Gunner & Smith help you “Find Your Own Way” in his new single
Gunner & Smith, the Saskatchewan-based Americana Folk Rock artist is set to release his third full-length album, Hear You In My Head on September 16, 2022. In advance of the album, he has shared the lead single, “Find Your Own Way“.
“This is about growing up and understanding the world around me more fully and coming to terms with my relationship with my mother;” he shares. “About how your understanding of people and who they are fills out over time but also is about the concern for my own legacy and impact.“
The single is produced by Andrija Tokic, who also worked on Gunner & Smith’s previous release Byzantium.
Gunner & Smith, aka Geoff Smith, expands his take on a tried and true genre and continues the deeply entrenched traditions of evocative lyricism that have established Smith as a voice well worth paying attention to. His lyrics trace an increasingly intricate existence: doubt, trust, faith, reflection. Hauntingly beautiful chords each come with their own suitcase full of tension, each capable of delivering their own reckoning.
Listen to “Find Your Own Way” below, and find out more about Gunner & Smith via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
I’m a bearded folk musician from Saskatoon. I sing sad songs so that I can go on the road and eat food from different places. I’ve been writing and recording music for the last 10 years as Gunner & Smith and have been touring in Canada, the US, and Europe, and made 2 trips out to Korea. I’m about to put out my 3rd full-length album called Hear You In My Head. I try to make music that sounds like Townes Van Zandt and Pink Floyd and fail horribly. In my spare time, I watch a lot of NBA basketball and smoke ribs.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
This single, “Find Your Own Way”, is off my upcoming album Hear You In My Head. In summer 2021 I went down to Nashville and recorded it at the Bomb Shelter Studio with producer Andrija Tokic. This was my first time traveling to record outside of Saskatchewan and the first time I’ve worked with studio musicians. Everything was recorded and mixed on tape.
A lot of the tracks on the album I had never had a chance to play with a band before and we worked them out together in the studio with the musicians and Andrija. This is one of those tracks and ended up being one of my favorite songs on the album.
When it comes to the global pandemic, how are you keeping yourself out in the public eye while not being able to perform?
When the pandemic hit I was just finishing up touring my last record, so the plan was always to start work on the new one. Plans for developing the songs with my band kept not working out because of covid and travel, so finally, I decided to go down to Nashville and do the record there with session players, which ended up being a great experience.
Lucky before the pandemic hit I had recorded a collaborative EP with a bluegrass band called the Local Group, so we put that out early in the pandemic. I did a few live streams and was able to do a few shows last fall but I have laid pretty low otherwise in preparation for releasing this album.
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so if you were able to work with ONE fellow Canadian artist, alive or dead, who would you choose?
I’ve had the good fortune to play with a lot of my favorite Canadian artists already and am in the process of planning tours with some other really great Canadian artists. For me, it’s all about songwriting and one of my favorite songwriters at the moment is Mariel Buckley. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Mariel yet, go put on “Stray Dogs” or “No Surprise” and you’ll see pretty quickly the quality of their work.
What’s your goal for 2022?
In 2022 I am planning to put out this record and hoping… praying… to be back out touring in Germany playing music for folks and consuming as much currywurst as humanly possible. Following that, I’m planning to do some shows around Saskatchewan and Alberta with my pals at the North Sound.
I plan to spend the summer learning how to smoke meat better. I want to tackle my first full brisket. I’m also planning to put out hot sauces with Paperbag Beverage Co. and am excited for people to get to try it! It tastes really good! I promise!
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