Taylor Ashton at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (16 Oct 2023)

Canadian, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Taylor Ashton stopped by the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis on Monday, October 16th, as part of the promotional tour in support of his new album, Stranger To The Feeling (Signature Sounds Recordings).

Opening the show was New York’s Eliza Edens, touring in support of her sophomore album We’ll Become the Flowers. What is remarkable is that the record was made thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign, and that she ended up recording the record in a two-week session in a Minneapolis attic.



The Brooklyn-based songwriter takes inspiration from folk luminaries such as Nick Drake, Karen Dalton and Elizabeth Cotton… and you can hear that in her songs, “How”, “Tom and Jerry”, and “Leash.” The latter was written about a cockroach infestation… but evolved into something else.



She mentioned that for this tour, she using a rental car… but the only vehicle they had available for her was a Dodge rental pickup truck. She confessed that the truck is definitely not her style. When her friend heard about this, they sent her the song “Pickup Man” by Joe Diffie.



She ended her set with “It’s Your Birthday and You’re Gorgeous.”



“It’s beautiful to be here,” said Taylor Ashton. The solo singer used to front his Vancouver five-piece band called Fish & Bird, but eventually the band broke up when he moved to Brooklyn, New York.



Normally on this tour, the singer usually had a drummer, Addie Vogt, and bassist, Katie Martucci, with him, but just for the Minneapolis show, their bassist had to bail out. Perhaps it was partying too hard at their sold-out show, previously in Wisconsin. Who knows.



Ashton’s Stranger To The Feeling was a result of a 4,000-mile cross-country roadtrip. The idea for this recording a song at various locations throughout America came from Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. From Brooklyn’s Prospect Park to a trailer in Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest to a Arizona, the mood and setting reflects in his songs.



Perhaps after Monday’s show, Ashton would be inspired to write a song about being in Minneapolis and losing his bassist player.



Taylor Ashton’s Stranger To The Feeling is out now.

Remaining tour dates: