''Islands'' is the ninth studio album by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

singer-songwriter

Justin Rutledge Justin Rutledge (born January 3, 1979) is a Toronto-based Canadian alternative country singer-songwriter signed to Outside Music. Rutledge's musical style is often compared to that of American alt-country singer Ryan Adams. His influences, both ...

, released on March 26, 2021 on

Outside Music Outside Music is a Canadian record label and distributor founded by Lloyd Nishimura in 2001. In 2007, it expanded to include an artist management division which includes Jill Barber, Matthew Barber, Aidan Knight, Justin Rutledge as management ...

. The album comprises new re-recordings of songs from throughout his career, in a project meant to provide insight into his songwriting process by redoing each song in a manner reflective of how it was originally conceived and written, and structured to resemble one of his live concerts.Brad Wheeler, "Why did it take Justin Rutledge 18 years to record and finally release his most popular song?: For years, most of the Juno winner's shows have closed with the beer-soaked singalong Jellybean. It's finally being released, as the lead single to his new album Islands". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', March 22, 2021. "Jellybean", a song which Rutledge wrote in his early 20s and has regularly performed live as the conclusion to most of his concerts but has never previously recorded for an album, was released in February 2021 as the album's first single.Ken Churilla
"After Years In His Pocket, Justin Rutledge Pulls Out 'Jellybean'"
''

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

'', February 2, 2021. According to Rutledge, he has tried to record the song for commercial release before, but found it difficult to get right in a studio context as it's a song designed for a large room full of people to sing along. With the album's recording taken place during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he arrived at the recorded version of "Jellybean" by recording a vocal and guitar track on his own, and then sending it to several other friends with home recording studios so that they could record themselves singing along to it, and then adding each vocal performance to the mix to create the group vocals. Participants in the recording included

Matthew Barber Matthew Barber (born January 10, 1977) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. His music has been classified as indie pop and pop rock with folk and alternative country influences. Barber was born and grew up in Port Credit, which is part of Missis ...

, David Baxter, Rebecca Hunt,

Dan Mangan Daniel Mangan (born April 28, 1983) is a Canadian musician. He has won two Juno awards and has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Australia, having released 5 studio LPs and numerous EPs and singles. He has scored for featur ...

, Blake Manning, Kara Manovitch, Annelise Noronha and

Kate Rogers Kate Rogers is a Canadian singer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Biography Rogers was raised in rural Ontario and studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto for seven years. Her early career as a recording artist included vocals for G ...

."Single Release: Justin Rutledge, 'Jellybean'"
''Great Dark Wonder'', January 28, 2021.

Track listing

#"Come Summertime" – 5:19 #"Good Man" – 4:47 #"This Is War" – 5:18 #"Out of the Woods" – 4:32 #"Federal Mail" – 4:11 #"

Nautical Disaster "Nautical Disaster" is a song by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. It was released in February 1995 as the third single from the band's 1994 album, ''Day for Night (The Tragically Hip album), Day for Night''. The song peaked at number 26 on t ...

" – 5:00 #"Alberta Breeze" – 6:40 #"St. Peter" – 3:46 #"Jellybean" – 4:38

References

2021 albums Justin Rutledge albums Outside Music albums {{2020s-album-stub