Canadian roots rocker DAVID PICCO set to return with Until Now LP
Canadian singer/songwriter David Picco previews his new album Until Now (out May 30) with the single “Still Doubt It,” a funky slice of classic roots rock that exemplifies the sound Picco has honed for the past decade.
Much of Picco’s journey is chronicled on Until Now, 10 songs with lyrics steeped in hard-earned life lessons. Working with a tight crew led by guitarist Jimmy Bowskill of The Sheepdogs and Blue Rodeo (who also engineered Until Now at his Ganaraska Recording Co. in Cobourg, Ontario), Picco and his additional supporting players—Ian McKeown on drums and pedal steel, and Steve O’Connor of the Jim Cuddy Band on keyboards—blazed through four days of sessions in Spring 2023 with the result being an album that runs the gamut of emotions.
A native of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Picco — who Ron Sexsmith has called “a fine songwriter” — has recently been splitting his time between Toronto and Austin, Texas, trying to make sense of all that’s happened to him.
“Some of these songs are the most personal I’ve ever written,” he says. “They came out of dealing with the passing of my best friend and the end of my marriage. But I wanted the album to have a light-hearted side as well, and I kept writing pretty much up until we were ready to record. There are some spontaneous moments that I love when the band really cut loose. I also wanted to record Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Still Lookin’ For You,’ which we did off the cuff and it ended up fitting in perfectly.”
The album’s rocking side is best displayed on “Still Doubt It,” with its instantly memorable chorus and swampy groove punctuated by Picco cutting loose on a fuzzed out guitar solo. But the overall theme of Until Now is summed up on the title track, which closes out the record. Overtop a Faces-esque loose-limbed backing, Picco sings, “I don’t know if I went wrong, but heaven knows it won’t be long / I never said that I was strong – until now.”
“That song is about hitting the road and moving on, with or without regrets,” Picco says. “This is my seventh album, so I’ve gained lots of experience as a songwriter and recording artist. The last five years in particular have been a pretty creative time for me and I’ve been able to come into my own with help from the people I’ve worked with. I really feel that this is my best batch of songs to date.”
Indeed, Until Now builds on the foundation of Picco’s previous album Live It Down from 2021, which earned rave reviews from all corners of the Americana world. Having paid his dues within the Canadian music scene since the mid-2000s, David Picco has merely been biding his time in the shadows of this country’s best singer/songwriters—until now.
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