Sam Corbett of The Sheepdogs shares new single, “You Belong”
Sam Corbett, founding member of the JUNO Award-winning and platinum-selling band The Sheepdogs, has announced the release of his debut solo album NUTANA on April 7. NUTANA features ten original songs (plus two captivating covers) he wrote while stepping away from the band to undergo cancer treatment one month before his first daughter was born.
The album finds Corbett singing lead and playing drums, percussion, and keyboards on a dazzling and highly nuanced set of songs certain to appeal to both Sheepdogs fans and discerning rock lovers.
The release of the first single precedes NUTANA – the jangly, simmering, serpentine album opener “You Belong.”
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, the saying goes—in the case of Corbett, cancer that didn’t kill him made him both stronger and vastly more creative as a songwriter, lyricist, and musician.
NUTANA, named for the neighbourhood in Saskatoon where Corbett grew up, isn’t doom and gloom. Far from it. Rather, the album’s 12 tracks hit all the retro, loose-limbed, and melodic notes one expects from a Sheepdog, albeit with lyrics that frequently deliver a wallop.
“When I was diagnosed in summer 2018, we had to cancel a couple of shows so I could have surgery,” Corbett says. “I had some follow-up tests, and the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes. I had to back out of a couple of Sheepdogs tours to get the treatment. That was a very hard decision because I had been in the band from the beginning in 2004. I’d never not played a Sheepdogs show.
The radiation treatments made me very sick and weak; I couldn’t even play the drums. But I could play the piano, and I started writing a bunch of melodies and songs that later became this album. It’s what I worked on when the guys were on tour, and I was recovering at home. I wrote the lyrics later when we were on tour in Europe.”
The album features contributions from Jim Bowskill (Blue Rodeo), Chris Mason (The Deep Dark Woods), Clayton Linthicum (Kacy and Clayton), Shamus Currie (The Sheepdogs, Bros), and former Sheepdogs guitarist Leot Hanson.
Listen to “You Belong” below and stay up to date with Sam Corbett via his socials.
Connect with Sam Corbett:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram