Thanks in no small part to his new album, Halifax-bred troubadour Joel Plaskett is riding an enviable wave of success.
People across the nation are declaring Ashtray Rock his stepping stone to greatness. But, according to Plaskett, there's no secret list of ingredients you can combine to create a classic Canadian album.
"It has something to do, I think, with forces beyond your control like the time that it landed in the popular imagination. After The Gold Rush a classic Neil Young record is one of my favourites, and I think it's one of his best. But if it had come out two years later, or if Harvest had come first, would that be his best?
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At first glance, Ashtray Rock is a concept record about a teenage love triangle that destroys a band and friendships. But, as Plaskett explains, the inspiration for the disc runs much deeper than adolescent angst.
"I guess in the surface story, it's fictional, but in the details and where the songs came from, they're fairly autobiographical.
I didn't have a falling out with a friend over a girl. That's not so much the most important part of the story. It's more about how music brought my friends and I together when we were young.
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Plaskett goes on to explain that, originally, many of the album's tracks had nothing to do with Ashtray Rock's overall story. But bit by bit, he began to see connections between the songs, his past and his present.
"Having a story that has a bit of an arc and drama to it allows me to sing a bunch of songs that I've written at different times that are about different things, but work them into the greater picture," Plaskett explains.
Not the sort of person you'd accuse of being a closet romantic, Plaskett isn't too shy to reveal that a number of Ashtray Rock's songs were actually written with his wife, artist and illustrator Rebecca Kraatz, in mind.
"I'm writing from her perspective in little snippets here and there. The song 'The Glorious Life' actually stems back to when we first met each other.
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Plaskett takes Ashtray Rock's narrative this month along with his band the Emergency, who include drummer Dave Marsh and bassist Chris Pennell. Plaskett seems unconcerned with the potential problems that might arise as the trio try to convert a concept album into a live performance.
"We tried to make all of the songs stand on their own.
They're all about things both within and outside the concept or the story of the record. They don't need the story to work.
"We could have gone out and played the whole record in its entirety, but a record is different than a live show.
This record starts swinging, like a party, but as the story progresses, it mellows out. With a live show, often what I like to do is start off a little more laid-back and build it up into something a little more frenetic. If we're struggling to execute some concept record where only half the audience will have gotten the record, it might be a little trying for people who want to hear some of the old stuff.
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It remains to be seen whether or not Ashtray Rock will net Plaskett a place in the canon of great Canadian musicians. But at this point in his career, he doesn't seem concerned with such lofty matters.
"I'd like to think I can carve a little corner in Canadian music history, but all I try and do is keep it up and keep moving forward.
If I look back, it's only to be nostalgic and get weepy.
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