John K. Samson, best known as the singer and lead songwriter of early 2000s rock band The Weakerthans, has announced his highly-anticipated new solo album Winter Wheat, which drops October 21 via Epitaph/ANTI. The album was produced by Samson’s partner and longtime collaborator Christine Fellows and features much of the Weakerthans’ original rhythm section as Samson’s backing band.
Samson is said to have taken major influence from Neil Young’s 1974 album On the Beach, mainly from its honest and unvarnished spirit. The former Weakerthans frontman’s recurring characters Virtue the Cat and her troubled human companion will supposedly make their final appearances on the album, popping up in tracks “17th Street Treatment Centre” and “Virtute at Rest.”
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