Canadian roots road warriors GORDIE TENTREES & JAXON HALDANE announce Double Takes LP, share first single “Time”
After playing over 1,100 shows together in 11 countries over the past decade, Canadian roots artists Gordie Tentrees and Jaxon Haldane have finally captured their dynamic musical partnership in the studio on their first collaborative album, Double Takes. Comprised of 10 original songs, the album was recorded during a whirlwind trip to Nashville, where the pair managed to corral some of Music City’s top players.
Double Takes is officially out May 20, but you can get a taste today with the first single “Time,” available on Bandcamp.
Double Takes was overseen by the legendary Australian producer Nash Chambers (Paul Kelly, Archie Roach, and brother of Kasey Chambers), with the all-star supporting cast comprised of the one and only Charlie McCoy, fiddler Tania Elizabeth (Avett Brothers, Mary Gauthier), bassist Steve Mackey (Dolly Parton, The Wallflowers) and drummer Shawn Fichter (Peter Frampton, Tim McGraw). In their typical no-nonsense fashion, Tentrees and Haldane had the album completed within a matter of days and were ready to get back on the road.
“This album was kind of a bucket list project for both of us,” Gordie says. “Going to Nashville, working with a studio stud like Nash, and hearing Charlie McCoy play harmonica on your record—the same man who played on Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan records—you feel great in realizing this is what can happen if you stick with something. We have been working hard for years and enjoying the beautiful possibilities that come with it.”
Those already familiar with Gordie and Jaxon’s stripped-down approach will immediately be enamoured with the intimate sound of Double Takes. For the uninitiated, the album plays like a gathering of old friends, with songs like “Time” reflecting upon how life’s twists and turns ultimately lead people to places they were always meant to be.
Tentrees and Haldane’s undeniable chemistry throughout Double Takes suggests it was inevitable that the pair would ultimately team up. As Tentrees relentlessly toured the world in support of his solo albums—the most recent being 2021’s Mean Old World—Haldane was charting a similar course for his Winnipeg-based band the D. Rangers and producing records like Sharpen The Plow, the last collection by the beloved Canadian singer/songwriter Willie P. Bennett, prior to his death in 2008.
In many ways, Bennett’s longtime partnership with fellow Canadian legend Fred Eaglesmith inspired Gordie and Jaxon to forge their own creative bond, formally unveiled in 2014 at their first show together in Beaumont, Texas. They haven’t looked back since, and with Double Takes, those who have yet to experience them in concert can now finally hear their distinctive sound that draws from a century of North American music traditions and is rooted in truth, social justice, and the human condition.
