Preview of the follow-up to 2021’s Hopeless Romantic coincides with cross-Canada fall tour
Since the release of the 2021 album Hopeless Romantic, Canadian alt-country artist Bobby Dove has made a lot of fans around the world. Dove is finally poised to follow up Hopeless Romantic, with the latest preview of the as-yet-untitled new album coming in the form of “Trans Canadian Blues,” an ode to touring the country’s vast expanses, delivered in a hard-charging style that would surely put a smile on Waylon Jennings’s face.
Bobby will be back on the road starting tonight on the Trans Canadian Blues Tour that will span Vancouver to Montreal.
Produced in Toronto by Aaron Goldstein (Cowboy Junkies, Kathleen Edwards, Juliana Riolino) with the help of a crack band featuring guitarist Nichol Robertson, drummer Dani Nash and pedal steel guitarist Burke Carroll, “Trans Canadian Blues” will leave listeners salivating for more of Dove’s new material, which includes a co-write/duet with Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale.
So, is “Trans Canadian Blues” a prelude to what people can expect?
“The sound of this track is unique to the album in many ways, with a more rocked up, guitar-driven feel,” Dove says. “Thematically, it is an integral part of the album, with its exploration of my identity and experiences as a gender-diverse person mixing with elements of classic country music storytelling.”
Further delving into the inspiration behind the song, Dove says,
“I was just off the road from an east-to-west Canadian tour and I was feeling ragged but restless. I think I was actually drinking alone when I started writing the verses, and it led to creating a little story about what it’s like to push on from either end of this country, alone in a car with hours to lose your mind between great distances. I wanted to express—with a sense of humour—what might have been some of my less dazzling moments as a touring trans-person with a honky tonk mind, and perseverance in the face of it all.”
Born in Montreal, Bobby Dove immediately became a magnetic presence in the world of country and Americana music with the 2013, seven-song debut EP Dovetales, followed in 2016 by the 10-track Thunderchild. With a voice as powerful as their storytelling, Dove’s work pays tribute to the golden age of country, while simultaneously offering original, emotionally charged songs that, in the words of Mary Gauthier, “blend genres with the touch of a master.”
Hopeless Romantic found Dove working with Blue Rodeo’s Bazil Donovan and Tim Vesely of the Rheostatics as co-producers, and garnered significant international acclaim for a Canadian independent artist. Bobby first toured Europe in 2022 and 2023, along with showcasing at Americanafest in Nashville and SXSW in Austin, and giving memorable performances at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Countryfest in Dauphin, Manitoba, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Bobby has further collaborated with Gauthier, Richard Thompson, Ray Benson of Asleep At The Wheel, and Lavender Country.
There is no doubt that country music is in Bobby Dove’s DNA, and “Trans Canadian Blues” is another prime example of how they are pushing the genre to evolve without losing its essence.