Home, as we so often hear, is where the heart is. It’s where you belong and where your story begins. Over his last two acclaimed albums – 2024’s North Wind and 2021’s Coyote – Spencer Burton explored that idea deeply, even retreating to a secluded cabin in Northern Ontario to record the former and find “home” for himself.
On his new self-titled album, Burton considers how to return to that feeling after an unexpected and life-altering experience. In early 2025, his son required emergency, life-saving surgery, turning his family’s world upside down. While his wife remained at his son’s bedside, Burton spent weeks in the hospital, where he began writing songs as a way for himself and his family to process what they were going through.
“I just started writing songs about the whole experience, and playing them for my family became a way for all of us to cope,” he recalls. “They don’t necessarily feel like ‘hospital songs,’ but they do carry a recurring theme of home – of wanting home and finding home when you can’t physically be there.”
The resulting 10-track collection is one rich with hope, healing and connection. Most of the songs were written and initially performed on acoustic guitar in the hospital, before being brought to life closer to home with longtime friend Matt Kelly producing and Erik Nielsen engineering and mixing. The album also features a familiar cast of collaborators from across Burton’s career.
The record is a beautiful distillation of Burton’s decades-long pursuit in music, spanning his roots in Ontario’s early-00s punk scene, his work as Grey Kingdom, and his acclaimed country-folk catalogue released under his given name. His recent work has earned praise from outlets including Exclaim! and CBC, a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination, major tours supporting Burton Cummings and City and Colour, and appearances at festivals including Mariposa and Riverfest.
Ultimately, Spencer Burton is an album about finding home in unexpected places – in connection, comfort and, most importantly, the people who remind us that we are exactly where we belong. As Burton reflects: “Everyone needs comfort and hope and to know they’re not alone.”