Joel Plaskett, shown in February 2013 at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, will end his cross-Canada tour in Halifax in June. (INGRID BULMER / Staff)
Dartmouth rock ’n’ roll mastermind Joel Plaskett puts Canada to The Park Avenue Sobriety Test when he takes his new album of the same name out on a cross-country tour this spring.
The new record hits retail on St. Patrick’s Day, and the April-to-June concert jaunt ends with a homecoming show at Halifax’s Rebecca Cohn Auditorium on June 4. Tickets are on sale at the Dal Arts Centre box office or sonicconcerts.com.
While the record is titled like a solo album, a la his Three and La De Da releases, it does feature Joel Plaskett Emergency bandmates Dave Marsh and Chris Pennell, plus former Emergency bassist Tim Brennan, Plaskett’s Thrush Hermit compadre Ian McGettigan, Mo Kenney and Cape Breton Celtic/bluegrass maestro J.P. Cormier.
Plaskett says the new songs are “about a 39-year-old wrestling with his place on Earth and society, navigating it,” and the live-off-the-floor approach at his New Scotland Yard studio resulted in “music that’s vital and ideally better than things I’ve done in the past.”
Check out the title track at soundcloud.com/pheromonerecordings, and mark March 17 on your calendar.