EARLY MEDIA:
CBC-All in a Weekend - May 2, 2021 (radio interview)
Le Québec maintenant / Thérèse Parisien - 98.5 FM Montreal
CKRL Quebec - Denys Lelièvre (interview)
Atlantic Axess with Terry Parker (interview)
Rick Keene Music Scene (interview)
La vitrine à Sylvain - 98.5 FM
Bob Mersereau's Top 100 Canadian Blog (review)
Album of the Week at Blues and Roots Radio
#8 on North American Folk Chart - Week of May 2, 2021
Recorded in Fall 2020, Come Around is the follow up to Walk in the Dark (2017) for which Lutes won the Canadian Folk Music Award as Contemporary Singer of the Year. Co-produced with his longtime collaborator Rob MacDonald, Come Around features 11 original songs and a superb cover of the blues classic "In My Time of Dyin'".
Featuring Lutes' unmistakable voice and unique guitar technique, Come Around offers a fresh blend of blues, Americana, folk and pop that carves a way through the current state of human dislocation with wisdom and humor.
On "Knives" he views the extremes of love and loss against the realities of domestic life; in “Lightning,” painful flashes of recognition ultimately provide a vision of hope. Magnificent and touching, "That Bird Has My Wings" was inspired by the book of the same title by Buddhist author and death-row inmate Jarvis Jay Masters. In it, hope for freedom is found in the imagination and the natural world. And on "Work of Art", the unlived life is recast as a thing of beauty. Always an excellent storyteller, Lutes also writes movingly of places in his life, evoking the joys of youth and the comfort of memory in “Shediac Bridge”, “Fisherman's Rest” and “Amsterdam”.
Mixed by renowned engineer Rob Heaney (Patrick Watson, Emilie-Claire Barlow), Come Around features some of the finest Folk/Roots musicians on the Canadian scene, including versatile guitarist Rob MacDonald, keyboardist Bob Stagg, bassist Solon McDade, drummer Mario Telaro, and gorgeous backing vocals from acclaimed singer-songwriter Annabelle Chvostek and renowned Montreal artist Kim Richardson.
Recorded at six different studios due to COVID-19 restrictions, Come Around represents Rob Lutes' vision for a sort of freedom that can come through struggles large and small. “We had to make adjustments in the way we did this album. We couldn't be together,” Lutes said. “But from across the country, we found a synergy through these songs. It is as if we are in the room."