Canada's Troubadour Sweetheart*, Joel Plaskett

November 26, 2024 7:45 AM

Joel Plaskett has been a touring and working musician since he was 19 years old, starting with his band Thrush Hermit. From solo work to his more rock inflected project, Joel Plaskett Emergency, this Dartmouth, NS native has been steadily putting out material. I love Joel and I wanted to share his stuff with you. (Also, I am seeing him again tonight as an early birthday gift.)

Thrush Hermit -- Hated It (notable for being on the Mallrats soundtrack, so this is def later Thrush Hermit)

solo Joel Plaskett:

From In Need of Medical Attention -- "I'd Rather Be Deadly Than Dead"

From La De Da -- "Happen Now"

From Three (a three disc album that captures the themes of "going away, being alone, and coming home" -- "Through & Through & Through"

From The Park Avenue Sobriety Test (named after a guardrail in Plaskett's Dartmouth neighbourhood that, uh, seems to be permanently dented by impaired drivers) -- "Alright/Ok"

From 44 (this massive four disc album, well let me just put this here about it) --

"Each of the four records in the album contains 11 songs, with their own title and theme. The first record (41: Carried Away) is centred around travelling, the second collection (42: Just Passing Through) turns to finding a homecoming unfamiliar, the third set (43: If There's Another Road) tackles transitioning from lost to found, and the last record (44: The Window Inn) deals with arriving at a personal destination." The track I've chosen from it is "Hey Stu!"

From his most recent release, One Real Reveal -- "Rainy Day Janey"

Joel Plaskett Emergency:

From the first JPE album, Down at the Khyber, and one of my fave Plaskett songs -- "True Patriot Love"

From Truthfully Truthfully -- "Come on Teacher"

From the Make a Little Noise EP/DVD, and most Canadians are familiar with this song as it was used in Zeller's ads in 2006 -- "Nowhere With You"

From the concept album Ashtray Rock, about falling in love, falling out with your best friend, all centred around where the teens hang out of boredom -- "Fashionable People"

From Scrappy Happiness, where the band challenged themselves to record one new song each week for ten weeks, immediately releasing each single as they did so to radio stations -- "Harbour Boys"

Joel is also the son of Bill Plaskett, founder of the Lunenberg Folk Harbour Festival, and in 2015, they released a more folk-inflected album, Solidarity. I leave you with a track from that album, "The Next Blue Sky."

posted by Kitteh (27 comments total)

*the asterisk is for what I call Joel
posted by Kitteh at 7:46 AM on November 26

Joel Plaskett is just terrific. I have nothing to add, except thanks and I hope people check some of his tracks out! Through & Through & Through from Three is so so so good.
posted by joelhunt at 7:54 AM on November 26 [2 favorites]

Seen him at a couple folk festivals and Massey Hall - always enjoyable. He brings the goods. Great post.
posted by whatevernot at 7:57 AM on November 26 [1 favorite]

He's an institution at this point.
posted by sfred at 8:02 AM on November 26 [1 favorite]

*the asterisk is for what I call Joel

Fred Eaglesmith cries in the corner...
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:09 AM on November 26

Park Avenue Sobriety Test was when I last saw him live, I think - he is indeed excellent!
posted by sagc at 8:09 AM on November 26 [1 favorite]

Aaah I thought I was the only person who fondly remembered Thrush Hermit. I lived in Halifax in the mid-90s and acquired Sweet Homewrecker sometime after I left town. It still gets rotation in my ancient iPod (we burned everything to an old computer and loaded it onto the iPod and then I think got rid of the CDs? So when that machine breaks a whole swath of my music will be gone without recourse...)

Thank you Kitteh, I had no idea about Joel Plaskett's continued adventures in songmaking, and will be rooting through your links like a small and ignorant wild boar.

(Also a record called down at the Khyber! That place was the center of my social life for a short and intense period. My printmaking class had an end of semester show there at one point; it's the first place I ever did ecstasy; I remember a night where someone made an ice luge and poured shots of something neon blue down it...)
posted by Lawn Beaver at 8:11 AM on November 26 [2 favorites]

Fred Eaglesmith cries in the corner...

lol, he can cry all he wants, he's not the one who made a musical Canadian outta me
posted by Kitteh at 8:13 AM on November 26 [2 favorites]

(Also a record called down at the Khyber! That place was the center of my social life for a short and intense period. My printmaking class had an end of semester show there at one point; it's the first place I ever did ecstasy; I remember a night where someone made an ice luge and poured shots of something neon blue down it...)

Lawn Beaver, he and the Emergency re-visited the Down at the Khyber record in 2021, did the same set list but 20 years older and wiser. It is still damn great.
posted by Kitteh at 8:20 AM on November 26

Only familiar with him because "Fashionable People" was on Letterkenny. I think I listened to that song 10x a day for the next month...although, I never got around to listening to anything else of his? It sounds like I should!
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:21 AM on November 26 [3 favorites]

I've been listening to some Thrush Hermit over the past few years - I grew up in that era but my tastes at the time were Q107 not the Stooges...or anything else outside raw, so it's been fun as I age to dig into what I might have listened to if I knew then what I knew now.

I had heard of Joel Plaskett Emergency because they opened for the Hip, I think maybe here in the US.

Anyway it was only a week ago that I discovered the connection between these two acts. Joel! A nice moment of synchronicity to see this post! Thanks!
posted by stevil at 9:28 AM on November 26 [1 favorite]

Oooh before I forget, Plaskett routinely plays with (and has produced the debut album) of Mo Kenney, a fucking dazzling non-binary singer/songwriter. They were second guitar at the first Plaskett show I saw. So as a bonus for being part of the Plaskett universe, here is a song from them: "Deja Vu."*

*caveat, the link misgenders them but I am not sure when they clarified their gender, tbh
posted by Kitteh at 9:48 AM on November 26 [1 favorite]

*the asterisk is for what I call Joel

Honourable mention goes to Danny Michel.
posted by thoughtful_jester at 10:43 AM on November 26 [3 favorites]

Ah yes. Sloan, Weakerthans and then some Joel Plaskett. Songs about drunk teenagers, winters here, and the sun in an empty room. Or maybe you’re the other man.
posted by zenon at 12:20 PM on November 26 [3 favorites]

Honourable mention goes to Danny Michel.

I would bang that man like a screen door
posted by Kitteh at 12:24 PM on November 26

I love me some Joel Plaskett! I kind of stopped listening to him for a while but he's always got a place in my playlists.

Speaking of drunk teenagers, I'm quite fond of fantastic intros in rock songs. Sometimes they're long, like in Boston's Foreplay (I mean, right???) and sometimes, bringing it back to Drunk Teenagers, they're short, but still oh so sweet.
posted by ashbury at 2:05 PM on November 26 [2 favorites]

Proud Dartmouth fella here - if Joel's playing a show in town, my partner and I are probably there. Friends of ours live across the street from him. Got to see Thrush Hermit play Clayton Park at the Marquee for the 20th anniversary back in September 2019. There's a reason that I love this town.
posted by jackrational at 2:09 PM on November 26 [3 favorites]

“Through & Through & Through” is one of my go-to songs for snapping out of a funk.

Joel Plaskett is also, for whatever reason, one of the artists I have the hardest time getting my friends (here in the States) to listen to. Must be their natural, overwhelming jealousy over his boyish good looks and ridiculous surplus of talent.

I’m so glad to see this post here today. Thank you for making it happen!
posted by armeowda at 9:14 PM on November 26 [1 favorite]

I had that Three album playing on repeat during my undergrad years. Good times.

Another great artist in his orbit is Rose Cousins, I know she has toured with him before.

Also, the Lunenburg Folk Festival is The Shit!
posted by winterportage at 6:36 AM on November 27 [1 favorite]

Update from the One Real Reveal on Wheels show I saw last night: just absolutely a blast. Plaskett has divided the show into two parts.

The first part is him seated in an easy chair, singing a mix of songs of the new and old, punctuated by a faux window tableau behind him. I would call this a Joel Plaskett career retrospective. He shows pictures of Canadian landscapes he's taken and photos that made an impression on his career.

The second part is him standing (the thrift store chair is horrible for his back, he jokes) and doing more of the same. But there's a photo montage of old Halifax places he remembers from the scene, his wife's art and how it's influenced him(he is a huge Wife Guy, LOVE IT), and stories from a long career. At least three of the songs from this set were about old friends from the music scene in Halifax, who are no longer among the living. (Shepherd: "wow Joel Plaskett has a lot of dead friends")

He asked everyone to not bring out their phones to record video or sound or take pictures and y'all? NO ONE USED THEIR PHONE. They actually respected his request! It was awesome.

It was a very intimate show (Kingston was the largest venue of the tour) and if you're anywhere in Eastern Canada to the final show in his hometown, he's likely headed your way. Go see him if you can. True Patriot Love, indeed.
posted by Kitteh at 7:59 AM on November 27

Honourable mention goes to Danny Michel.

While I don't know him very well, we have friends in common, and I can attest he is a sweetheart.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:50 AM on November 27 [1 favorite]

Ashwagandha, he has come through Kingston at least four times since I've moved here and the timing has never worked out for me to see him live. I hope to do so at some point!
posted by Kitteh at 10:32 AM on November 27

Before I think he even released a full album (mid 90s?) Danny played in the bars locally by himself or with friends so we probably saw him dozens of times because we always ended up at our local instead of studying. Good times.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:17 PM on November 27 [1 favorite]

Canada can love Joel, I just want to say as a NSer expat who has lived out west all my adult life it was such a revelation my first JPX show in Edmonton, his music is as good as poprock gets for me, but also very familiar in a very NS way beyond the obvious references. Made me think of rural NS and the big brothers with their vinyl collections of the Stones, Floyd, Small Faces, etc, filtered through this desperate need to find good music and watch Video Hits and rip on all that shit but love a lot of it too. We met on the corner, he was walking back to the venue from a nearby ATM, and if we'd had 10 more minutes to visit I'm sure we'd come up with names we both knew. NS be like that. Thanks Kitteh, much love for this post. Lightning Bolt gets a lot of play for me but any number of 5-6 of his albums get heavy rotation.
posted by ginger.beef at 9:17 AM on November 28 [1 favorite]

And Mo Kenney! Is there a more perfect little tune than Telephones
posted by ginger.beef at 9:20 AM on November 28 [1 favorite]

ginger.beef, it is super clear that Plaskett is an NS booster through and through and through (lol). I love it! I really get an idea of what Halifax might have been like in the scene during the early 90s. I admire him for being so anchored and in love with where he's from.
posted by Kitteh at 9:25 AM on November 28

ashbury, I am so on board with that fuzzed out intro to Drunk Teenagers

That song is the anthem I wish I had as a kid.. I NEED TO TAKE A PISSSS may not be lyrically mentionable but his timing and delivery just transports me to bush parties instantly
posted by ginger.beef at 1:13 PM on November 28 [1 favorite]