One of Halifax’s biggest album releases of the year gets its on-stage moment next Saturday: On Nov. 25, singer-songwriter Jenn Grant will perform at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium (6101 University Avenue) for the final leg of her three-month Champagne Problems tour. The album, a cross-country collaboration with the likes of Tim Baker, Dan Mangan, Basia Bulat, Bahamas, Aquakultre and Joel Plaskett, sees Grant pirouette across genres, from the country rock-esque “Judy” to the dance-infused “Nobody’s Fool” to the love ballad “How About Mine?” Conceived in the isolated days of COVID-19 lockdowns, Grant crafted a love-letter to the one thing that binds us all: Being together.
“The thing that I wanted to do was to create new connections... Stronger connections,” she told The Coast in June. “And yeah, it grounded me in just sort of being like, ‘This is a place that I love and I want to just make something that represents that.’”
“I think that there was a shift that happened with me during the pandemic—and also after having kids—where I really re-fell in love with where I’m from, and I wanted to make an album that encapsulated that feeling for me,” Grant added. “In my head, it kind of felt like a quilt or something: Like if I was going to create a quilt made up of songs of the country, for me, what would that represent?”
That extends beyond mere token guest appearances on the album: Nearly all the songs on Champagne Problems, recorded and produced at Grant’s home studio in Lake Echo, are co-written—a welcome challenge for the 43-year-old artist, who, through her nine-album career, has often kept the songwriting process to herself. (On 2007’s Orchestra for the Moon, Grant extended that DIY ethos to painting her own album cover.)
“I think at one point, I really shied away from co-writing,” Grant told The Coast. “I thought it was just like this kind of embarrassing thing, where you had to reveal yourself and sit in a room with your guitar and come up with something… I didn’t know how to do that with someone else.
“But then I started dabbling in it, and then this project is all about that. And I found that the revealing and the embarrassing moments are what really gets right where the creative juices are.”
Haligonians got a glimpse of that creative magic this past Sunday, Nov. 12, when Grant surprised concert-goers during Mangan’s set at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. The two performed Grant’s “How About Mine?” to rousing applause.
Might attendees of Grant’s Nov. 25 show be treated to a special guest appearance or two? How about five or more? Plaskett, Ria Mae, Amy Millan, Kim Harris and Aquakultre are already confirmed for the night. Winnipeg singer-songwriter Grant Davidson (Slow Leaves) is the opening act.
Grant is keeping a lid on any further surprises, but the possibilities are tantalizing.
Tickets are available through Sonic Concerts for $36.50 in advance and $41.50 on the day of the show. The doors open at 7:30pm. The show starts at 8pm.
—With files from Morgan Mullin