“Nobody’s gonna save you. Nobody’s gonna make the way for you. Nobody thinks it matters what they say,” Canadian singer-songwriter Lynne Hanson sings in the title track off her new album, Just Words (due out February 7th), knowing full well that songs can actually do all of those things…and have, for her. From the jazz and bluegrass of her formative years to the iconic songwriters of her adulthood, music has been Hanson’s way of walking through the world and working through her emotions.
An award-winning songwriter who has toured around the world, Hanson recognizes that we’re all complex beings capable of living dichotomies, but heading for the high road and working toward forgiveness — of ourselves and others — are keys.
Her seventh studio album since 2006, Just Words marks something of an artistic departure for Hanson, who purposely tapped producer Jim Bryson to push and pull her outside her comfort zone. Contoured and textured, the result is a more muscular sound than on efforts past, more Steve Earle than Gillian Welch.
Today Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of Just Words ahead of its release this Friday. The album is a tour de force loaded with autobiographical tales from the Ottawa native. With a rock backbone and just enough twang that brings to mind the Americana and alt-country of the 90s, Hanson sings of heartbreak and the ups and downs of relationships on songs like “True Blue Moon” and “Hemingway’s Songbird,” while dwelling on her experience with sobriety on “Long Way Home”. Despite the at times sad and dark nature of the lyrics, Hanson approaches the songs from the perspective of a romantic. Her sound is at times reminiscent of acts like Lucinda Williams, Mary Gauthier, and Gillian Welch. Just like those artists, she is able to translate life’s more unfortunate personal events into music that resonates in a universally emotional way and also rocks out in an eloquent way.
Listen to the album and read our chat with Hanson below…
Tell us a bit about this album. When did you realize you had the songs together for the album?
On my last couple of albums, I’ve scheduled studio time to record and then given myself about a month and a half to develop the songs. Which may seem a little pressure-cooked, but it’s really allowed me to focus when I’m ready to record a new album. I think as a writer I’m always writing, even when I’m not, so the ideas tends to collect somewhere in my being and just need a set amount of time to be assembled once I’m ready to formally corral them. For this record, I got home from a two-month tour in early December and was doing pre-production five weeks later. There were definitely moments when I thought I might have been a little too ambitious with my timing for this project, but in the end I had more songs than I needed so it all worked out.
How and why did you choose Jim Bryson to produce it for you? What did he bring to the table and how was it to work with him?
I’ve been hearing Jim’s name since I started playing music but this is the first time we’ve had a chance to actually work together. I wasn’t actually sure HOW it was going to work when I first approached him. We certainly have very different styles and backgrounds. Musically, I’ve always been more of an Americana-type songwriter, whereas his original projects to my ears were always more grounded in the indie scene. We recorded a couple of demos a few months prior to starting pre-production, and at that point I knew he was the right guy for this project. He seems to have a real knack for knowing just how many layers to add to a song without making it feel over-produced or too slick. He really pushed me outside my comfort zone from a production point of view without ever losing sight of the original nature of the songs I was bringing to the table, so this was probably the easiest record I’ve made to this point in my career, while also being very different from what I’ve done in the past.
Are there any over-arching themes to the album that tie the songs together?
I have to admit I absolutely love sad songs. I once had a fan tell me, “Your sad songs make me happy,” which was all the encouragement I needed to embrace the label of “heartbreak poet.” But at the same time, I think on this album I’ve widened the scope of my writing to go beyond just another break-up album. I think the world needs more kindness, more tolerance, less aggression, and more compassion. We’re all wired together by technology, and yet we seem to be moving further away from making real connections. So on this album, I’ve included songs that address verbal bullying (“Just Words”), a desire to be more accepting of one another (“Clean Slate”), wanting to rise above and find peace (“Higher Ground”), and even just exploring the randomness of how we end up with different people in our lives (“Such A Random Thing”).
How was the recording process? Any great/funny/emotional stories from the recording sessions you can share?
I really felt like I was in great hands on this record. In addition to Jim, we had a stable of really amazing musicians adding their talents to the album, so it really freed me up to enjoy watching the layers come together on each song. I think the best suggestion Jim had was to record the bed tracks at North of Princess Studio in Kingston, Ontario. Zane is a fantastic engineer, and the band had the option to stay at his house for the week We stayed up very, very late one night, with everyone spinning songs as part of an impromptu playlist session. It was great to get a chance to get a some insight into everyone’s musical tastes. And without naming names, I can tell you there was at least one ABBA song that was played that night.
You get comparisons to folks like Lucinda Williams, Mary Gauthier, and Gillian Welch. How does it feel to have your name mentioned in their company?
It’s always humbling to get mentioned in the same sentence as an artist you admire. I am such a fan of those three songwriters, so to have reviewers draw parallels to their work really does a lot to validate my own songwriting efforts. They are three women who really speak truth with their lyrics, and don’t pull any punches, which is certainly the kind of songwriter that I aspire to be.
Have you been playing the songs from this album live very much? If so, what has the audience reaction to them in the live setting been? Is there a song in particular that really seems to resonate with live audiences?
I’ve been slowly working the new songs into my live performances over the last few months, and I’ve been really blown away by the response to the new material. It can be a little scary bringing new songs out into the world, and the real test is when they get tossed out into the wild to see how they do. There’s really nowhere to hide with a live show, and so when a new song is well-received, it’s almost a relief that it has somehow “passed the test.” “Higher Ground” has been one of the songs that has really resonated live. It’s a really fun song to play, and has a lot of swagger live, and I think audiences pick up on that, so I have been really digging what we’re doing with it.
What’s next for Lynne Hanson? What are your tour plans after the album is released? Will U.S. fans get to enjoy Lynne Hanson live in 2020?
I’ll be touring pretty extensively to support the album release in 2020. I’ve already got tour dates booked in Europe, the UK, and Canada, and after that I’ll be heading to the Northeast and Southwest of the United States in May and June. And we’re in the process of booking tours in the Midwest, Northeast, and Southwest of the United States in the Fall of 2020, along with a return to Europe and Western Canada. So I won’t be seeing much of my own bed over the next 12 months!
Just Words is out February 7th. For pre-order and additional info visit lynnehanson.com.
Photo credit: Jen Squires
