Matt Patershuk - I Was So Fond of You (2016)

I Was So Fond of You is Matt s second record, and like his debut, the Western Canadian Music Awards nominated Outside The Lights of Town , Patershuk tapped Juno award winning producer Steve Dawson to guide it to completion at his Henhouse studio in Nashville. The result is one of the most honest Canadian country albums to ever see the light of day. Matt Patershuk s unaffected singing belongs to a different time and reflects a reserve and unspoken toughness that is rarely heard today. The songs on I Was So Fond of You are peppered with the kind of humanity that you can hear in Willie Nelson s best work and reflect a subdued irony that wouldn t be out of place in a John Prine tune. The emotional heart of I Was So Fond of You centres around two songs, Harviestown and the title track that share Patershuk s struggle to make sense of the tragic death of his sister, Clare who was killed by a drunk driver in June 2013. Harviestown is as bare and painful a reflection about the finality of death as has ever been written, and you d have to be made of pretty stern stuff not to tear up while listening to Matt trying to come to terms with his loss on I Was So Fond of You.