DESCRIPTION:
Subscribe to our channel! https://youtube.com/cbcmusic

CBC Music is your hub for coast-to-coast-to-coast Canadian music. Watch exclusive performances, candid interviews, and behind-the-scenes content featuring your favourite artists. Visit http://cbcmusic.ca for the full story!

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/CBCMusic
Or Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbcmusic
Or Instagram: https://instagram.com/cbc_music

--------------------------------------------------

Get more music, film and arts interviews at CBC's q: https://youtube.com/Qtv
And learn a thing or two about music at: https://youtube.com/cbcmusiclab


Joel Plaskett's latest album, The Park Avenue Sobriety Test, plays out like a biopic of a guy who just can't catch a break. The acronym for the album's title is PAST and with Plaskett at a critical point in his life, he's just about to turn 40, it may also be an album about looking back. While I don't think that the album is completely autobiographical, as Joel seems like a pretty lucky guy, but like all of us I bet he has his share of bad luck.

With all of that in mind you might think that the album is a bit of a bummer. Well that couldn't be farther from the truth. The songs on The Park Avenue Sobriety Test are funny, heart warming, fun and often rocking. If this is Plaskett looking back then he is looking back at the best of his long musical career because this new record is top notch perhaps one of his best.

For his First Play Live session Plaskett came to CBC Music's Studio 211 with only two guitars and his pianist John Boudreau in tow. Together they performed the entire record front to back for the intimate audience in a stripped down manner with Plaskett mostly playing solo guitar and John pitching in only when absolutely needed. This type of performance gave the songs from The Park Avenue Sobriety Test an urgency and intimacy that you just don't get with a full blown rock band.

Check out these performances from this very special addition of First Play Live.