A Six String Nation birthday story for January 3rd (part two): Justin Rutledge
Our first summer tour in 2006 was less than ideal for our photographic purposes. We didn’t have our paper seamless backdrop and were making do in much smaller tent spaces back then. We also had less in the way of digital storage so we generally took fewer shots of our subjects. But this session at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival was a bit of an exception and while Doug photographed, Justin gave us and the people gathered around the tent a preview of a new song, “This Is War” and Doug just kept on shooting.
I first saw Justin at the 2004 edition of the OCFF (now Folk Music Ontario) Conference in Guelph, where he was getting a big push from our pal Richard Flohil. I was completely taken with his extraordinary songwriting and ageless performance. Soon after, he assumed a weekly residency at The Cameron House on Queen St. and I became a regular — bringing as many people as I could to share the discovery. Everyone fell in love with him.
Most famously, we recorded a video of Justin at the Cameron doing his sing-a-long, “Jellybean”, as a bit of promotion for the whole Six String Nation concept. It’s also the night I met my beloved Sarah so it was memorable for a bunch of reasons and Justin became a good friend and neighbour. We’ve co-hosted some dinner parties and I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to know his wonderful parents, John and Bambi as well.
And while I will never forget the extraordinary experiences of seeing Justin play Voyageur at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern or the Winnipeg Folk Festival, I’m just as grateful for the times we’ve bumped into each other on the street and gone for a beer and talked about things other than music.
That doesn’t happen as much since he’s moved out of town but I promise the next time we get a free car rental we’re headed to Prince Edward County!
Until then, happy birthday Justin!
Six String Nation is a project centred around a world-exclusive acoustic guitar literally built from pieces of history and heritage that reveal the stories of different communities, cultures, characters and events from every part of Canada. The guitar is nicknamed Voyageur.
It offers a conception of Canada that is at once historical, contemporary, dynamic, personal, emotional, generous, inclusive and proudly Canadian.
The portrait, part of a collection of approximately 150,000 images of 15,000 different people taken at events in every province and territory of Canada, is by Doug Nicholson.
Jowi Taylor is a Peabody Award winning broadcaster, bestselling author and a recipient of Canada’s Meritorious Service Medal for his work on Six String Nation.