Al Tuck & No Action

I feel like we have our own living legend. And he's alive, he's out on tour.everyone in their right mind should just go sit and listen. He weaves slow stories from the infinite wide range of things that usually stick in the rest of our throats. We're lucky he's got the words and he's sharing them. – Feist (singer/songwriter)

Some songwriters are just actors.  Al Tuck is the guy they go and spend a month with to get into character. – Peter Elkas (singer/songwriter)

When songwriters talk about Al Tuck, they sound like they’re in love. ?A mythic muse, Tuck’s songs stand as tall as the man himself, towering over the world with a point of view that doesn’t pussyfoot around the multitude of raw moods, attitudes, and emotions that pump blood and strike hearts and minds. Now based in Prince Edward Island, Tuck got caught in the light shining upon the Halifax pop explosion of the mid-nineties, boosted by bands like Sloan who released his startlingly grand, first two records—1994’s Arhoolie and the Brave Last Days—on their murderecords imprint. Already a hero to aspiring musicians of that region (‘pop’ artists or not), critics were quick to compare him to every gifted songwriter you can name. He soon hit a wider audience like a revelation—his guitar playing, his voice, and his words, were all things of rare, effortless beauty that demanded exposition, emulation, and envy.

Myself and my colleagues from Halifax have been fans of Al’s since the early 90’s. Everyone that I knew who was trying to write songs back then, who was any good, was a fan of Tuck’s. His music was not all the rage with the writers of cheques who briefly descended on our town. Al summed up his outsider status during the so called Halifax music explosion of that time in the song “One Day The Warner”: “How many high and mighty horny people visit nightly while the hunchbacks in the steeples of the city spend the renaissance bumming money”. Come to think of it, I think he still owes me money. – Chris Murphy (Sloan, singer/songwriter)

Al Tuck is the real deal, a songwriter of the highest order, blessed and possessed with a double dose of the gift. Cut from the same cloth, as any of our country's greatest: Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell. I'm fully aware of how outlandish and overwrought a statement this might seem, but I've felt this way for years now, and with every new record of Al's, I'm further convinced. Hands down, he's the greatest songwriter of my generation, an opinion shared by many of my peers. – Jason Collett (singer/songwriter)

So why isn’t Al Tuck more widely regarded? Why do some fans and comrades, however dedicated, revere him with a measure of weariness? Well, Al’s a rebel for reals—a heartfelt artist with a mind that glides through the world like an angelic shark, constantly in motion with restless purpose. Nobody puts Tuck in a corner, and so he’s marched along to his own clip, mesmerizing and baffling band mates, producers, benefactors, and fans with equal measure. Why, he simply seemed to vanish into thin air before releasing the masterful, moody, dub-soaked boast that was 2001’s The New High Road of Song, reminding a new crew of young musicians of his mystical presence. From there, we heard tales of recording sessions and big plans; in the end, the modestly piecemeal (yet entirely essential) collections, 33 1/3 and My Blues Away (kinda kissing cousins of one another) both surfaced in 2005, as colourful, curious keepsakes for those who caught him playing live between PEI and Ontario, whenever he had the means and inclination to do so. Tuck has infused his work with so much feel, it’s only right that he moves forward instinctually. Some times he’s super right, some times he’s vexingly wrong, but he’ll sing you a brilliant song about either circumstance. And then all is forgiven. Or at least, Al is.

I've been listening to Tuck on record for years and always look forward to the next. We always seem to swap our new records in the wee hours at an ECMA after party or some such event. Al always appears in a puff of smoke, we have a great conversation, then he vanishes and I'm left with some new music. He's a true artist and he cuts his own path. Many have tried steering him one way or the other but he eventually veers off, straight into the woods where the branches are thickest, and some people may not follow him.  – Joel Plaskett (singer/songwriter, producer)

As one can glimpse on this new All-Time Favourites compilation of some of his best tunes, the Al Tuck catalogue is one of the richest exhibitions of songwriting and musicianship to ever emerge in North America. Hyperbole? No, this is real, the truth, the way fans feel about this legendary man and his enigmatic work. Every one of his records twists and turns with grace and grit, replete with provocative song craft, culled from the undoubtedly arduous process of finding sounds and arrangements that suit Tuck’s voice, words, and meticulously high standards. He may seem casual and carefree but don’t get it twisted—Tuck cares a lot.

If there is a songwriter still around today who writes from a pure subconscious place, and who actually has a Muse, it's Al Tuck. Just when you think he's written his best song, you'll hear another one that reminds me he's easily one of the best songwriters in the country. Al is the real deal. – Charles Austin (The Super Friendz, collaborator, producer)

Upon the 2009 release of Food for the Moon, his finest and most cohesive album to date, a very specific sensation crystallized for me; Al Tuck is my favourite living songwriter and I am not alone. I can’t imagine a world without his voice in my ear, singing the best words in their greatest sequence. It’s for the good of folk music that he does this—lolooking at his life and ours with his wise, soulful eyes, personalizing it, and telling us what he thinks of it all in powerful songs.

And many more… Vish Khanna



Discography:

Arhoolie (1994) murderecords

Brave Last Days (1994) murderecords;

New High Road of Song (2000) brobdingnagian Live at the Rebecca Cohn (2002) independent

My Blues Away (2005) independent

Food for the Moon (2009) Youth Club Records

All Time Favourites (2010) Youth Club Records



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Al Tuck songs have been covered by Nova Scotian artists such as Joel Plaskett, Matt Mays, Buck 65, Amelia Curran and Erin Costelo. Also Quebec City's Bette & Wallet and Oregon's Bazza.



Al has shared bills with many acts, including: Superfriendz, jale, Thrush Hermit, Hardship Post, Eric's Trip, Vic Chesnutt, Howe Gelb, Calexico, Garth Hudson, Tom Russell, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Old Man Luedecke, Buck 65, Matt Mays, Joel Plaskett, Haden, Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, the Silver Hearts, Julie Doiron, Feist, Catherine MacLellan, Duane Andrews.



The new album, All Time Favourites (volume 1), is a "best of" gleaned from Tuck's first four discs.



Available exclusively on vinyl!

Also available digitally!