AL TUCK RELEASES STRANGER AT THE WAKE ON CAMERON HOUSE RECORDS
Available physically in stores across Canada and digitally worldwide on Tuesday May 14th.
“I feel like we have our own living legend. And he’s alive, he’s out on tour… everyone in their right mind should just go sit and listen. He weaves slow stories from the infinite wide range of things that usually stick in the rest of our throats. We’re lucky he’s got the words and he’s sharing them.” - Feist
"If there is a songwriter still around today who writes from a pure subconcious place, and who actually has a Muse, it’s Al Tuck. Just when you think he’s written his best song, you’ll hear another one that reminds you he’s easily one of the best songwriters in the country. Al is the real deal.” – Charles Austin (producer)
“Al Tuck is the real deal, a songwriter of the highest order, blessed and possessed with a double dose of the gift. Cut from the same cloth, as any of our country’s greatest: Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell. I’m fully aware of how outlandish and overwrought a statement this might seem, but I’ve felt this way for years now, and with every new record of Al’s, I’m further convinced. Hands down, he’s the greatest songwriter of my generation, an opinion shared by many of my peers.” - Jason Collett
On his seventh studio album Stranger at the Wake, Al Tuck continues to do what he has always done - write and record songs how he hears them, with no attempt made to keep up with the Joneses, unless their first name is George.
Stranger at the Wake keeps the listener guessing, often taking giant steps stylistically from track to track, some of which are unlike anything Tuck has released; others just what his fans have come to expect. Acapella gospel, wordy funk, stonesy rock & roll, epic country, Irishish folk, heart-tugging ballads, clairvoyant jazz. It's all here, held together by an unseen unifying strand, which just might be the truth itself.
Many of the lyrics occupy that sweet spot Tuck has found somewhere between Bob Dylan's self-renewing complexities and Hank Williams' straight-shooting minimalism. The subject matter ranges from the theological to the socio-political, through the post-marital and back again. A tale told of life on the road is followed by a postcard from home. The remarkable mingles with the mundane. Al's method-acted role here is that of a part-time whisky-tippling, loose-cannon son of a preacher man.
Appearing hot on the heels of its predecessors Under Your Shadow and Food for the Moon, Stranger at the Wake completes a trilogy of albums woven with great care which fearlessly depict the grim yet exhilarating reality of our times.
Tuck declares, "My last three records are absolutely going to stand. If you don't get them now, I hope you will soon. But by then it may be too late."
Toronto Album Launch: Saturday May 11th | 7pm - 9pm | Dakota Tavern