Kentucky, the musical project of Almonte-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Jordan Holman, releases its stirring new single “In Kingston Tonight,” a song that arrives as both a love letter to one of Canada’s great music cities and a deeply felt call to every Canadian to take what The Tragically Hip gave us and carry it forward.
Written, recorded, engineered, produced, mixed, and mastered entirely by Jordan at his home studio, The Kentucky Bend, the single is his most passionate and fully realized work to date, and its release was timed with a headline performance at the municipal Canada Day celebrations at Hardy Park in Brockville.
The song grew from a real and specific moment: a Filipino girl at a Kingston bar singing traditional Irish songs and eating poutine, the kind of quietly extraordinary Canadian scene that holds a whole country’s story in a single frame.
Kentucky’s sound occupies a space Jordan has carved out entirely on his own, a genre he and his listeners have taken to calling Northern Americana, rooted in rock, folk, blues, and ambient music but shaped by the landscapes, stories, and spirit of Canada in a way that places him in natural company with Gord Downie, Tom Petty, Patti Smith, and Brian Eno all at once. Jordan plays and sings everything on his recordings, a one-man orchestra of soaring melodic vocals, dynamic acoustic and electric guitar work, bass, drums, piano, keys, and percussion, all of it recorded and produced in-house with a precision and warmth that belies the solo nature of the enterprise.
His story is as compelling as his music. After triumphing over a near-death battle with drug addiction in 2020, Jordan embraced his second chance at life as a second chance at music. His debut solo album, Second Chance Music, released in 2025, chronicled that transformation with gritty honesty and enduring hope, and was followed by a live album, a string of standalone singles, several music videos including one banned by TikTok, and a documentary of his 2025 Tour-By-Boat of the Rideau Canal. He has played more than 250 shows across Canada in the past three years, building a devoted audience that spans generations, drawn to his unfiltered storytelling and captivating, improvisational stage presence.
The remainder of 2026 is one of the most ambitious and uniquely Canadian touring programmes any independent artist has announced this year. Following the Canada Day release show in Brockville, Kentucky embarks on “The Canadian Promise: A Toonie Tour of Royal Canadian Legions” across Ontario, a Tour-By-Boat Part 2 along the Trent-Severn Waterway in September, a monthly residency at the legendary Cove Inn in Westport through October, and a capstone run as Via Rail’s Artist-on-Board aboard The Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver, Dec. 12 to 17.
TOUR DATES
- Jul. 1 — Brockville, ON — Hardy Park (Canada Day Headline)
- Jul. 4 — 1000 Islands, ON – The Ivy
- Jul. 17 — Almonte Legion, Almonte, ON (100th Anniversary of the RCL)
- Jul. 18 — The Almeda, Almonte, ON (Municipal Event)
- Aug. 12 — The Local, Toronto, ON
- Aug. 28 — The Ivy, 1000 Islands, ON
- Aug. 29 — Port Hope Legion, Port Hope, ON (Toonie Tour of Royal Canadian Legions)
- Sep. 11-18 — Trent-Severn Waterway — Tour-By-Boat (locations forthcoming)
- Sep. 19 — WestPORCH Festival, Westport, ON
- Oct. 5 — The Cove, Westport, ON (Monday Musical Resident)
- Oct. 9 — Burks Falls Legion, Burks Falls, ON (Toonie Tour of Royal Canadian Legions)
- Oct. 12 — The Cove, Westport, ON (Monday Musical Resident)
- Oct. 19 — The Cove, Westport, ON (Monday Musical Resident)
- Oct. 26 — The Cove, Westport, ON (Monday Musical Resident)
- Dec. 12-17 — Toronto to Vancouver — Via Rail Artist-in-Residence aboard The Canadian