Fresh Tracks: John Hewitt | Exeter Lakeshore Times Advance

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Does John Hewitt sleep? The singer-songwriter troubadour has been calling Edmonton home since 2018, but is just as comfortable on the road, playing solo and lending his musical talents to other artists. In addition to performing, he’s been maintaining an album-per-year pace, which begs the question: does Hewitt ever rest?

Hewitt just released his latest album, Broken Rebels, which he says comes closest to the folk-rock sound he’s been chasing in his career. The nine-song collection was recorded within a month, with Jordan Dempster on drums, Konnor Miskiman holding down bass duties and Brendan Lyons behind the mixing deck. Having an entire month to devote to the album was a luxury in contrast to the weeklong recording of Hewitt’s 2022 album, Life Blood and Tears, which was a bare-bones set.

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“This album allowed me to add more to songs that I felt could use it, while conversely stepping back and letting other tracks breathe,” Hewitt touts in Broken Rebels’ publicity notes.

Broken Rebels does breathe, with its songs given ample room for the musicians to explore territory while maintaining Hewitt’s rock-solid songwriting chops in focus. Shades of John Prine and Tom Petty pepper Broken Rebels, with Hewitt singing of hope and the open road. According to Hewitt, many of the songs on the album were inspired by his touring in the U.S. Using a cutting sense of observation, Hewitt pays tribute to those people and places he’s come across on his travels.

The music on Broken Rebels varies from honky-tonk shuffle (Brown Paisley Cowgirl) to folkie laments (My Baby Thinks I’ve Lost My Eye For Her) to AM country rock (My Baby Loves Me.) Standout tracks are City Lights (North Country Girl) and Oklahoma, in which Hewitt utilizes his personal experiences in his lyrics. City Lights was inspired by a woman Hewitt met in the Midwest U.S. (a “two steppin’ bar stool queen with a heart of gold”) who had moved from Colorado to start a new life. The song comes with the harsh truth that despite your hard work, sometimes your circumstances won’t let you thrive. Oklahoma is as strong a song as Hewitt has ever put lips to. A delicately plucked acoustic guitar underscored by a bowed upright bass, while he sings of drifters and the desperate struggle to keep the brightness of the day from fading away. A simple song structure, but a powerful one.

Listen to Broken Rebels on your favourite streaming service and catch Hewitt performing live this summer on his very busy touring schedule.