Justin Rutledge @ Junction City Square

V-Fest isn't the only festival taking place this weekend. At the west end of town in an area known as The Junction is the much smaller (and free-er) Junction Arts Festival, which is in its 16th year of celebrating art and music. In all honesty, I had never heard of it before this weekend, nor was I intending on checking it out, but a bunch of my friends had invited us to go and witness the folk stylings of local Junctionite Justin Rutledge. And so we did.

Justin is another in a long line of Canadian artists to had achieved greater success overseas in the U.K., prior to gaining much recognition here in his hometown. However, the last three years has seen him gain quite the worthwhile reputation up here too, with his Man Descending album making the long list for this year's Polaris Prize. He's also worked along with some great Canadian heavy hitters like Jenn Grant, Ron Sexsmith, Jim Bryson and Blue Rodeo, and with alt-country becoming my musical pigeonhole of choice these days, I knew that, at the very least, this was going to be a mildly enjoyable performance.

Overall, I thought it was excellent. I know in the past he has used bands that were a little bit less invested in the music, but this time around he showcased a band that was very tight, professional and obviously well acquainted with his work. He had a down home demeanor that was instantly easy to relate to and his vocal abilities were exceptionally adequate; never out of place or showy but always appropriate to the song he was singing. As this performance was basically serving as an introduction to his music for me, (other than briefly sampling a few snippets ahead of time), there were two things that really stood out. First of all, the lyrics seemed incredibly articulate, moreso than you would normally here in this style of music. This is what probably prompts comparisons to Ryan Adams, and it's likely due to his majoring in English literature in University. Secondly, there were certain songs that placed more emphasis on musicianship than just the lyrical aspect of his work, and I thought those cuts were really good. I don't remember all of the song titles but there were three that really stood out in this regard for me. They were Greenwich Time (from the latest album), and Emily Returns and I'm Gonna Die (One Sunny Day), both from his Juno nominated last album, entitled The Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park. Although a couple of the songs sounded the same and his die hard fans fell into the slightly over obsessed category, I would say that for the most part I really enjoyed the show, and I definitely look forward to checking him out again.

Photos: Justin Rutledge @ Junction City Square on flickr
Myspace: Justin Rutledge
Download: Don't Be So Mean Jellybean (live at Cameron House) mp3