Oh my. I should already be selecting the next album of the month and I still haven’t found the time to write about this magnificent album. So a few quick words about this masterpiece.

Canadian John K. Samson is one of my favourite songwriters. He is best known as the frontman of the mighty The Weakerthans. I’ve pretty much loved everything they’ve ever done and their last three albums have all been on my top 10 albums of the year lists. Provincial is his solo debut and it is equally amazing. The only minor “bad” thing about it is that the fans already know several of the songs by heart, because they’ve been released on two EPs beforehand. I wouldn’t have minded hearing twelve brand new John K. Samson originals. Not that it is a big deal, because a) they’ve been re-recorded b) are important part of this provincial concept c) are simply just way too awesome to be left out.

Without further ado, here’s a couple of stunning songs from John K. Samson’s solo debut. If you are looking for literate folk / indie rock of the highest order, it really does not get much better than John K. Samson and/or The Weakerthans. This album will be tough to beat in the album of the year contest.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhzguOsr7WI]

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/30524442″ iframe=”true” /]

JOHN K. SAMSON

I’ll take a small break from selecting the album of the year 2011 and focus on the album of the year 2012. John K. Samson is releasing his first solo album Provincial on january 24th, 2012. This guy is a poet, one of the best songwriters in the world and his band The Weakerthans has released some of the greatest indie rock albums of the past 10-15 years. The last three of them have been top 10 albums at onechord.net and I’m sure the solo album will be equally brilliant. Check out Epitaph’s album sampler below and start counting days. It looks like the Christmas might be a month late and this time it will arrive on the 24th of january.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfqLrWMMPZ4]

And why not post a couple The Weakerthans classics:

Tournament of Hearts (the greatest rock song ever written about curling.. ok the competition probably isn’t very high)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQF5xuLrjpY]

And here’s John K. Samson singing One Great City by The Weakerthans at Songwriting Panel. I recommend checking out other videos from that panel as well. I’ve watched them a few times over the years. Other great songwriters there as well.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK8x-77GqB0]

John K. Samson at Facebook
The Weakerthans Website

JOHN STATZ

It looks like the singer-songwriter Johns are taking over the world on the january 24th, because also John Statz is releasing a new album on that day. Mr. Statz might not be as household name as Mr. Samson is at this point, but he is also able to craft some really fine songs. I enjoyed the previous album Ghost Towns and really look forward to hearing this new one. It’s his first release on the great Yer Bird records and the label recently gave away the first single Distance as a free download. Sounds great to me. Check it out yourself below.

John Statz Website

 
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrW7oUPlSUI&w=480]

You can also listen to the first single Metal Girls from the upcoming album here on their bandcamp page.

Jim Bryson Website
The Weakerthans Website