Bonsound

Lisa LeBlanc’s second record, Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?, is available now in store and online (Bandcamp / iTunes).

Recorded at Mountain City Studios and Mixart Studio in Montreal, Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen? came together over the spring, guided by a wonderful team. Joseph Donovan took the reigns as producer (Sam Roberts, The Dears), while Mico Roy played guitar, Benoit Morier took on guitar and bass and Maxime Gosselin played drums. Award-winning singer Sam Roberts stopped in to help out with guest vocals on the tune I Love You, I Don't Love You, I Don't Know.

Lisa explored Lafayette, New Orleans, Austin, Asheville and New York through a long-lasting road trip during which she acquired new skills to refine her guitar and banjo techniques. Guided by her nomadic instincts, the results of her travels are in her new album. The music contains many throwbacks to her teenage inspirations, as well as hints of rock, folk, blues, classic rock, spaghetti western and even some hawaiian music. There are road songs inspired by the kind of people met during her travels, as well as love songs (and break-up songs) that speak to everyone.

Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen? is a 12-track album which includes many original road-tested songs from the last two years as well as her first bluegrass-ish recording (a favourite at live shows) of Motörhead’s classic Ace of Spades.

Biography

At 27 years old, the captivating Montreal singer-guitarist-banjo player who hails from New Brunswick, Canada has toured relentlessly with her band and sold over 140 000 records on two continents, achieving platinum-selling status in Canada. Lisa LeBlanc is known for her ability to compose rousing, heart-wrenching narratives from everyday tales of love, friendship and heartbreak has been compared to the sharp wit of Courtney Barnett, the rambling honesty of Bob Dylan and the high-flying sincerity of Dolly Parton.

The majority of Lisa LeBlanc's first album released in 2012 was written from Rosaireville, her native village in New Brunswick, in Granby during her studies at l'École nationale de la chanson as well as in Montreal. She received critical acclaim for her work including the exceptional honour of the Prix Felix at the Adisq awards in Quebec for being the Discovery of the Year in 2012.

Two years later, Lisa LeBlanc released Highways, Heartaches and Time Well Wasted, a 6 track EP which includes five originals and a cover of the traditional folk song Katie Cruel, popularized by American singer Karen Dalton. She found the inspiration for this disc as well as for Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen? released in 2016 when she hit the road and followed the path of the Beat Generation across Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Austin and San Francisco.

After many tours across Canada, USA and Europe, Lisa was nominated for a 2017 Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year in Canada and her latest album was nominated on the 2017's Polaris Prize short-list the same year.