The musician known as Hayden has announced the release of his tenth studio album, The Recent Past, and shared its debut single, Time Has Been More Kind. The album is available on vinyl today at record stores and online through the Hardwood Records shop. Digital release of the album will follow on November 6th. The album is available for preorder here
The release of the album signals two significant creative shifts for Hayden, a frequent collaborator with artists like Feist, Matt Berninger, and Aaron Dessner. For the first time in many years, he relinquished mixing duties, handing them over instead to Grammy-winning engineer Tom Schick, whose work with Jeff Tweedy, Wilco, Mavis Staples, and Willie Nelson had long been an inspiration. This album also marks the revival of his own label, Hardwood Records, which he set up back in 1994 to release his debut cassette tape In September, and went on to welcome artists such as Basia Bulat, Lou Canon, and Cuff the Duke to its roster.
Speaking on the first single, Hayden says, “It is perhaps the most ‘country’-sounding song I’ve ever recorded. One of my favourite concerts was country legend Ray Price opening for Willie Nelson at Massey Hall in 2009. He played with a classic old-school ensemble including pedal steel and double fiddles. It was perfection. To match the regretful, longing, rosy retrospection of the song’s narrative, I tried to channel that feeling and atmosphere on this recording. I enlisted some of our county’s best musicians to come by the house: Adam Hindle on brushed drums, Miranda Mulholland on fiddles, Matt Kelly on pedal steel, and Ben Whitely on upright bass; all added their magic.”
Recorded in Hayden’s Skyscraper National Park home studio in Toronto, every song on this album began on the same weathered 1940s Heintzman piano that’s lived at his family’s Grey County cottage for more than twenty-five years. Alongside his wife, Christie, Hayden is co-founder of Dream Serenade, the annual benefit concert at Massey Hall to celebrate and support children with exceptionalities, their families, and caregivers. Last year, the show was nominated for Philanthropic Event of the Year by the Canadian Live Music Awards. Hayden and Christie have recently been awarded Meritorious Service Medals from the Governor General of Canada for their work with Dream Serenade.
“Time Has Been More Kind” album tracklisting:
This Beautiful Day
Bombs Away
Stardust Or Avalon
Outta Nashville
Field of Lovers
Come For Us
Small Town Airport Restaurant
Time Has Been More Kind
On My Mark
Makes No Sense
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