<\/span><\/a>Sonic Concerts<\/strong> presents Matt Andersen & the Bona Fide\u00a0with special guest Donovan Woods on April 14th at Saint John\u2019s\u00a0Imperial Theatre.<\/p>\n

Matt Andersen has been enthralling audiences with his one \u00adof \u00ada \u00adkind performance in North\u00a0America, Europe and Australia for years. Earlier this fall, the award winning artist once again\u00a0de\u00adcamped from his New Brunswick home \u2013 this time to record his upcoming album. Produced in New York with Commissioner Gordon (Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, KRS\u00adOne), Honest Man\u00a0<\/em>follows up the JUNO Award nominated Weightless<\/em> and sees the songwriter pushing himself into\u00a0new territory. Blessed with a rich gospel soul voice and armed with a new set of songs, Matt\u00a0Andersen found a perfect partner in crime with Commissioner Gordon.<\/p>\n

\u201cGordon has worked with so many different people, like Santana and Quincy Jones, on so many\u00a0historic albums,\u201d says Andersen. \u201cHe has such a great approach and was able to tie \u00adin so many\u00a0new ideas to what I\u2019ve done in the past without losing touch with my sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

From writing around drum beats to bringing in a cast of players including Andy Bassford (Toots\u00a0and the Maytals, Burning Spear, Natalie Merchant), Benji Bouton (Ibibio Sound Machine), Josh\u00a0David Barret (The Wailers, Lauryn Hill), and Lenny Underwood (Mary J. Blige, Amy Winehouse),\u00a0Honest Man<\/em> expands on what we already know and love from Andersen and brings it to a new\u00a0level.<\/p>\n

\u201cGordon brought a drum beat to one of our first sessions that I loved, and I wrote \u2018Let\u2019s Get\u00a0Back\u2019 around it. When we tracked, we did it the same way as the others \u00ad myself on acoustic\u00a0guitar, Benji on electric, Josh on bass. Using beats is something I never thought I would go for.\u00a0But it was a lot of fun and I\u2019m really excited with what we recorded. If I was left up to my own\u00a0devices it would have been a very different record.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 10\u00a0songs that make up Honest Man<\/em> explore both the political and the personal. The title\u00a0track, co-\u00adwritten with Chris Kirby, was inspired by a US political cartoon while \u201cLet\u2019s Get Back\u201d,\u00a0co\u00ad-penned with Andy Stochansky, has Andersen thinking about how his country as a nation has\u00a0changed, but not for the better. \u201cWho Are You Listening To?\u201d was hatched with Ryan Hupman\u00a0during a pre-\u00adelection social media flood and emerges as a rally call for people to make up their\u00a0own minds and not be swung by the \u201cinformation\u201d we\u2019re being fed.\u00a0On \u201cAll The Way\u201d, written with Gordie Sampson, Andersen takes a more personal approach as\u00a0he sings about the decision to fully commit to a relationship, while on the alluring piano ballad\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m Giving In\u201d, composed with Andy Stochansky and Jamie Hartman, he muses about the\u00a0moments leading up to that commitment.<\/p>\n