To say that Canadian musician Leeroy Stagger’s life journey has followed a strange path would be a bit of an understatement. 17 years as a singer-songwriter and 10 years sober, with two kids, a home in Lethbridge, Alberta, and a world-class recording studio to go with it, he’s far removed from the hard-living twenty-something who started on this musical path.
On September 13th, Leeroy Stagger invites us to be a part of his journey with the release of his new album and book, Strange Path, through True North Records. And today marks the release of the video for the glam-rock blissed out first single, “Strange Attractor.” Directed by Brock Davis Mitchell, the video draws inspiration from films like The Favorite and Marie Antoinette, and weaves an experimental narrative with shocking bursts of color. Watch video here.
The name Strange Path applies as much to Leeroy’s unexpected route from the British Columbia punk scene to southern-Alberta singer songwriter as it does to the album’s own evolution. Following from 2017’s Love Versus, itself a creative re-emergence after a years-long fog of anxiety and depression, Strange Path is the end result of a triple-album’s worth of scrapped demos, and a spirit-reviving retreat inwards. It’s also Stagger’s most ambitious and philosophical creation yet, a veritable self-help book pulled from a lifetime of struggling towards the light and brimming with the hard-won joy at the heart of his recent renaissance. It’s an album full of sharp hooks and sharper insight, and the first single “Strange Attractor”’ rides that line right to the end.
“Nothing is permanent when you really stop and think,” says Leeroy. “The home we live in, the car we drive, the children we raise, the art we make and the skin that we’re in. It’s not forever, it’s barely real, and that’s ok to me because I’ve been shown the truth of it all. In seeing that it’s not that big of a deal, this has shown me how beautiful it all is. It’s precious, impermanent and beautiful. “Strange Attractor”’ is about the unseen nature of impermanence and the sacredness of the life we live.”
In making Strange Path, Leeroy surrounded himself with some of the best players in the business, including drummer Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Elliot Smith, Los Lobos), longtime collaborator Tyson Maiko, Paul Rigby (Neko Case, Garth Hudson, Jakob Dylan), Ryland Moranz and Michael Ayotte. The album was mixed by five time Grammy winner Ryan Freeland (Ray LaMontagne, Bonnie Raitt, Rodney Crowell) and Brad Barr of The Barr Brothers shared producer’s chair with Leeroy on four of the eleven tracks.
When it comes out on September 13th, Strange Path will be the 2nd album that Leeroy Stagger has released in 2019. Released on May 17th, Me and the Mountain is a companion piece to Strange Path, an Americana-influenced counterpart to Strange Path’s contemporary sound. Written during a 3-week singer-songwriter residency at the Banff Centre, Me and the Mountain is the album that Leeroy chose not to abandon.
Leeroy Stagger and his musicians will tour to support Strange Path throughout North America and Internationally; see below for the full tour schedule. Strange Path will be available on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes and other digital retailers and streaming services on September 13th. For more information, please visit: leeroystagger.com
LEEROY STAGGER | UPCOMING TOUR DATES
July 12 - Calgary, AB - King Eddy (Stampede Show)
July 19 - Fort MacLeod, AB - South Country Fair
Aug 3-5 - Canmore, AB - Canmore Folk Festival
Aug 29 - Mount Stewart, PEI - Trailside Cafe
Aug 30 - Halifax, NS - Halifax Urban Folk Festival
Aug 31 - Montreal, QC - Petit Campus
Sept 1 - Wentworth-Nord, QC - Rickks Room
Sept 5 - Marlboro, NY - The Falcon
Sept 6 - New York, NY - TBC
Sept 7 - Rhinebeck, NY - House Concert
Sept 9 - Woodstock, NY - TBC
Sept 10 - Syracuse, NY - House Concert
Sept 11 - Burnstown, ON - Neat Coffee Shop
Sept 12 - Toronto, ON - The Horseshoe
Sept 13 - Ottawa, ON - The Rainbow
Sept 14 - Lethbridge, AB - Lethbridge College
Oct 11 - Santa Monica, CA - McCabe’s
Oct 12 - Los Angeles, CA - TBC
Oct 15 - San Francisco, CA - Hotel Utah
Oct 16 - Sacramento, CA - Feist Wines
Oct 17 - Portland, OR - White Eagle Saloon
Oct 18 - Vancouver, BC - The Fox Theatre
Oct 19 - Victoria, BC - TBC
Oct 21 - Parksville, BC - Bayside Resort
