27/9/10 Justin Rutledge + Amelia Curran @ The Grapes

[Amsterdamned]

On Monday September 27th, WagonWheel Presents... brings another fantastic double bill of Canadian artists from the Six Shooter Records stable to The Grapes. After almost two years there's a very welcome return to Sheffield for Justin Rutledge as he promotes his fourth album 'The Early Widows'. And joining us again after proving to be one of the highlights of last year is Amelia Curran. Two of the finest acts we've featured in what will be almost four years of shows, this promises to be a very special night. Support to be announced. Doors open 8pm and advance tickets priced at £8 are available from Wegottickets.com (http://www.wegottickets.com/event/79982) or entry will be £10 on the night.

 

 

***JUSTIN RUTLEDGE***

 

At the mouth of the open sea, there are three ships on the horizon one of them is on fire. Black plumes of smoke rise from its charring masts like a mountain’s shadow across the dawn. Perhaps those on board are tossing their lean prayers to the wind like holy matchsticks before thrusting their bodies overboard into the furiously silent ocean. Perhaps several hundred miles away a girl brushes a lock of hair from her eyes as she regards the indolent waters. Perhaps she turns, slowly making her way back to a house where the windows are always broken, away from a blackening horizon, towards the hurt of a dawn through a curtain. These are The Early Widows.

 

Justin Rutledge returns with The Early Widows, a stoic collection of songs that rehabilitate the heart and illuminate the dark. Produced with intense fragility by Hawksley Workman, Rutledge’s fourth album is an arrestingly moving and lyrically meticulous piece of art penned by one of the most progressive songwriters at work today. Shouldering an electric guitar instead of his trademark acoustic, Rutledge infuses the new material with a newfound conviction and drive. The Early Widows also includes songs co-written with literary giant Michael Ondaatje, and award-winning songwriter Darrell Scott from Nashville.

 

Each song is like an undisturbed room in which a wounded echo reclines. “Be A Man” is a mantra sung by a mirthless poet at an AA meeting; the rallying drum cry which begins “The Heart of A River” calls for metropolitan migration; the weathered, blustery scrub of “Snowmen” responds with a longing for spiritual hibernation, with a refrain that escapes the shadows of condo towers. Like the birth of a dawn through a curtain, The Early Widows is a study in light and shadow, with words that move like a pilgrimage towards one's ear. The Early Widows was recorded live utilizing two drummers, Gary Craig and Blake Manning, with Bazil Donovan (Blue Rodeo) on bass, Burke Carroll on pedal steel, David Baxter on electric guitar, and Jesse Zubot on violins. In addition to this stunning ensemble of musicians, the album features the soaring and explosive voices of gospel choir, The Faith Choral.

 

Signed to Six Shooter Records, Justin Rutledge’s albums garner impressive amounts of critical acclaim. Between his debut, No Never Alone (2005), his sophomore release, The Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park (2006) and third album, Man Descending (2008), Rutledge has earned a Juno nomination, a Galaxy Rising Star award, countless year-end critics’ picks, the title of Toronto’s Best Local Songwriter (NOW Magazine), a spot on the 2008 Polaris Prize Long List and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination.

 

 

"country-sounding songs that can break even the toughest heart of stone" - Americana UK

 

"As close to perfection as Mallory to the top of Everest...one of the greatest writers working today" - Maverick Magazine

 

"The songs circle the evanescence of experience, the details of which pile up in the songs like litter at the end of a windy alley..it’s lovely." - Independent on Sunday

 

"The Americana scene has another great release to celebrate in the shape of this Toronto songwriter's debut. A work of aching beauty it signals the arrival of a major talent" - The Independent

 

"Justin Rutledge has just written a debut album that recalls all the best spine tingling, emotionally sucker-punching moments of Ryan Adams' 'Heartbreaker'." - Paul McNamee, New Music Express

 

"Rutledge is a master of gothic understatement.This wintry debut is slyly addictive." - Uncut

 

 

 

http://www.justinrutledge.com/

 

http://www.myspace.com/justinrutledge

 

 

***AMELIA CURRAN***

 

Amelia Curran is a seeker. Nearly a decade ago she left St. John’s for Halifax, but still pines for Newfoundland every single day. With a number of East Coast Music Award nominations and an extensive discography, including: War Brides (2006), Lullaby for Barflies (2002), Trip Down Little Road (2001), and Barricade (2000), Curran knew it was finally time to make a record at home, latest release 'Hunter, Hunter'.

 

Over the past two years she recorded with Don Ellis in various caverns in St. John’s, the city of legends, from the abandoned CBC building on Duckworth Street to an old farm house on the fringes of town. For Curran St. John’s captures the essence of her inner huntress.

 

A songwriter by trade, but a writer at heart, Curran believes language is everything. She describes the craft of song-writing as an act of “expressing the inexpressible, a means of describing the indescribable.”

 

“Bye, Bye Montreal” could pay homage to Leonard Cohen and the thriving arts scene of yesteryear, but that’s the beauty of Curran. She never explicitly says what her songs about. She just opens the door and allows room for various interpretations and relationships.

 

“All Hands On A Grain of Sand,” speaks to Curran’s ability to elevate the lyrical into the poetical. Her desire to reconcile the past and move into the future is a constant struggle. “Ah Me,” manifests biblical myths into self-reflexive epiphanies, while “The Mistress,” is part confession, part obsession. A narrative-driven internal contention of what it means to be the other woman.

 

“Mad World, Outlive Me,” mines for the truth and untouchable gems held deep within the soul. With splashes of folk and cabaret aesthetics, “The Company Store,” wades through a lost way of life.

 

“Julia,” turns the page on a bleeding heart, while “Tiny Glass Houses,” shatters expectations and rebuilds the broken places within us all. “The Dozens,” is a toe-tapping rendition of harnessing one’s inner lover.

 

Retribution arrives in both “Love’s Lost Regard,” and “Wrecking Ball,” but it’s the album’s closer, “Last Call,” that leaves listeners thirsty for another round.

 

 

 

http://www.ameliacurran.com/

 

http://www.myspace.com/ameliacurran

 

 

Facebook Event page:

 

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114856675235351

 

 

Last.fm Event page:

 

http://www.last.fm/event/1512691

 

 

[Amsterdamned]

This is Monday night and one you definitely don't want to miss. Support comes from Pete David playing a solo set, he'll be on stage at 8.15pm.

 

***PETE DAVID & THE PAYROLL UNION***

 

Sheffield based singer/songwriter Pete David has been performing around the city for several years. During the last couple of years the full band line up of The Payroll Union has taken shape. Classic Americana with elements of traditional American folk and country. All the yodellin', banjoin', stompin', kazooin', parpin', pickin' and pluckin' you could want for an old time good time. Tonight he performs solo.

 

"The four men in The Payroll Union are all suited and bearded and, while playing their acoustic murder ballads, could be seen as a bunch of Southern, God-fearin', gun-totin' brothers (who brought along their little sister for the ride). The songs are peppered with exhortations to the Lord, whisky, hanging, heartbreak and evil deeds. Pete's vocal delivery veers from hushed whispers to impassioned sermons and, similarly, the music changes on a dime from reverential faithfolk to uptempo secular hoedown and back again." Counterfeit Magazine

 

http://www.myspace.com/petedavidandthepayrollunion