John K. Samson, singer-songwriter for critically lauded indie rock band The Weakerthans, will release his first full length solo album, entitled Provincial, this January 24th via Epitaph-Anti Records. The record contains newly recorded versions of songs from Samson’s previous two acclaimed EPs, “City Route 85” and “Provincial Road 222,” alongside a collection of beautifully evocative new tracks.

Frank Turner talking about John K. Samson:
\”I was a teenager and a punk when I first heard John K Samson singing. When that first Weakerthans record, “Fallow”, emerged in 1997 I\’d only briefly caught a glimpse of it in the avalanche of heavier, angrier records on my stereo. But 2000\’s “Left & Leaving” hit me like a blast of cold air, blowing cobwebs out of my mind. I sat in a van on tour and listened to it on repeat for weeks, wondering where this voice came from, and where it might be going.

Eleven years and many miles later, I was in Hamburg watching the Weakerthans play a show, hanging out with the band afterwards and making friends. John mentioned that he was working on a solo project, and when we next crossed paths, in Winnipeg in the fall, he gave me a copy to listen to. Sometimes an artist or a writer with whom you are familiar, almost over-comfortable, restates their brilliance in a way that takes you back to the first time their voice broke through the static. Such a record is “Provincial”…This is a record to savour and enjoy. Like Springsteen\’s “Nebraska”, it\’s an intimate portrait of a place usually forgotten by the geography of popular music, but one which ultimately shines a brighter light on the roads more often travelled by the listener.\”