Canadian music artist, Joe Nolan returns to Lacombe on the heels of his newest album Scrapper.
The album covers the loneliness on the road, the struggles of not having a rooted home and the misunderstandings that divide friends and lovers. During the process, Nolan says he got back to his roots and took a personal journey through his own family history.
“Stories from the past came out, accompanied by family photos, some of which have made it onto the album and single covers.” The photo feature his grandfather who Nolan describes as a resilient mentor.
Nolan says he realized the value in those physical connections with family, the links that form when performing on a stage and that he relished the joy of putting a record on the player and reading the liner notes and lyrics.
Categorized as a roots artist, Nolan says he doesn’t want to be defined by that tag and would describe himself as original, dark, emotional, bluesy and intends to keep pushing boundaries.
“I wanted to make something a little bit more edgy this time. Something with some meat on the bone, something a little more punchy and gritty but I also wanted to match that energy with softness and sensitivity.”
Nolan says that although COVID threw a bit of a wrench in his live shows, he found the silver lining of being locked down. He took the learning’s from previous setbacks and channeled them into song, after song, after song and that although he doesn’t have a favourite song in particular but See You Soon, which closes out the album was one of the most important songs to get on there.
“Lyrically it’s fairly autobiographical and I’m really proud of how it turned out. The message rounds out the album and sort of confirms the theme at the very end which is always an important step in the process for me.”
Nolan will be playing the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre on Oct. 23. Tickets can be purchased at joenolanmusic.com/shows.