Francine Honey deals with Unfinished Business from a lifetime ago in her heavy-hearted new single and lyric video — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
A feeling of transition emanates from every note of musical treasure in the Canadian singer-songwriter’s new release. And that’s totally appropriate for an artist who’s in the midst of taking stock of her past while charting a bold change in her career trajectory.
Inspired by a dream Honey once had of a timeless love in a canyon, the song explores destiny, choice and possibility. But its implications are significantly more personal than that. Her musical vision conjures up memories of relationships that ended badly and finds her wondering if she would ever be find real love. Picturesque lyrical images of canyon dust filling the air and white smoke “rising up in prayer” contribute to an eerie Western gothic in which those ghost riders in the sky may be spectres of a now-painful past — or guides into a promising unknown. The song sticks with you long after the final chord has been struck, leaving a sensation of wistful hopefulness that’s the perfect metaphor for where Honey now finds herself as an artist.
Unfinished Business is the final track on Rockets In My Boots Vol. 2, a mix of new songs and re-recorded gems from Honey’s catalog. The album marks the second instalment in a three-part career retrospective she’s been working on since 2018 with Grammy-nominated producer Neilson Hubbard at Skinny Elephant Recording Studios in Nashville. The rewards have already been rich: With the project barely at the halfway mark, she’s won the 2023/2024 Songwriter of the Year Award from the Austin Songwriters Group International, seen the song Stay place as a top 10 finalist in the 2018 International Songwriting Competition, and been nominated for Best International Female Artist of 2024 by Radio Wigwam in the U.K.
Those are just a handful of the triumphs that have been racked up over the years by the acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who has the ability to blend genres like Americana, alt-country, folk and blues. A songwriter since childhood, she’s a graduate of the Berklee College of Music’s Professional Singer-Songwriter Certificate Program and has honed her craft under the guidance of some of her idols in Nashville. Since 2008, she’s released a string of acclaimed singles and albums, from her self-produced debut An Ordinary Woman to 2019’s Take Me To The North Pole. Three years later, her collection I Carry On charted in Canada and the U.K., while also earning accolades in songwriting contests. Her ability to straddle languages has netted her airplay on Francophone stations with singles like Chez Mon Oncle Lucien and Floçons De Neiges Sur Mes Cils.
Making music her full-time gig was clearly a wise move for Honey, a former project manager for the Canadian government. She also shouldered the responsibility of raising a family as a single mother. But even when you think you’ve streamlined your path, life sometimes compels you to narrow it even further. As of this year, Honey has elected to retire from touring and concentrate on her studio efforts, a shift she anticipates will bring a new, even more introspective dimension to her work.
There’s plenty of wind in those sails already. In 2024, Honey was invited to join Austin’s prestigious Next Level Music Group, which has given her the chance to write alongside Nashville hitmakers. She has already recorded a new, 10-song album in Austin with co-producer Gabriel Rhodes (who co-wrote seven tracks). The album, A Place in Time, will be previewed in November by the release of the holiday single Christmas, What Took You?
“I just want to keep going, writing and producing remarkable songs,” Honey says. “I am a songwriter and storyteller. I know I’ll do this the rest of my life. This is my legacy, helping people through life one song at a time.”
Watch the lyric video for Unfinished Business above, listen to Rockets In My Boots Vol. 2 below, and find Francine Honey at her website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
