LISTEN AND SHARE “THERE’S A RUGGED ROAD” (JUDEE SILL COVER) HERE
JUDEE JUSTIN ARTHUR MARY EP (COVERS OF JUDEE SILL, JUSTIN HAYNES, ARTHUR RUSSELL & MARY MARGARET O’HARA ) OUT APRIL 24 VIA NEXT DOOR RECORDS
PRE-ORDER JUDEE JUSTIN ARTHUR MARY HERE
Photo Credit: Melissa Richards // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
With Luka Kuplowsky’s new EP, Judee Justin Arthur Mary, out this Friday, the Toronto songwriter is sharing another track from the EP, his cover of Judee Sill’s “There’s A Rugged Road”. “The first time I played with Thom Gill and Josh Cole it was at the Holy Oak Cafe playing this song,” says Kuplowsky. “Judee’s perfect song offered a musical space to converse with two artists who are now deeply inspirational collaborators. The song itself is incredibly visual and offers a rich harmonic path. We decided to tread softly and soulfully.”
LISTEN AND SHARE “THERE’S A RUGGED ROAD” (JUDEE SILL COVER) HERE
“There’s A Rugged Road” Single Art // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
For the new EP, out April 24 on Next Door Records, Luka Kuplowsky (voice, guitar, harmonica) brought together a cast of some of his most familiar Toronto players including U.S. Girls and Andy Shauf collaborator Evan Cartwright on drums, Thom Gill (Sam Amidon, Bernice) on electric guitar and organ, the incredible jazz player Josh Cole (Sandro Perri, Martha Wainwright) on bass, and Bahamas’ Felicity Williams for backing vocals. Together, they’ve taken these songs and re-imagined what they could look like in a truly collaborative process to extract something new from each composition. Although it may seem like an EP of covers on first blush, this collection is a reverent take with the distinct fingerprints of each of the collaborators throughout.
LISTEN AND SHARE “ME FOR REAL” (ARTHUR RUSSELL COVER) HERE
Taking Russell’s funky deconstructed pop song “Me For Real” and rendering it into a skipping, syncopated folk song; Judee Sill’s country-gospel anthem “There’s a Rugged Road” is opened up into a grooving, pastoral jam (think Bill Frisell’s “Gone, Just Like the Train”); Justin Haynes’ sincere and sardonic “Child Support” is imagined as ramshackle tropicalia; and Mary Margaret O’Hara’s “Anew Day” is paired down to a minimalist gospel-blues for guitar, bass and hand clap.
LISTEN / SHARE MARY MARGARET O’HARA COVER “ANEW DAY” FEAT. FELICITY WILLIAMS (BAHAMAS)
Kuplowsky says of the EP:
“Judee Justin Arthur Mary is a collection of songs by artists that are deeply meaningful to me. They are songs that my friends and I honed as The Holy Oak Family Singers - a tribute band moniker named after our formative community space Holy Oak Cafe (2009-2017).
It is a true pleasure to briefly live inside the songs of Arthur Russell, Judee Sill, Justin Haynes, and Mary Margaret O’Hara. Our tribute to them is to find our own centre and footing through their gifts of words and music.
Here are some half-remembered takes on some of the deepest songwriters I know.”
Recently, Kuplowsky shared a video of his performance of “Anew Day” with the Holy Oak Family Singers at The Tranzac Club (Southern Cross Lounge) from February 2020 as part of a fundraiser to keep the venue open. With his tour date plans on hold, Kuplowsky will be performing as part of a weekly live stream called the Holy Oak Family Variety Hour in an effort to continue to fundraise for the venue. Visit his Instagram @lukakuplowsky for more details.
WATCH AND SHARE “ANEW DAY” (MARY MARGARET O’HARA COVER) LIVE HERE
Next Door Records is the new record label from the Outside Music Group. NDR was formed in 2019 with the first release being the Polaris Music Prize nominated The Shape of Your Name from Charlotte Cornfield. The label has gone on to release acclaimed records from Lydia Persaud, Ada Lea, and HUA LI 化力
JUDEE JUSTIN ARTHUR MARY TRACKLIST
01 Anew Day (feat. Felicity Williams)
02 Me for Real
03 Child Support
04 There’s a Rugged Road