A soundtrack for the
journey Talking with Joel Plaskett about middle age, finding one's way home, and surviving the pandemic
BY KEAH HANSEN PHOTOS BY BRUCE MURRAY/ VISIONFIRE
A
n early spring day last year found me sitting outside the dentist’s office in my parents’ car. I had driven my sister to her appointment, which was running long. I fiddled with the radio and made occasional eye contact with a man drinking out of a paper bag sitting on a stoop close by. Between the new sounds, came a familiar voice. It was Joel Plaskett, crooning what sounded like a ballad, about having gratitude for each other and the frontline workers during the pandemic, while the “world is slowing down.” I listened fixedly as this figure from my past sang plainly about my experiences of the past year. Then my sister came out, and we drove home. It was an unexpected but familiar experience — being seen by Joel, while setting out on an uncertain path. I grew up in Dartmouth and came of age musically right about when he released his Three album. Coming of age musically in the late 2000s meant that I spent more time listening to Rihanna and the Black Eyed Peas than Joel but nonetheless, he was there, making small but frequent appearances on the radio during drives to school, and at free summer concerts. Just like with “Barrett’s Privateers,” my friends and I would belt out the lyrics of “Love This Town” when we watched him live at Alderney Landing. Even though we did sort of love Halifax, we were also 17, antsy to get going to wherever life was going to take us.
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UNRAVEL
MARCH / APRIL 2022
