Peterborough musician Benj Rowland has announced his debut solo record Community Garden will drop on Tuesday, March 15th.
The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for the fuzz-folk duo Mayhemingways he formed in 2013 with drummer Josh Fewings, describes the record as “a collection of songs that speak to small town Ontario and tell stories about the life of an independent Canadian musician.”
Produced by Juno-winning Dartmouth-based singer and songwriter Joel Plaskett (with whom Mayhemingways toured in 2017), the 10-track record features the original songs “Accident”, “Ballad of the Pig’s Ear”, “Sandy and Saul”, “Opeongo Line”, “Don’t Approach the Introvert”, “Mountain Road”, “Grey Flowers”, “Crossroads Jig”, “Oldest Home Burn”, and “Hand Me Down My Synthesizer”.
The second track, “Ballad of the Pig’s Ear”, is an ode to the historic pub on Brock Street in downtown Peterborough that closed in 2017 after 152 years. The song recently won the fourth round of the Don Skuce Memorial Music Collective songwriting contest, a tribute to the late owner of Ed’s Music Workshop, who passed in June 2018 after a long battle with cancer.
Rowland’s song will be re-recorded by local music producer and audio engineer James McKenty before heading off to Los Angeles, where it will be mixed and mastered by Grammy Award-winning producer and Peterborough native Greg Wells at his Rocket Carousel Studio.
As for Community Garden, which features album art by Cavan-based artist JoEllen Brydon, Rowland is hosting a Peterborough album release show at the Gordon Best Theatre at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 9th, with Canadian tour dates this spring and summer.
VIDEO: “Accident” by Benj Rowland
Tickets for the Peterborough release show, which include special guests J.J. Swinn And The Haymakers and Kayla Mahomed, are available in advance for $20 at www.eventbrite.com/e/290819056627.
For more information and updates, visit Rowland’s website at www.benjrowland.com.
