Supplied

Man Ascending| Justin Rutledge's star is on the rise beyond the country music world.

Find It...

Convocation Hall

Justin Rutledge
w/ Jenn Grant. Nov. 22 (7pm). Convocation Hall, U of A campus. Tickets: $17.50, available through Ticketmaster (451-8000/ticketmaster.ca)

Justin Rutledge is busy planning a party.

In fact, the Polaris-nominated country troubadour is at home in Toronto, icing cupcakes, as he explains the concept behind The Couch Sessions — an informal series that he and a few friends recently started up. Rutledge is hosting a session that very evening, and the guest list might just make you want puke (because you’re stuck here in Edmonton, silly goose).

“Essentially four or five songwriters get together and play in people’s living rooms for a small crowd — like, 30 or 40 people,” he explains. “Greg Keelor is coming down, Brian Borcherdt from Holy Fuck, Julie Fader from Sarah Harmer’s band, and myself. I think Dallas and Travis from The Sadies are coming to play a couple songs too.”

Before I can say my bags are packed and I’m heading straight over, Rutledge says we’ll probably see more house parties and low-key shows like these as a result of the failing economy — people just need to know there’s support out there, musicians included.

“There’ll be more organic happenings,” he says. “It’s just going to be that huge ripple effect. We’ll see less and less people at shows. We’re just going to have to keep our hopes up, and things like the Couch Sessions really help with confidence, too. I mean, it’s a bad time for everyone.”

That said, Rutledge has been having something of a banner year after his spring release of Man Descending, an album inspired by a collection of stories by Canadian author Guy Vanderhaeghe. “The title story, ‘Man Descending,’ is about this 30-year-old man kind of in the crux of his existence,” Rutledge says.

 “It’s not a heavy story at all; he’s just getting ready to go to a party with his wife and he feels devoid of any sense of purpose or being or meaning. I mean, I’m just pushing 30, and when I read that a couple years ago, it really resonated with me. The characters that appear in the songs are connected through a thematic sentiment that I found within that story — that’s what binds the album together.”

And it’s his literary connections that have propelled Rutledge’s music beyond the inner circle of the Toronto country scene, garnering him acclaim and awards nods (including a Folk Music Award nom for Contemporary Album of the Year) as well as attention from pillars of the CanLit scene, including one Booker Prize-winner.

“I was asked by Michael Ondaatje to write some songs based on a character of his for a theatre production he’s working on,” Rutledge says. “So the next project will consist of songs based on this character. It was a real honour. I have a loose background in English lit — I had a mandate to uphold from my literary background, so it’s nice that it’s being recognized.

“We have incredibly talented writers in this country. I find that I’ve spent a lot of time catching up on Canadian novels and Canadian writers. I feel as though we have enough within these borders that we have enough to sustain ourselves.”

Certainly enough to last through those cold, broken-budget nights to come, at least.