PROVINCIAL

PROVINCIAL

Since 1997, John K. Samson has written four acclaimed albums with The Weakerthans. The band's 2007 studio release, <i>Reunion Tour</i>, garnered praise from an assortment of publications including Paste Magazine, who said, "If such a prize existed, it would be the leading candidate for this year's Punk Pulitzer. "<br><br><br><i>Provincial</i>, Samson s first solo release began with a simple idea: to explore four different roads in Manitoba, the Canadian province where Samson lives. "They're the places I kept going back to. " Samson talked to relatives, friends and strangers; he visited archives, a tuberculosis sanatorium turned RV park, a forgotten cemetery.<br><br><br>The result is this collection of evocative songs, an album that fits beside Bruce Springsteen s <i>Nebraska</i>, Sun Kil Moon s <i>Ghosts Of The Great Highway</i>, Mountain Goats <i>Tallahassee</i>. While the teenage craving of "Cruise Night" recalls the Cars, "Stop Error" invokes Bach; for "When I Write my Master s Thesis, " Samson s inspiration was all jukebox serendipity Bob Dylan s "When I Paint My Masterpiece, " sailing out from the corner of a Yukon dive bar. <i>Provincial</i> is a record full of fierce, tuneful, vivid stories.