It’s not quite the Texas of Canada, I’m told, but Ontario has produced quite a few folk and country heavyweights.
In 1958, Gordon Lightfoot left his small Ontario town for Los Angeles with a pit stop in Toronto. Years later, Neil Young followed his footsteps. Joni Mitchell hails from nearby Saskatoon, the Band formed in Toronto, and even Bob Dylan’s hometown, Duluth, Minnesota, is a two-and-a-half-hour drive to the Ontario border.
All of these Canadian American folk heroes are famously inspired by Canada’s rolling landscapes, rural environments, and inherent nostalgia. I mean, I’ve never even been to Canada and still I find myself feeling nostalgic for it sometimes. Ontario also has a surprisingly storied anti-establishment history, which goes hand-in-hand with its grassroots music tradition.
Garth Hudson, the Band’s organist, is a personal hero of fellow Ontarian J.J. Swinn. Swinn’s second solo album, To Be True, out June 17, closes with an organ ode to the artist. With no lyrics, “Glimpse of Heaven (Ode to Garth Hudson)” expresses Swinn’s lifelong admiration.
“He’s someone I met when I was younger, who was one of my favorite organ players, and he passed away last year,” he says. “He was a continual influence, musically. Just one of those pure geniuses I’ve met in my life.”
After visiting four years ago with a friend, Swinn decided to move to Austin primarily because of the music scene. With To Be True, Swinn blends the traditions of his two homes while embodying a certain troubadour quality. His DIY process lends itself to the charmingly fuzzy indie/folk/pop sound, which he describes as just shy of hi-fi. The album’s top half explores his honky-tonk inclinations (he also fronts two-stepping soundtrackers Swindlers): Backed by an eclectic mix of instruments – harp, harmonica, organ – Swinn espouses classic folky feelings with an original twist.
“She showed me how to be/ Forever in love’s company/ She took away my blues,” he serenades on “She Took Away My Blues,” as a metallic resonator guitar twangs behind him with a mind of its own.
“To Be True,” with wavy vocals, mellow guitar, and cascading harp, signals a shift into dream pop territory, although Swinn immediately breaks free with “I Don’t Want Another One.” The upbeat track epitomizes his musical freedom. “My solo stuff, it’s just kind of whatever I’m into at the time. It’s like a snapshot of what I’m up to at the moment,” he says.
What was Swinn up to last summer when he began working on the album? A romance with his soon-to-be wife, Kennedy Park. The two got engaged in December, and love songs permeate To Be True.
“That seems to be the theme. Those are the ones that poured out of me in that period, and they seem to be really strong songs of mine,” he says.
“You and me do believe in the same today/ I don’t see it changing any way/ I don’t want another one to know me true the way you do,” Swinn sings on “I Don’t Want Another One Pt. 2,” the jangly follow-up to, you guessed it, “I Don’t Want Another One,” which Park plays harp on.
Park, who has a degree in Harp Performance from UT, plays around town, including at Westminster Senior Living, a dementia care facility in Rosedale, although the feeling of playing on a song that was written about her was a new one. “I’ve never been a muse before, but it’s been really sweet,” she says. “I didn’t know that it was gonna be a whole album dedicated to our love, but that’s been really, really nice.”
There’s no straight highway from Austin to Ontario, and the album’s different sounds reflect the path that Swinn has taken to get here from there and back. While he’s in Canada for the meantime reapplying for his work visa (“I try to keep it all legit,” he jokes), he and Park hope to reunite soon. Keep an eye out for upcoming shows later this fall.