Keith Hallett has long been headed down the path of becoming a folk legend. A regular performer, his music has only irregularly been committed to a physical medium. While Hallett’s Fredericton-based doom punk band, Janowskii, was featured on The Capital Project’s double-vinyl release, and his self-titled solo album went out on CD/cassette back in 2015, he’s making a vinyl debut as a solo artist on the equally curious folk label, Big Turnip Records with a 7″ single.
Big Turnip is a Dartmouth, Nova Scotia-based label whose mission is to preserve the peculiar folk character of Atlantic Canada; both its traditional gems and modern takes. Hallett’s style and alluring elusivity made for a perfect.
“Keith has been one of my favourite acts in Canada since I first heard him at Bearly’s House of Blues in Halifax back in 2013 or so. Slowly we got to know each other a bit,” says Big Turnip’s founder, Dylan Jewers.
“I asked him in 2019 if he would do a single, one new original and one standard blues tune, live off the floor. He agreed and I booked him a show at New Scotland Brewery in Dartmouth where I work as Entertainment Manager.”
Working with their habitual audio wizard, Thomas Stajcer of New Scotland Yard Studio, they turned the whole thing out in less than two hours, with Marc Doucet completing the mixing the same night.
The release features the traditional song, “One Kind Favour” — first recorded by Blind Lemon as “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” in 1927, along with an original apocalyptic number, “World War 3.” Along with the vinyl comes an extra treat: notes by another legendary and equally elusive folk artist, Garrett Mason.
“I am happy to be the first to put him on vinyl,” says Jewers. “And having Garrett Mason do the liner note? Also huge. Garrett is kind of Keith’s mentor. It made too much sense. I was just glad he did it. And so beautifully. A poem about his friend.”
“In a world riddled with viruses,
conspiracies, and, devices,
it is time for self-reflection
and deep thought.
It’s time to get in the zone.
At this juncture, we are met with Keith Hallett;
a man who offers us his soul and a zone of his own
for you to inspect and enjoy at your leisure.
If it’s one of his own songs, or, a choice cut from
Blind Lemon Jefferson, as sure as that St. John River flows,
I can always count on Keith’s singing and guitar playing
to get lost in and use as a tool of meditation
in these strange times.
Garrett Mason
April 7th, 2020
Dartmouth, N.S.”
To continue their work of documenting Atlantic Canadian roots music, Big Turnips have recently launched a Patreon, allowing subscribers access to exclusive content, sneak peeks into upcoming projects, ballads, histories, folk tales, priority regarding releases and events, poems and other readings by owner and founder Dylan Jewers, and more. For more info, click here.