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Music

This John K. Samson Song Will Keep You Warm Through the Winter

The former Weakerthans’ frontman covers a track by Christine Fellows for Kevin Devine’s split seven-inch series.
john k samson
Photo by Cory Penne

Kevin Devine seems intent on one-upping himself with each release of his Devinyl Splits series. On past releases of these seven-inches, the Brooklyn native has handed the record’s flipside to Tigers Jaw, Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, and most recently David Bazan of Pedro the Lion. On the series’ latest release, he’s landed a true Canadian legend, The Weakerthan’s John K. Samson. It must’ve been a slow-going process to get a song from Samson considering the last time we requested an interview with him, he said he’d only do it via postcard, which we gladly agreed to.

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Samson takes a crack at “Saturday Night on Utopia Parkway,” a song by collaborator and fellow Canuck Christine Fellows. He puts his distinctly Samsonian spin on it with frail, minimal guitar work accompanying his overly enunciated singing style that borders on a spoken word delivery. The result is a softer, more muted take on Fellows’ 2007 playful original.

The seven-inch is out on November 30. Hear Samson’s cover below and order the record here (and do it soon because they always go extremely quickly and then you end up paying way, way more than you’d like for ‘em on Discogs). Also, now that the cold chills of fall are here, we strongly recommend revisiting Samson’s 2016 release, Winter Wheat, a warm sweater of a record.

Samson has a handful of shows coming up in Canada. Devine has a winter tour soon with Saves The Day and An Horse. He’s also playing the memorial show for the late Scott Hutchison in December along with Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Julien Baker, and more. Dates below.

John K Samson tour dates (all w/ Christine Fellows):

11/15 - Winnepeg, MB - The Goodwill
11/16 - Morden, MB - Morden Legion
11/22 - Bayfield, ON - The Rabbit Hole
11/23 - Guelph, ON - eBar
11/25 - Toronto, ON - The Burdock

Kevin Devine tour dates:

11/07 - Cleveland, OH - The Grog Shop*
11/09 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre*
11/10 - Asbury Park, NJ - The Stone Pony*
11/11 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre Of Living Arts*
11/12 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club*
11/14 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw*
11/15 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live*
11/16 - Richmond, VA - The Broadberry*
11/17 - Durham, NC - Motorco Music Hall*
11/18 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge*
11/20 - Orlando, FL - The Social*
11/21 - Atlanta, GA - The Stuffing Festival
12/05 - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade^
1/16 - London, UK - The Camden Assembly Pub
1/18 - Berlin, DE - Monarch Bar
1/19 - Ki, DE - hansa48
1/20 - Hamburg, DE - Hafenklang
1/21 - Koln, DE - die wohngemeinschaft
1/23 - Luxemborg, LU - De Gudde Wëllen
1/25 - Ac, DE - Musikbunker-Aachen e.V.
1/26 - Müchen, DE - Heppen & Ettilch

* = w/ Saves The Day, An Horse
^ = w/ A Celebration Of The Songs Of Scott Hutchinson w/ Julien Baker, Ben Gibbard, Craig Finn