Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy Announces New Solo LP

BY Alex HudsonPublished Aug 4, 2011

In addition to making up one half of the songwriting partnership behind Blue Rodeo, Jim Cuddy is slowly beginning to put together an impressive discography of his own. Next month, the country rock lifer will release his third disc as a solo artist. Entitled Skyscraper Soul, it will arrive on September 27 via Warner Bros.

The project originally began as a score for his wife Rena Polley's short film Four Sisters. The tunes evidently didn't suit the movie, so Cuddy opted to release them as a stand-alone album.

"When I write songs for my solo material, the songs tend to be a lot more personal than what I write for Blue Rodeo," the songwriter said in a press release. "I come in here and sit down with all of these instruments and work at building the ideas until a song emerges."

Recording took place in the spring at at Blue Rodeo's Woodshed Studio in Toronto. Production duties were split between Cuddy, guitarist Colin Cripps and Chris Shreenan-Dyck. Most of the tracks were cut live off the floor with help from the singer's backing band, plus string and horn players.

The lead single is called "Everyone Watched the Wedding," which was inspired by Prince William and Kate Middleton's royal wedding in April. "I've never been much of a royalist but this song is about the royal wedding," Cuddy explained. "Something about this last wedding got me. When I started reading more about it I realized that there is something about it that is very inspiring."

See a making-of clip below, and go to Cuddy's official website to for more teasers.

The single will be available digitally on August 16. The album, when it arrives, can be purchased in CD, vinyl and digital formats. Pre-order the album now to get a handwritten lyrics sheet and a instant download of a demo track.



Pick up a vinyl copy of Blue Rodeo's classic album Five Days in July via MusicVaultz.

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