Constant Companion Views

General Goods

Pardon me, I won't take much of your time here, but please - this is important. I think Doug Paisley's new album, Constant Companion, can help you. You'll know it the moment you hear his voice, which'd be made of silk if silk weren't so prideful. Constant Companion's got everything his self-titled debut had, only more of it, and better. And that record's gotten me through some dark days and darker nights. He's my favorite navigator.

And with all that, you know, Constant Companion isn't a sad album. It's just kind of about sad things, and how we carry them around. And anyway, once you look at them in Paisley light, you realize that there's less sad to it. Stuff just is. Things fade out and others always fade in. I admit that at first I thought it was for sad things, but like most great albums, Constant Companion is really about love.

Doug's music is also a magnet; all I can think to do is find people to come and listen with me. A lot of good people were drawn to him for Constant Companion, like Garth Hudson of the Band, who played keyboards (now there's a sound you'll know when you hear it). Leslie Feist sings on two songs too: Don't Make Me Wait and What I Saw. He's also got Julie Faught of the Pining singing on three tunes, another Toronto friend, Jennifer Castle, on three more and Bazil Donovan of Blue Rodeo on bass. Everything is in its place from sky to sea, every note, every blade of grass. The album's a love letter to you and your Constant Companion. You should try being nicer to each other.

For years Doug Paisley gigged around Toronto covering classic country songs in a series of curiously named acts such as Live Country Music and the Stanley Brothers: A Loving Tribute. After spending some time as one half of Russian Literature, he opened for Bonnie Prince Billy as Dark Hand and Lamplight, which involved playing acoustic songs while an artist displayed paintings behind him. Already he's had a storied career, so it's odd to think of his 2008 self-titled album as his debut and even harder to think of Constant Companion as only his second release. Both sound effortless and insightful, full of songs that draw you in with their peaceful, easy surface and then dump a big load of hurt on you.