MATT ANDERSEN WINS MAPLE BLUES AWARD, ANNOUNCES MORE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

MATT ANDERSEN WINS MAPLE BLUES AWARD, ANNOUNCES MORE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

NEW BRUNSWICK SONGWRITER WINS MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR AT LAST NIGHT’S MAPLE BLUES AWARDS
COMMISSIONER GORDON-PRODUCED NEW ALBUM HONEST MAN OUT FEBRUARY 26 VIA TRUE NORTH RECORDS

DONOVAN WOODS TO OPEN ALL CANADIAN DATES STARTING FEBRUARY 16

LISTEN TO AND SHARE THE FIRST SINGLE “LET’S GET BACK” VIA YOUTUBE OR SOUNDCLOUD

PRE-ORDER HONEST MAN VIA ITUNES, AMAZON OR TRUE NORTH LABEL STORE

 Photo: John Fearnall/Good Noise Photography

Last night, as he continued to prepare for the release of his new album Honest Man, Matt Andersen was honoured as Male Vocalist Of The Year at the 19th Annual Maple Blues Awards for the second year in a row, bringing his Maple Blues Awards total to four.  Set for release on February 26 via True North Records, Honest Man is the eighth full-length album from the New Brunswick songwriter. Having already revealed the first single “Let’s Get Back” the acclaimed performer has now expanded his North American tour to over 50 dates that will run from February 16 to May 20.

Produced in New York with Commissioner Gordon (Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, KRS-One), Honest Man follows up the JUNO Award nominated Weightless and sees the songwriter pushing himself into new territory. Blessed with a rich gospel soul voice and armed with a new set of songs, Matt Andersen found a perfect partner in crime with Commissioner Gordon.  

“Gordon has worked with so many different people, like Santana and Quincy Jones, on so many historic albums,” says Andersen. “He has such a great approach and was able to tie-in so many new ideas to what I’ve done in the past without losing touch with my sound.”

From writing around drum beats to bringing in a cast of players including Andy Bassford (Toots and the Maytals, Burning Spear, Natalie Merchant) Benjamin Bouton (Ibibio Sound Machine), Josh David Barrett (The Wailers, Lauryn Hill), and Lenny Underwood (Mary J. Blige, Amy Winehouse), Honest Man expands on what we already know and love from Andersen and brings it to a new level.

Matt Andersen has been enthralling audiences with his one of a kind performance in North America, Europe and Australia for years. And besides his four Maple Blues Awards, he has a Memphis Blues Challenge win, a CIMA Road Gold Award, a European Blues Award, and a JUNO Award nomination. A powerhouse performer with a giant soul-filled voice and commanding stage presence, Andersen has built a formidable following the old fashioned way – touring worldwide and letting the converted audiences and Andersen devotees spread his reputation through word of mouth.

Supporting the release of Honest Man, Andersen will take to the road for four months through North America and joining him on the Canadian dates will be another JUNO Award nominated songwriter, Donovan Woods.  No stranger to each other, the Toronto artist and Andersen penned two tracks together for Honest Man including the album closer “One Good Song.”  “All songwriters desire to have that one good song that just gets everybody,” says Andersen, explaining the song. Not necessarily a hit, but a song that when it’s heard you can’t help but listen. This song is about the journey we all take to get there.”

All tour dates are listed below.

 HONEST MAN TRACK LIST

Break Away
The Gift
Honest Man
I’m Giving In
Quiet Company
Let’s Get Back
All the Way
Last Surrender
Who Are You Listening To?
One Good Song

 MATT ANDERSEN NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

Feb 16 - Duncan, BC - Cowichan Performing Arts Centre *
Feb 17 - Victoria, BC - University of Victoria Farquhar Auditorium *
Feb 18 - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre *
Feb 19 - Kelowna, BC - Kelowna Community Theatre *
Feb 20 - Banff, AB - The Banff Centre *
Feb 21 - Edmonton, AB - Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium *
Feb 22 - Calgary, AB - Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium *
Feb 24 - Saskatoon, SK - Broadway Theatre *
Feb 25 - Regina, SK - University of Regina Darke Hall *
Feb 26 - Winnipeg, MB - Burton Cummings Theatre *
Feb 27 - Guelph, ON - River Run Centre *
Feb 28 - London, ON - Centennial Hall *
Mar 1 - Kitchener, ON - Centre In The Square *
Mar 2 - St. Catharines, ON - St. Catharines Performing Arts Centre *
Mar 3 - Owen Sound, ON - Roxy Theatre *
Mar 4 - Burlington, ON - Burlington Performing Arts Centre *
Mar 5 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall *
Mar 6 - Orillia, ON - Orillia Opera House *
Mar 8 - Port Hope, ON - Cameco Capitol Arts Centre *
Mar 9 - Markham, ON - Flato Markham Theatre *
Mar 10 - Kingston, ON - Grand Theatre *
Mar 11 - Burlington, VT - Club Metronome
Mar 12 - Boston, MA - Club Passim
Mar 13 - Bethlehem, PA -  Blast Furnace Blues Festival
Mar 14 - Vienna, VA - Jammin Java
Mar 15 - New London, CT - Garde Arts
Mar 16 - Portsmouth, NH - Birdseye
Mar 18 - New York City, NY - Rockwood Music Hall
Mar 19 - Philadelphia, PA - Tin Angel
Mar 20 - Fall River, MA - Narrows Center For The Arts
Mar 24 - Ottawa, ON - National Arts Centre *
Mar 25 - Montreal, QC - L’Astral *
April 12 - Fredericton, NB - The Playhouse *
April 13 - Moncton, NB - Capitol Theatre *
April 14 - Saint John, NB - Imperial Theatre *
April 15 - Halifax, NS - Rebecca Cohn Auditorium *
April 28 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
April 29 - Chicago, IL - Schuba’s
April 30 - St. Paul, MN - Turb Club
May 1 - Cedar Rapids, IA - CSPS Hall
May 2 - Lincoln, ME - Zoo Bar
May 3 - Kansas City, MO - Elvis Lounge at Knuckleheads
May 4 - Salina, KS - Stiefel On Stage
May 5 - Dallas, TX - Kessler Theatre
May 6 - Austin, TX - Cactus Café
May 7 - Houston, TX - Dosey Doe
May 9 - Albuquerque, NM - The Cooperage
May 11 - Phoenix, AZ - Musical Instrument Museum
May 13 - Los Angeles, CA - The Mint
May 14 - San Francisco, CA - Bricks and Mortar
May 15 - Santa Cruz, CA - Moe’s
May 18 - Bend, OR - Volcanic Pub
May 19 - Portland, OR - White Eagle
May 20 - Seattle, WA - Triple Door

* special guest Donovan Woods

MATT ANDERSEN ONLINE

WEBSITE

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

RAE SPOON SHARES TITLE TRACK FROM UPCOMING EIGHTH ALBUM

RAE SPOON SHARES TITLE TRACK FROM UPCOMING EIGHTH ALBUM  ARMOUR OUT FEBRUARY 19 VIA COAX RECORDS

WATCH AND SHARE THE LYRIC VIDEO FOR “ARMOUR” HERE

LISTEN TO “ARMOUR” PREMIERE ON THE STROMBO SHOW HERE

CANADIAN TOUR DATES BEGIN FEBRUARY 17

PRE-ORDER ARMOUR HERE VIA COAX RECORDS

PRE-ORDER ARMOUR HERE VIA BANDCAMP

 PHOTO CREDIT : FOXX FOTO          

With the release of Rae Spoon’s eighth studio album, Armour, only a month away, George Stroumboulopoulos debuted the title track on his weekly radio program, The Strombo Show on CBC Radio 2 last night, giving listeners another hint of what’s to come. Both the opening and title track of the album, Spoon says they “wrote it about finding strength in an identity that includes a difficult history."

Rae Spoon has been called one of Canada’s best songwriters and their new album Armour does not disappoint. Set for release on February 19 via Coax Records, the ten new songs hold all of the lyrical depth indicative of Rae Spoon’s compositions while showcasing their distinctive voice. "I wrote Armour in three different cities at my kitchen table over a couple of years,” says Spoon. “I had a couple of really hard years after My Prairie Home came out. It left me with a lot of questions about how I was going to live with trauma after I was so open about it on screen. At the same time I fell in love and got married. The experience of choosing hope over despair really plays itself out in the lyrics.”

Armour’s self-produced enigmatic soundscapes blur the lines between organic and electronic instruments. Recorded at Calgary’s Arch Audio Studio, Rae Spoon claims, “there was a lot of experimentation with analog synths and electronic music programming along with my usual guitar and vocals. I took my tracks to long-time collaborators Alexandre Decoupigny and Lorrie Matheson and it became an album. I think the production shows a level of sophistication I have been working towards for years."

Rae Spoon’s eighth album, is the highly anticipated follow-up to the Polaris Music Prize nominated My Prairie Home, a musical about Spoon’s fraught childhood in Alberta. As much as My Prairie Home was about Spoon’s upbringing as a queer youth in a Pentecostal household, Armour is about their view of the future. Moments of reckoning with trauma and self-preservation mingle with messages of hope and survival. Armour explores the idea that there is no instruction manual for healthy adulthood, asserting that the attempt to construct meaning is itself the point of life. Armour is a tribute to the intimate space where both hope and despair have space to share the same voice.

Tour dates across Canada supporting Armour begin February 16 and all performance stops can be found below.

PRE-ORDER ARMOUR HERE VIA COAX RECORDS

PRE-ORDER ARMOUR HERE VIA BANDCAMP

CANADIAN TOUR DATES

Feb 16 - Calgary @ The Ironwood w/ Ethan Cole
Feb 17- Edmonton @ the Mercury Room w/ Sherry-Lee Heschel
Feb 18 - Saskatoon @ La Relais w/ Ursa, respectfulchild and Homo Monstrous
Feb 19 Saskatoon @ Out Saskatoon (talk)
Feb 20 - Winnipeg @ The Good Will w/ LAL and Joanne Pollock
Feb 25 - Montreal @ Casa Del Popolo w/ Glenn Nuotio
Feb 26 - Ottawa @ Pressed Cafe w/ Glenn Nuotio
Feb 27 - Kingston @ the Artel w/ Kris and Dee
Feb 28 - Toronto @ Holy Oak w/ Party Time
Feb 29 - Toronto @ Holy Oak w/ Glenn Nuotio
Mar 3 - St John’s @ The Ship w/ Neil Conway
Mar 4 - Halifax @ The Company House w/ Lee-Ann Poole
Mar 5 - Sault Ste. Marie at Gore Street Cafe
Mar 11 - Galiano Island @ TBA
Mar 13 - Vancouver @ Skinny Fat Jacks
Mar 17 - Victoria @ Victoria Event Center w/Corwin Fox

ARMOUR TRACKLIST    

01 Armour
02 I Hear Them Calling
03 Written Across The Sky 4 Can’t Go Right
05 Wrestles With Death
06 Stolen Song
07 The Beast Is Me
08 Flood
09 Go For The Kill
10 Try Again At Everything

RAE SPOON ONLINE

WEBSITE
TWITTER
FACEBOOK

COAX RECORDS

SAM CASH & THE ROMANTIC DOGS ANNOUNCES TONGUE-IN-CHEEK VOWS

TORONTO SONGWRITER SET TO RELEASE THIRD STUDIO ALBUM TONGUE-IN-CHEEK VOWS MARCH 25 VIA CAMERON HOUSE RECORDS 

TOUR DATES WITH LEE HARVEY OSMOND AND ELECTRIC SIX BEGIN FEBRUARY 13

LISTEN TO THE FIRST SINGLE “TOSSING & TURNING” TODAY

Sam Cash’s new album Tongue-In-Cheek Vows perfectly captures that moment when a young artist and his cohorts find their collective voice and suddenly realize that there are no limits to what they can accomplish together. The explosive opening track “Cast Away” serves notice that this isn’t just another singer/songwriter-fronted band. With Cash’s unflinching poetry riding atop The Romantic Dogs taut exuberance, Tongue-In-Cheek Vows is a gimmick-free, melodic masterpiece—tipping its hat to an era when conviction was measured by the amount of sweat and blood exuded on stage, and in the studio.

Set for release on March 25 via Cameron House Records, Tongue-In-Cheek Vows is Cash’s third album and the second with the Romantic Dogs. It follows the group’s acclaimed 2013 debut, Stand Together, Fall Together, an album that earned more attention than even Cash was hoping for, given how spontaneously it was made. While the rambunctiousness that drew fans and critics to that album is on full display, Cash chose to take more time to developTongue-In-Cheek Vows. Working in tandem with producer and bona fide Canadian alt-rock legend Ian Blurton(Change Of Heart, C’Mon, Public Animal), Cash and the Dogs have served up 11 tracks brimming with lyrics as razor-sharp as the performances driving them. Those who have followed Cash’s development to this point are sure to be stunned by the self-awareness and insight into the human condition embedded in songs like the album’s first focus track “Tossing & Turning” as well as “That Was The Summer” and “Carmen,” from which the album’s title was drawn.

“I really wanted this record to be a statement, and I gathered all the best material I had on hand for it, including some songs I purposely didn’t want to put on the last album,” Cash says. “It felt good to be able to involve the band more on this one too, considering we’d made Stand Together, Fall Together in basically two days. Everyone worked really hard and there was a great exchange of ideas.”

Cash views Tongue-In-Cheek Vows not just as a mere coming-of-age document, but a symbol of how he has embraced the craft of songwriting itself. “These songs were written during a three or four year period starting when I was 19, which is a pretty exciting time for anyone,” he says. “But what I love most about songs are those moments when you hear something and it hits you in a very specific way, and you’re not even thinking about what the writer’s intentions are. That’s the ultimate effect I would like my music to have on people, when they can make their own connection, which is just as real and meaningful as what was in my head when I wrote the song.”

Those who have been around long enough will undoubtedly hear echoes of Cash’s father Andrew Cash, part of Toronto’s original punk rock community and later one of Canada’s most respected singer-songwriters. Yet, from the time Sam launched his own music career in his late teens, he’s forged his own uncompromising path toward establishing a name within the Toronto underground rock scene, and building his band into one of the most formidable live outfits in the city. To see it for yourself, catch Sam Cash & The Romantic Dogs on tour across Canada with Lee Harvey Osmond and Electric Six beginning on February 13. Full tour dates can be found below with more dates to be added shortly.

SAM CASH & THE ROMANTIC DOGS TOUR DATES

Feb 13 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern^
Mar 22  – Whistler, BC – Garibaldi Lift Company*
Mar 23  – Vancouver, BC - The Imperial*
Mar 24  – Kelowna, BC - Flashbacks*
Mar 25  – Edmonton, AB - The Starlite Room*
Mar 26  – Calgary, AB – The Gateway*
Mar 27 – Saskatoon, SK – Amigos*
Mar 28 - Winnipeg, MB - Windsor Hotel*

 ^ W/ Lee Harvey Osmond
* W/ Electric Six 

MORE DATES TBA

TONGUE-IN-CHEEK VOWS TRACKLIST

01 Cast Away
02 Carmen
03 That Was The Summer
04 Act Like We’re In Love
05 Running On
06 Radio Waves
07 I Know You’re Only Laughing
08 You Can’t Hurt Me
09 Tossing & Turning
10 Action
11 Won’t Think Twice 

SAM CASH & THE ROMANTIC DOGS ONLINE

WEBSITE
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM
YOUTUBE