JERRY LEGER SHARES NEW SINGLE “SLOW NIGHT IN NOWHERE TOWN”
DONLANDS OUT OCTOBER 27 VIA LATENT RECORDINGS
On his new album Donlands, internationally acclaimed Toronto singer/songwriter Jerry Leger has teamed up with legendary Canadian producer/engineer Mark Howard (Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Neil Young), whose trademark atmospheric sound adds an entirely new dimension to Leger’s approach. Named after the street in Toronto’s east end where it was recorded, in what once was the Donlands Theatre, Donlands presents Jerry Leger as he’s never been heard before.
Today, Jerry shares the second single from Donlands, “Slow Night In Nowhere Town,” available on all digital platforms. Donlands is officially out Oct. 27 via Latent Recordings/Warner Music Canada. Leger says of “Slow Night In Nowhere Town,” “To me, this song has a cinematic quality. I see bright neon lights and no one around. It has a windshield wiper rhythm, which I think is perfect for the atmosphere of the track.”
Leger began collaborating with Howard by sending him 20 demos, and was pleasantly surprised when they basically agreed on which 10 should comprise the record. From there, he describes the process as treating each song like a blank canvas, building up arrangements with the help of engineer Aaron Goldstein, who also added pedal steel and guitar to several tracks. But overall, Leger says it all came down to the atmosphere Howard created. He says the experience felt almost like creating a film noir soundtrack, with something unknown always lurking in the shadows.
“Not a lot of people make records like Mark Howard anymore,” Leger says. “After I got to tell him how much Tom Waits’s Real Gone meant to me, I fell right into the experience. Like all my albums, we recorded Donlands mostly live in the studio with my band The Situation [Dan Mock, Kyle Sullivan, Alan Zemaitis] in a circle—no headphones, just listening and existing, breathing as a whole. To me, it’s a record that lives in its own world. Since I was a little kid, I’ve loved how recordings like The Flamingos’ ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ and ‘Pledging My Love’ by Johnny Ace sound so haunting. I knew Mark could get us that, with the right choice of material.”
As Toronto’s music scene has grown in stature on the world stage, Leger has been making his own significant contributions. A favourite of Uncut Magazine and Rolling Stone Germany, Leger has also earned the praise of fellow artists Ron Sexsmith (“he’s the real deal”) and Doug Paisley, while maintaining a long relationship with Cowboy Junkies as part of their Latent Recordings roster, with their songwriter/guitarist Michael Timmins serving as his producer prior to Howard.
For Jerry Leger, the search for the elusive creative spark remains never-ending, but there are always new routes to explore in getting to it. With Donlands, he has made an album that stands as one of the peak moments in an already towering body of work.
Tour Dates
Oct 4 :: Toronto ON :: Dakota Tavern *
Oct 5 :: Hamilton ON :: The Casbah *
Oct 6 :: Port Hope ON :: The Ganaraska Hotel *
Oct 7 :: Ottawa ON :: Red Bird Live *
Oct 14 :: Greenbank ON :: Greenbank Folk Music Society ^
Oct 21 :: Utrecht NL :: Ramblin’ Roots Fest
Oct 24 :: Leiden NL :: Q Bus
Oct 26 :: Essen-Werden DE :: JuBB
Oct 27 :: Rinkerode DE :: Alte Dorfschänke
Oct 28 :: Breda NL :: Rootzz Fest
Oct 29 :: Venlo NL :: Grenswerk (supporting The Sadies)
Nov 4 Groningen NL :: Take Root Fest
Nov 7 :: Berlin DE :: Loophole
Nov 18 :: Toronto ON :: Massey Hall (‘Chest Fever presents The Last Waltz’) #
Nov 25 :: Hamilton ON :: The Gasworks
Nov 29 :: Toronto ON :: TD Music Hall at Massey Hall (Donlands release show)
All shows with full band except:
* opening solo for Katie Cruel
^ opening solo for Showman & Coole
# performing with Chest Fever
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