Remember the tattooed musician strumming his guitar in the corner of your college coffee shop? You couldn't take your eyes off his subtle, yet intense performance, and secretly wished you were the girl his songs were written about. Today it seems harder to find that genuine passion in the music industry—raw vocals, ego-less devotion and a stripped down style that doesn't rely on bells and whistles. City and Colour feeds that need.

You may have heard of Dallas Green through his first musical project, the hardcore band Alexisonfire. Never intending to a launch a solo career, one night he laid down a few acoustic tracks for fun and his best friend—who happens to be his manager—encouraged an album release. "I was like 'No, no, no, never!' and he said, 'Let's just put it out, and we won't do anything with it. We'll just put it out for the kids that like Alexis,'" explains Green.

The events of that night transpired into the platinum-selling album Sometimes, followed by a soulful live album and most recently a sophomore studio record entitled Bring Me Your Love. "With the newer record, I really wanted to make an effort to make it sound like me playing the songs for you live, as opposed to tracks that have been uploaded to a computer, processed, compressed and made to sound good for the radio," he explains. "That's just not who I am or the way I sing. I wanted it to be more about feeling than about perfection."

City and Colour heads to Henry Fonda Theatre for a four-night engagement with Tegan and Sara October 16th; visit cityandcolour.ca for ticket information.

- Susan Waits

Similar Topics:city and colour, live show, singer/songwriter

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