Rhett: Again I am behind on my timeline for getting this post out! Summer has meant a lot less of my free time huddled around my laptop working on this thing. Back at it today!
I was looking at my blog recently and realized I needed some more female voices sharing their tunes and their creativity. The first person I asked was Tegan. An extremely creative person who is always working on something different, artsy, and beautiful. Also, if you need to procure some coffee beans from a great local roaster, she’s your guide. Mostly, her photography is incredible and I knew I needed to get some of her shots on here.
I know Tegan does not love the spotlight, so I very much appreciate her sharing with us. Enjoy!
Tegan: I’ll be honest when Rhett asked me to contribute to his blog I was shocked? Floored? Stunned? I’m just a girl who could live the rest of her life listening to Dallas Green so why on earth would he want me to contribute? Still wondering. Anyway, I met Rhett in high school and I can thank him and the rest of Climax/Frontier for broadening my music horizons. If it weren’t for them, I’d only be listening to Nickleback and Katy Perry. I’m going to share my favourite songs. Songs that I never skip over. Songs that I could listen to over and over again. They all happen to be male singers which was kind of shocking at first but after thinking about it, it makes total sense as I find I am drawn more to deep voices in music. I’ll warn you that 99% of them will be slow and maybe sad. And I’ll also warn you that I’m tone deaf, not very technical, don’t know what most song lyrics are and sometimes I like songs just because. I paired each song with a picture that may or may not fit with the song.
Here we go in no particular order.
City and Colour – “Body in a box”
When I said no particular order, that may have been a lie. This song is my absolute favourite. Maybe a bit morbid considering it’s about death, but it’s my go to song. Really anything that Dallas Green sings is my go to, but this one especially. And ESPECIALLY if it’s the acoustic version. Holy moly. I’ve seen him live a couple of times and I had goosebumps the whole time. Coincidently, the cities flooded those nights too. I pictured it with the picture of my farm because it’s my favourite place on earth and when it’s my time to go, I would like my ashes spread there. Like Dallas said ‘And let my ashes blow with the wind’ fitting since it’s windy as hell at the farm.
Allman Brown – “sons and daughters”
It was the winter of 2020 and we sat down to watch The Good Doctor. This particular episode had Logan ugly girl crying. After he stopped sniffling and sobbing, I could finally hear the show AND this song. I quickly fell in love with it, which Spotify solidified as it was our most played song of 2020. It took me a year and a google search to finally know what he was singing in this song, but we’re not surprised. Like I warned you before, listening and lyrics aren’t my strong suit so I guess that’s why photography makes sense to me. We went to Mexico in 2018 for The Balic wedding and while wandering around Playa Del Carmen I saw this huge wall covered in greenery. I made Logan go stand in front of it and he happily agreed (ok maybe not so happily) but then this topless man rode his bike in front and stole the show. I kind of love everything about this photo. So much that I have it hung up in our house. Thank you topless man for photobombing, but making the photo.
Wild Feathers – “If you don’t love me”
I was given this record as a gift and it was on repeat for months. If records weren’t meant to play from start to finish with no disruptions, this song would have been the only song I listened to. The Wild Feathers are a little folky, a little alt rock and a little addicting. This song is catchy.In 2016 I went to Europe for 10 weeks and saw a lot. This photo is from Portugal and always kind of made me giggle. Portugal is an amazing country that I feel I only scratched the surface of. I hope one day I can go back.
Wintersleep – “Dead Letter and the Infinite Yes”
The first time I heard this song was at the U of S campus bar, Louie’s, with Eric Anderson and Rhett. Something about a small venue gives me goosebumps. Ever since then, I’ve been digging the acoustic version of this song (go figure) and blasting it in the car. You’ll never catch me singing it though because no one needs to hear this tone deaf voice. We’ll leave the singing to Rhett. I haven’t heard this song for some time but it instantly came to mind when writing this blog. It was nice to play it on repeat like I’m 18 again. I was looking through old pictures to hopefully find something for this blog and I stumbled across this beauty. How fitting since Sailor Dan was a Saskatoon legend. He was outside of Midtown mall and I bought a print off of him. He came into Starbucks and added our family name on some flags. Pretty neat to own a Sailor Dan print.
Bear’s Den – “AGape”
I think the first time I heard Bear’s Den was in the movie/documentary “Austin To Boston’. If you haven’t watched it yet, it’s a MUST. 5 old VW camper vans. 4 bands. 3 thousand miles. 2 weeks. 1 incredible film. When it was on Netflix, I think I watched it at least 80 times. It was filmed amazingly, the music is awesome and you’re guaranteed to have goosebumps the whole 71 minutes and 44 seconds. You can’t go wrong listening to any of Bear’s Den, but I chose Agape because I find that I never skip over this song when it comes on. Also, this music video is sweet. This van may not be a Volkswagon, but I’d say it’s pretty close 😉
Revivalists – “Soulfight”
Logan found this beauty earlier this year and it’s been heavy in our rotation. It’s not a new song but it never gets skipped over. The piano at the beginning just gets my little heart racing and in some songs you can hear the trumpet. Being a trumpet player in a highschool band (band was cool, okay), I can really appreciate a good trumpet player. It’s not easy. Oh and the band also has a saxophonist- WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR?! If you haven’t checked out these guys before, I think you should go do that now. This photo is of my Uncle Cecil. Or Uncle Dick. I chose this photo because it’s one of my favourite portraits. It wasn’t staged or planned; he was just sitting in the seed cleaner shed in his natural element. This man is a kook and brings joy to our family. He has a gold tooth and told us when we were kids that a calf peed on it and that’s why it’s gold. Or that his daughter named her kid, Ketchup, because she loved Ketchup so much. We didn’t stay gullible for too long.
SHAKey graves – “family + genus”
One year for my birthday, Carly got me floor tickets to see City + Colour and Shakey Graves opened for him. What a dreamy pair. This song has been one of my favs ever since. The picture is from when Carly and I took a trip to Boston. We went to a couple of ball games at Fenway Stadium and toured their stadium. This lone red chair is 502 feet from home plate and marks the longest home run in Fenway history. It was struck by Ted Williams on June 9, 1946, supposedly. David Ortiz, otherwise known as Big Papi, was the Red Sox big slugger and he would go out everyday with an aluminum bat and wouldn’t even come close to the chair. He’s not saying that Ted didn’t do it, but he’s skeptical since there is no video proof and only the word of witnesses. Either way, a cool story and an even cooler stadium.
foy vance – “burden”
Foy and the piano is just money. You don’t need much else. Foy is an Irishman and you can vaguely hear his accent while he sings which I always thought was interesting. In University I watched/listened to music on YouTube A LOT. Probably too much and that’s why I had to take Organic Chem twice. But since Spotify came out, I rarely use YouTube. While writing this blog post, I opened YouTube up again and I never realized how much I missed it and how much more immersed in the music I get while watching. Foy Vance has a lot of videos of him just playing and they’re quite incredible. Plus he has a moustache that most men might envy. In 2019 I was lucky enough to photograph a wedding in Ireland. Logan and I headed to Europe a couple weeks before said wedding and did some travelling. Logan loves war history and really wanted to go to Germany and see Hitler’s Eagles Nest. I’ll be honest, I had no idea what he was even talking about. So we went and I can honestly say, it was my favourite part of the trip. Hitler’s Eagles Nest is on the summit of Kehlstein, a rocky outcrop that rises above Obersalzberg near the town of Berchtesgaden. The town of Berchtesgaden is the quintessential German town. It’s where you would imagine people that wear lederhosen to live. The Eagle’s Nest was a gift to Hitler but he only visited it 14 times since he disliked heights. I could go on and tell you more facts, but I’ll spare you the time. Google is always there for you. Or if you have seen the show Band of Brothers you’ve seen it and know what i’m talking about. This picture is from the top of the mountain, quite breathtaking if I do say so myself.
Thank you for listening to me ramble about music and other random things. I’m going to leave you with this picture of an outhouse to remind you that not all shit is ugly.
Like PB & J – tegan dutton
- CITY AND COLOUR – “BODY IN A BOX”
- ALLMAN BROWN – “SONS AND DAUGHTERS”
- WILD FEATHERS – “IF YOU DON’T LOVE ME”
- WINTERSLEEP – “DEAD LETTER” & “THE INFINITE YES”
- BEAR’S DEN – “AGAPE”
- REVIVALISTS – “SOULFIGHT”
- SHAKEY GRAVES – “FAMILY + GENUS”
- FOY VANCE – “BURDEN”
Peanutbutter and Jams 
Okay… Soul Fight is a fricking BOP.
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