>>PREVIEW
JUSTIN RUTLEDGE
Monday, November 6
Jack Singer Concert Hall
He’s dabbled in garage, rock, even hip hop, but singer-songwriter Justin Rutledge has definitely found his inspiration in country music. Rutledge isn’t your average country performer, and despite his music often being labelled progressive country or alt-country, Justin is adamant that he doesn’t see himself as either.
Country inspires him – in fact, interest in country has fuelled Rutledge’s passion for the music of Appalachia and mountain music. The common ground between the three? For Rutledge, it’s obvious, it’s all about one word – honesty.
"It wasn’t until I found country music, that I saw a light but I don’t see myself as a country artist," Rutledge says. "I see myself as a Toronto boy, but I’ve nothing to offer new country. It just so happens that I love how that music makes me feel, the honest transaction."
Honesty and integrity crop up often in conversation with Rutledge and those sentiments drive the newly released CD, Devil on a bench in Stanley Park.
"On the first album, I had very little money so I had to track it. I had to layer it and fortunately it sounds like it’s all live and organic. I didn’t do it off the floor, but it still managed to retain some kind of honesty. With this album I didn’t feel any pressure and did it all off the floor – we did the complete opposite (of the last album). I still want to maintain that honesty and that integrity. We didn’t dull or doctor any of the instruments, we let the instruments dictate themselves, everything from the high hat and the guitar. We just treated them very subtly. Essentially, it’s a live album without an audience."
There are two other keystones in Rutledge’s philosophy that make everything else tick. Rutledge is determined to create things that last. And what lasts, if Justin has anything to say about it, are the songs.
"I think that the song is the most important thing, he says. "I think about longevity, (not) about shtick. I don’t think about performance – I think about the song living itself. I think about 30 years from now and will this perhaps retain some sort of timelessness."
For Rutledge, the idea of home is what grounds him. It’s not without its irony though and Justin laughs as he explains.
"There’s some goddamn thing about Toronto that keeps coming back. You know there’s a big hex on Toronto from the rest of Canada, but I’ve found some kind of station there. I don’t know what it is, I know that Toronto could do a lot better, it’s not the greatest place for what it should be, but there’s something about it, there’s something in its blood that I kind of have to be there and I have to be here in Canada." |
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