Archive for the ‘press’ Category
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“My Toronto” – Justin On his West End ‘Hood (PostCity)
Justin’s reminisces about grade school crushes, bullies, and how the scents on the sidewalk near High Park Avenue growing up in Toronto’s West end:
In all my time growing up in that tree-ridden neighbourhood, I’ve never seen a single almond on a tree or on the sidewalk, but when the cicadas sang on the sweaty corner of Glenlake and Oakmount, all I could smell were almonds. I’ll be damned.
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Do We Still Need The Album (CBC Radio 3)
Justin Rutledge ponders the question “Do We Still Need the Album?” on the latest podcast of Radio 3′s “Extended Play”.
May 2010 marks the worst month for CD sales in the United States. And that’s saying a lot since sales have been declining for years now as the entire music industry works to figure out where to go in the future.
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Justin and Ondaatje a Natural Pairing (thespec.com)
Justin the book-lover and Michael Ondaatje the music-lover: a match made in collaboration heaven. Justin speaks about how he and the Canadian literary giant ended up working on each others’ projects and how most of the songs penned for Ondaatje’s play became part of The Early Widows.
“He’s an interesting guy and a big music fan. I want to talk to him about books and he wants to talk to me about music. It’s kind of that back-and-forth thing”
Click here to read Graham Rockingham of the Hamilton Spectator’s interview with Justin.
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Ondaatje Adds Songwriter to the Resume (Macleans)
Justin talks about the editing and arranging skills of Michael Ondaatje, who co-wrote several songs on The Early Widows.
“I brought some lyric sheets to his place and played him the songs,” says Rutledge. “He acted almost like an arranger, an editor. He saw the words on the page and would say ‘What about moving this there?’ or ‘What about trading these lines?’ ” Ninety minutes and a couple of cups of homemade cocoa later, Ondaatje had made suggestions on five songs, and co-written another, On The Russian River, 1849, from scratch.
Read Macleans’ full page feature on Justin and Michael Ondaatje here.
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Breakfast Club with Justin (CBC Radio 3)
Listen to Justin discuss his latest album The Early Widows, working with Michael Ondaatje and Hawksley Workman, and more all while ordering and eating breakfast.
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“It’s not a Newport Moment” (Spinner.ca)
Says Justin in reference to his Bob Dylan-esque switch from acoustic to electric guitar on The Early Widows. “I [just] felt I was getting itchy with the ‘singer/songwriter’ status.” Searching for a new environment for his music, Justin enlisted friend and musician Hawksley Workman to produce the new record. And with that collaboration came quite a drastic sonic change with the addition of the electric guitar.
During the writing of The Early Widows, Justin asked his Facebook fans for input and Canadian literary gem Michael Ondaatje for his poetic eye. Read more about the process behind Justin’s new record.
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“a decidedly rarified pedigree” (Toronto Star)
“He really wanted to take the country out of me. But not violently,” Justin says of his experience working with Hawksley Workman on his latest album, The Early Widows. Although Justin had reservations about working with a producer for the first time, this collaboration allowed him to step out of his comfort zone with a different approach and new sounds.
“…letting us in on a poorly kept secret: Rutledge isn’t afraid to rock out a wee bit. Anyone who’s ever seen him join his pals the Beauties onstage for a few tunes at the Dakota Tavern on a Sunday night, of course, knows that the man is quite capable of letting loose onstage”
Read Ben Rayner’s interview here
