As Jimmy Rankin releases his fourth solo album, the singer songwriter will take to the stage to showcase his new work at more intimate venues.
One of those will be At Space where Rankin will perform Sunday at 8 p.m. with songs from his new album and as well as old favourites, even those from his Rankin Family days.
Rankin said he was looking forward to playing in the intimate setting that is Art Space. It's a nice way to connect to the audience on a personal level, he added.
"The idea of this tour was to get the record out to people and do an acoustic thing," said Rankin. "The tour has been really fun. It's more of an intimate singer songwriter night. People will yell out requests and I will sing them if I can remember them."
Rankin's music has always been appreciated by fans and is recognized often by the recording industry. In addition to multi-platinum album sales and Junos won with the Rankin Family, his previous efforts have earned him East Coast Music Awards for Country Artist of the year, SOCAN Songwriter of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, and Roots Traditional Solo Recording of the Year, as well as two Canadian Radio Music Awards, six SOCAN top radio play awards and several Juno nominations.
The new radio hit Here in My Heart features guitar by Keith Urban.
Rankin met Urban at the 2002 CCMA's in Calgary and an all-night hotel jam at the Palliser
Hotel has since become legendary. The two toured Canada together in 2003. In this case, however, it was a later chance meeting that prompted Rankin to invite Urban to lend his talents to Forget About The World.
"When I arrived in Nashville last March, Keith was one of the first guys I bumped into. He's such an amazing guitar player and as luck would have it, he agreed to guest on the track. In January, he came into the studio, nailed the song and took it to a whole other level."
Rankin wrote Here In My Heart with his long-time friend Patricia Conroy.
"We've been writing for two or three years now and we just write really good songs together," Rankin said. "We wrote Here in My Heart in a short period of time and it just came really fast. I knew when I took it out on the road with me and workshopped it, it would be the nucleus of my record. I knew it would be a starting point for me."
His last solo album Edge of Day was live, off-the-floor and kind of rootsy, he said. His new one is different.
"I wanted to make a record this time around that would make a bigger statement," Rankin explained. "I wanted it to be more radio-friendly but still maintain that singer songwriter element." This CD runs the gamut, he said.
"It's got songs like Here in My Heart and the back end of it has Colorado Dave which is a six-minute ballad with me and my acoustic guitar. So I am very pleased with it."
Tickets are $20 at Books & Co., 1685 Third Avenue or Studio 2880.
