Jerry Leger paints his dreams onto a distant Canvas of Gold in his latest single and video — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
The opening track from the acclaimed Toronto singer-songwriter’s Nov. 8 album Time Out For Tomorrow, Canvas of Gold’s world-weary country-rock weaves its magic to minimalist visuals reminiscent of The Replacements‘ classic anti-videos from the ’80s.
Time Out For Tomorrow continues Leger’s run of consistently high output and displays the finely honed artistic vision that has been evident since 2005 when, at age 19, he released the first of nine studio albums. It’s added up to a body of work that was recently celebrated with the European-only compilation Too Broke To Die, aimed at Leger’s growing fan base in Britain and the EU.
Most of those listeners didn’t discover Leger until his 2014 album Early Riser, his first with Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies handling production duties, as well as the first to be released on the Junkies’ label, Latent Recordings. The combination of Timmins’ capture-the-moment production aesthetic and the Rolling Thunderesque chemistry of Leger’s longtime band The Situation (plus a few special guests) now appears unbeatable. And although Time Out For Tomorrow may not be as expansive as Leger’s previous Timmins-produced effort, the acclaimed 2017 double album Nonsense And Heartache, its more concentrated dose of everything Leger does best is just as potent.
“I got the name for the album from an early ’60s dime store collection of science fiction short stories a friend gave me,” he explains. “Everything around me seems like science fiction these days, and the phrase Time Out For Tomorrow fit these songs and my mood in one way or another.”
Leger points to Canvas of Gold as one of the album’s key moments. When he sings, “Everything was almost decided when we were young, you’ll stay poor like your family before and I’ll keep hustling,” it’s a reference to Toronto’s well-known gentrification projects in recent years that have put tremendous pressure on the city’s artistic communities. “Close to where I live there’s a condo development starting at $400,000 called ‘The Poet.’ I don’t know too many poets who can afford that. I’m living in a time that is harder and harder to do what I at this point involuntarily do. What I have to do.”
Watch Canvas of Gold above, see Leger live at one of the dates below, and keep up with him via his website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Jerry Leger Tour Dates
Sept. 13 | Bracebridge Hall | Bracebridge ON*
Sept. 21 | Troubadour Festival | Barrie ON*
Oct. 17 | Tipsy Music Cafe | Fredericton NB
Oct. 18 | The Cottage | Kingston NB
Oct. 19/20 | Trailside Music Inn | Mount Stewart PE
Oct. 21 | St. Paul’s Church | Antigonish, NS
Oct. 22 | Deep Hollow Print Shop | North Alton, NS
Oct. 23 | Galerie MurMur | Moncton NB
Oct. 24 | New Scotland Brewing Co. | Dartmouth NS
Oct. 26 | Meaford Hall | Meaford, ON (opening for Jim Cuddy)
Nov. 17 | Second Wedge | Uxbridge ON
Nov. 28 | Lee’s Palace | Toronto ON*
Nov. 29 | Mills Hardware | Hamilton ON*
Nov. 30 | Quai des Brumes | Montreal QC*
* Jerry Leger & The Situation
