Four Chords and the Truth, the Dakota Confessions are series of songwriter showcases held quarterly in Toronto at the Dakota Tavern, featuring a blend of top-notch songwriters and songs in an intimate environment. Each show is hosted by award-winning songwriter Andrea England and will features several nationally and/or internationally acclaimed songwriters (and maybe a surprise guest or two). The songs are performed “in the round,” a style made famous by Nashville’s Bluebird Café, in which all four songwriters share the stage at once, each introducing and performing one song acoustically per round for a series of 3 rounds. The show is presented by Jack Daniel’s and supports the Unison Benevolent Fund.
Featured Songwriters: Sate, Ian Janes, Sarah Jane Scouten, your host Andrea England, and TWO surprise guests….
Location: The Dakota Tavern
Advance tickets are available now at Ticketfly!
ABOUT THE SONGWRITERS
Ian Janes
Ian Janes is a rare talent; a singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer. His latest release, Yes Man is a confident, soulful record that creatively mixes his deepest influences and experiences. Critical acclaim for Yes Man has been immediate and overwhelmingly positive. The record was given 4 out of 5 possible stars by Rolling Stone France, chosen as “disc of the day” by Le Journal de Montréal, profiled in SOCAN’s “Words and Music” magazine and has received glowing reviews on notable online publications such as: Cashbox Canada, FYI Music News, Alternative Rock Press and Bob Mersereau’s Top 100 Canadian Singles. The first single, “Broken Record”, has seen regular airplay (CBC, Clic Franco, Sirius XM, Stingray Radio). In March 2017, his song “Can’t Remember Never Loving You”, co-written with Byron Hill (Ray Charles, George Strait, George Jones), was prominently featured in the hit TV drama, “Nashville”. The song reached #62 in Canada and #55 in the US on the iTunes charts for country songs, and was recently included on the Season 5-Vol. 2 soundtrack. His songs have also been recorded and performed by The Julian Taylor Band, Danielle Bourjeaurd and The James Barker Band. In October, Janes will return to Nashville, TN and Muscle Shoals, AL for 2 weeks of writing and recording.
Sate
With her trademark black lips and platinum Mohawk, the Toronto vocalist and songwriter leads a dynamic band combining blistering hard rock with gritty funk. The empowering messages embedded in her music, and her soul-shaking live show, have quickly built SATE’s reputation as an artist impossible to ignore. Even Canada’s national daily newspaper, the Globe & Mail, declared her full-length debut album, RedBlack&Blue one of 2016’s most anticipated releases. Among the standout songs are the potent first taste, “Warrior,” and the hard-driving single “What Did I Do,” the video for which premiered exclusively at Ebony.com. It only takes seeing SATE in concert once to feel the impact of everything she represents. Toronto’s NOW Magazine described her as having “a tornado of a stage presence,” while Lithium’s live reviewer proclaimed, “I can tell you sincerely that she is one of the most resounding artists I’ve heard.” When each show inevitably reaches its climax with the indelible image of SATE, fist in the air, and an entire audience raising its hands in unity, the full spectrum of human emotions—anger, joy, vulnerability—suddenly comes into sharp focus through the music.RedBlack&Blue is the natural result of that live experience, and the culmination of a lifetime spent fully immersed in music of all forms and shades. As the daughter of Canadian blues and jazz pioneer Salome Bey, SATE learned at the feet of countless music legends that passed through Toronto during her childhood. She soon found her own voice by adding the sounds and attitudes of punk and hard rock that shaped her own identity and set her upon her journey. That journey is in fact only just beginning.
Sarah Jane Scouten
With flavours of Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffiths and Iris Dement and a wealth of early country music, the two-time Canadian Folk Music Award nominee and recent Western Canadian Music Award nominee’s songs are faithful to a long-standing folk music tradition. Often spilling over into modern themes that are outspoken and edgy, her songwriting tackles issues from poverty and midwifery to tongue-in-cheek heartache songs and unabashed Canadiana. A traditionalist at heart, Sarah Jane Scouten shows her signature flair for the roots of roots music. With respect for these roots, she writes from her own perspective, playing with style to create her own distinct voice. This songwriter is known for hitting hard and close to home, then laughing it off. She released her third full-length album, When the Bloom Falls From the Rose, recorded in Toronto at Revolution Recording with veteran Canadian producer Andre Wahl (Hawksley Workman, Jill Barber), on June 16. The album includes ten original songs, ranging in style from classic honky-tonk to indie-folk rock, and two virtually unknown traditional Western Canadian songs, discovered on crackly recordings in university archives and given new life through Scouten’s haunting arrangements. Developing a big, lush sound on the album, Scouten really comes into her own as a songwriter and performer, drawing from such modern approaches to country music as Sturgill Simpson and Emmylou Harris’ iconic album Wrecking Ball, produced by Daniel Lanois. If you think you have Sarah Jane Scouten figured out, you haven’t heard anything yet.
Andrea England
Nova Scotia-born Toronto-based Andrea England has a unique ability to work successfully in two different music worlds, recording and performing as a solo roots/country artist while placing songs with pop stars and emerging country artists. Having been awarded by the John Lennon International, NSAI, USA, and International Songwriting Competitions, England’s songs have appeared on numerous TV series, in feature films, and have been recorded by numerous artists, including former Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger (whose recording of co-write “Casualty” on Killer Love earned Andrea her first UK Gold record), 2015 CCMA nominee Twin Kennedy (cowrites “Get Back Up” and “I Never Will” book-end their new album, It’s A Love Thing), risings star Meghan Patrick (“Nothing but a Song” on Grace & Grit), Tara Macri, and Kolton Stewart, among others. Andrea’s own most recent release, Hope & Other Sins – which was produced by Colin Linden and features guest musicians Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Damhnait Doyle, Liz Rodrigues and Gordie Sampson, among others – garnered rave reviews and diverse radio play, reaching #1 on Galaxy’s FolkRoots chart & spending 14 weeks on CashBox Magazine’s Top 50 Folk Chart. Of it, David Kidney (Critics at Large) wrote: “The songs are autobiographical, personal, honest and universal. The performances are potent as you might expect; England’s vocals are delicate yet strong…”
Also: TWO surprise guests….
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