Culled from several lifetimes of stories and songs and inspired by the words and music of Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Billy Joe Shaver, Shuyler Jansen has delivered this decade’s country folk classic. Opening with the slightly epic and grandiose “Pegasus”, Shuyler braids a tale of infidelity, addiction, death and broken trust, re-occurring themes that seem to encompass the ten songs on “Today’s Remains”.
“Today’s Remains” is Shuyler’s 2nd solo offering and 6th release including Old Reliable’s 4 recordings. Produced by Juno award winner Steve Dawson (Kelly Joe Phelps, Jim Byrnes, Jenny Whiteley), engineered by Juno-nominated Sheldon Zaharko, and recorded at the Factory (Vancouver BC), “Today’s Remains” is an auspicious follow-up to Shuyler’s country-electro-folk Hobotron (2004) and Old Reliable’s rocker The Burning Truth (2005).
Once again distorting genres, Shuyler Jansen and Steve Dawson carefully sifted 10 songs from dozens of compositions to form a distinctly cohesive collection of truth filled songs. Steve Dawson slaved day in and day out with the help of Chris Gestrin on keyboards (K-OS, Randy Bachman), John Raham on drums (Be Good Tanyas, Po’ Girl, Kinnie Starr), Keith Lowe on bass (Fiona Apple, Bill Frisell), the Greta Quartet, singers Karly Warkentin and Alice Dawson to create a dramatic mood swing with sweeping strings, snaky guitars, smooth pedal steel, rumbling tumbling bass, funky drums and roaring Hammond, Rhodes, Glockenspiel, Baritone, piano, moog, weissenborn etc…
The album harkens back to the 70’s country sound of Willie Nelson’s ‘Shotgun Willie’ or Merle Haggard’s ‘Back to the Barrooms’ as well as more concurrent artists such as Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, Mark Kozelek and Will Oldham.
Shuyler will be touring Canada, USA, UK and Holland, with a full band to promote Today’s Remains, look for dates beginning in September 2007. Since the release of “Hobotron” in 2004 Shuyler has toured Holland, England, Scotland, USA, Canada with over 200 performances. Shuyler is also a cast member and alumni of the travelling frenzy Hootenanny featuring Oh Susanna, Luther Wright, Carolyn Mark, Jenny Whiteley, and others who tour across Canada several times a year.
SHARED THE STAGE WITH:
Alejandro Escovedo
Giant Sand/Howe Gelb
Calexico
The Sadies
Richard Buckner
Tegan and Sara
Ron Sexsmith
Green Day
Ralph Stanley
Kathleen Edwards
Pieta Brown & Bo Ramsey
Ian Tyson
PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS:
SXSW 2005
Folk Alliance 2005
Regina Folk Festival
Edmonton Folk Festival
Calgary Folk Festival
Dawson City Folk Festival
Dauphin Country Fest
NXNE 2004
NMW 2002
JUNO Fest 2004
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