After paying tribute to Canada’s forgotten country music heroes on the 2023 covers album Lost Country, Sean Burns is back with an all-original 10-song collection entitled Better Off In Time & Other Songs For The Dance Floor, set to be released Sept. 18 via Department Store Records. The first preview, “Glory For Me,” is a classic hard luck story further accentuated by Sean’s soaring vocal performance.
“‘Glory For Me’ is one of three songs that Skinny Dyck and I co-wrote when we were touring together in 2019,” Sean says. “I think all the new songs touch on a similar theme of the protagonist being down and out, or at best, the underdog. Maybe we were seeing some of ourselves in these characters as we were out there grinding on the road to little or no fanfare.”
Better Off In Time… was recorded at Winnipeg’s No Fun Club with co-producers Skinny Dyck and Scott Franchuk, and features Sean and his band, guitarist Chris Dunn, drummer Joanna Miller and pedal steel guitarist Dan Russell, along with several guests including legendary piano player Floyd Domino (Asleep At The Wheel, Merle Haggard) who sent in his tracks from his home in Austin, Texas.
For Sean, who also plays bass in Corb Lund’s Hurtin’ Albertans, making Better Off In Time… was in many ways a matter of taking care of unfinished business that was disrupted by the pandemic. Over half the songs were written in 2018 and 2019, while others came together over the past few years whenever Sean was inspired to write while on tour. In the end, the pieces fell into place once Sean had the right group of musicians and some time to record.
Overall, fans of Sean’s work will be thrilled to hear him and the band continue to revitalize the sound of classic honky tonk, with song titles such as “When The Heartaches Call,” “I Do My Crying Alone” and “Lord, I Hate To See Myself This Way” speaking volumes.
Such detail is common practice for Sean Burns, whose encyclopedic knowledge of country music has been established through his long-running radio show and early thematic solo albums. While there certainly are some lyrical connections on Better Off In Time…, Sean says that if there is a theme to the album, it’s more in the overall sound, which was largely inspired by Texas dancehall country, made famous by Ray Price, Johnny Bush and others.
As with all of Sean’s work, it’s not necessary to be familiar with the theme he’s presenting. The songs stand on their own as not only a reminder of what country once was, but what it will always be, the music that maintains our unbreakable human bonds.
“Glory For Me” is available now at Bandcamp and all streaming services.
