Stephen Fearing - The Unconquerable Past (2019)

Multi-JUNO Award winner and co-founder of roots supergroup Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, Stephen Fearing is one of Canadas great musical storytellers and most acclaimed guitarists. His 13th solo album, The Unconquerable Past, adds another unique chapter to an impressive body of work with a striking and sometimes surprising example of his restless creative spirit. Often categorized as folk or Americana, Fearing embraces and transcends the genres simultaneously for The Unconquerable Past. I had a concept of leaning into a specific sound, but doing it in a simple way, with a palette of potential sounds and instruments drawn primarily from Country-Americana and Roots music and with frequent, deliberate glances over my shoulder to the golden era of analog recording. As with much of Fearings catalogue, he pulls no punches on new songs such as Marie, chastising those hiding behind tinfoil hat religion and dark conspiracies, while Sunny explores courage and love in the story of a transgender person and their relationship with a heterosexual man. Someone Elses Shoes, a deceptively smooth track, takes things from the personal to the universal, exploring themes of empathy, understanding, and tolerance. Emigrant Song, a co-write with Belfast troubadour Andy White, mirrors Fearings own life in some respects. Born in Vancouver, he was raised primarily in Dublin and returned to Canada in his late teens. After periods living in Guelph, Ontario and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Fearing now calls Victoria, British Columbia home. His may not be the typical emigrant story, but the song beautifully illustrates Fearings empathy toward anyone arriving in a distant place hoping to start a new life. Over the course of his career Fearing has collaborated with a host of celebrated artists including Bruce Cockburn, Rosanne Cash, Richard Thompson, Cassandra Wilson, Nick Lowe, Sarah McLachlan, Keb Mo, Erin Costelo, and Rose Cousins, and performed at major international events such as the Shrewsbury Festival and WOMAD. For his 2017 studio album, Every Souls a Sailor, he won Worldwide Album of the Year from Blues & Roots Radio and Contemporary Singer of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.