia. It was there I discovered the music I loved most growing up as a kid — Hank Williams Sr. in particular — was called ‘early country’ and it was cool to be into it.
Country music is a scary word for people with left-wing politics and we seem to go to great lengths to avoid it.
I will never write the same song twice, and I always want to cover new ground when making a record. Recording is a time of intense creative growth and exploration. I’ve always suspected my eclectic taste (all well within the umbrella of Americana music) wasn’t doing me any favours, despite the joy it brings me. Is she folk? Country? Bluegrass? Alt-country is a term that floated around for a while. I used to call my music ‘space-country’ which now I find elitist. Some people even called it roots, which for many reasons is misleading. Country music is a scary word for people with left-wing politics and we seem to go to great lengths to avoid it. When I first heard the word Americana, my little Canadian heart rankled, but it seems this broad-church term was as good as it was going to get. For me it’s all the same.
On February 28 I offer you country music, the kind I like to rip up with my friends at beloved haunts like The Heatley in Vancouver, The Palomino in Calgary, The Times Change(d) in Winnipeg, The Cameron House or The Local in Toronto or Grumpy’s Bar in Montreal. We’re calling it The Sweetest Homewrecker because (you guessed it) there’s a two-step called the very same. The new EP is from the same session as Turned to Gold, but we held back these songs because #delayedgratification. If you love honky tonk music, this is the best thing I can offer — with Matt Kelly on keys, steel, guitars, James McEleney on bass, Leon Power on drums, Trent Freeman on fiddle and real-life baby sister Anna Scouten on harmonies. Johnny Payne, the man who best understands my brand of twang, produces. Enjoy.
Pre-Save. Mark your calendars. Save the date. Book the night off. Clear your schedule.
The Sweetest Homewrecker Part 1 is out February 28.
February 20-23: Folk Alliance International, Montreal QC
February 25 House Concert, Calgary AB
February 27 The Warm-Up at Canmore Folk Music Festival, Canmore AB
March 16 Kilkenny TradFest, Kilkenny IRE
April 3 Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham UK
April 4-6 Ramblin’ Roots Revue, High Wycombe UK
April 10 The Acorn Theatre, Penzance UK
April 12 The Square and Compass, Worth Matravers UK
April 13 The Square and Compass (Matinée), Worth Matravers UK
April 21 Glasgow Songwriters in the Round, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow UK
May 29-June 1 Fire in the Mountain Festival, Aberystwyth UK
June 8 Kirkgate Arts, Cockermouth, Cumbria UK
June 22 Solas Festival, Errol, Perthshire UK
July 21-25 Music in the Mountain Camp, Aberystwyth UK
July 27 Hexham Bluegrass Festival, Hexham UK
August 15 Campfire Club, London UK
August 16 Campfire Club, Brighton UK
August 22 Shrewsbury Folk Music Festival, Shrewsbury UK