Justin Rutledge - Islands (2021)

A youth hostel in London, a dim lit bar in Toronto, the back of the van rolling through the prairies. These are the places that Justin Rutledge penned many of his songs, isolated, him and a guitar. Over the years, those songs have graced records that have won awards, soundtracked weddings, TV shows and film, and gained fans in Gordon Lightfoot, Ron Sexsmith and Dolly Parton. On Islands, Justin revisits those songs, in the manner which they were conceived, sparse accompaniment, just JR and his guitar. Islands runs the gamut of his catalogue, from breakthrough album No Never Alone to the Juno Award winning and CFMA album of the year Valleyheart and his most recent, his fourth Juno nominated album, Passages. The Tragically Hip 'Nautical Disaster' and the live staple 'Jellybean' appear for the first time on record rounding out this compelling collection of songs from one of Canada's most gifted songwriters.