Sunday Wilde & the 1 Eyed Jacks

This is the eighth release from blues and roots artist Sunday Wilde of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The recording returns to the roots of her sound, performed live off the floor with her backing musicians, the 1 Eyed Jacks. Across 11 tracks, the album carries Wilde’s familiar lyrical themes of difficult relationships, depression, tormented love, rocking piano, and her distinctive vocals.

Feature tracks include “Dead Man’s Clothes,” a tale of hope and grief that reflects on the need to pass on the belongings of the departed and the burdens those objects can carry. Wilde also pays homage to several blues classics, including the standard “It Hurts Me Too,” reshaped here as a sparse, sorrowful, and eerily romantic performance. The album opens with a new spin on the Willie Dixon tune “Evil.” The set moves through honky-tonk, sullen blues ballads, and jazzier material.

The 1 Eyed Jacks feature Colin Craig on drums and Arek Chamski on upright bass. Craig is a multi-genre percussionist who studied jazz drumming at Humber College, while Chamski performs with a number of bands in the Thunder Bay area. Guitarist Ari Lahdekorpi of Vancouver, a featured artist in Guitar World magazine, appears on many of the tracks.

All but one track were engineered and mixed by Gregory W. Schultz, marking his third album collaboration with Sunday Wilde. The special track “Spirits Up My Friend,” dedicated to her late partner Reno Jack, was produced by Mark Saville at Vintage Room studio.

“This lady is pure blues from her piano chops to her unique and addictive vocal styling. I can't stop, and I won't”
Harpdog Brown

Sunday Wilde’s original music has received international recognition. She won the Voters Choice Award for Best Blues Song at the Independent Music Awards in 2011 and 2014, and her songs have remained on the Roots Music Report charts for months, including a #1 Acoustic Blues album ranking and #1 placement on Roots Music Report in Canada. She won Best International Blues Release of the Year at the Jimi Awards on Blues411 in 2011 and 2013, as well as Best Roots and Blues Album of the Year in 2015. Wilde has received worldwide radio play on blues and roots stations and reached #1 on SiriusXM Radio’s BB King’s Bluesville in 2013. She received Honourable Mention in 2015 and was a finalist in 2016 in the Blues category of the International Songwriting Competition. Throughout her career, she has also received six Ontario Arts Council grants and Canada Council for the Arts awards for songwriting and recording.

With this recording, Sunday Wilde continues her musical journey with a new group of musicians contributing to a rootsy blues sound.