Amanda Rheaume Releases The Truth We Hold

Amanda Rheaume releases her new album The Truth We Hold today via Ishkōdé Records. In title and spirit, The Truth We Hold is a collection of songs of Métis people, places and stories, across centuries. A Métis songbook for future generations, the new album maps events, place names and family history with a careful, loving hand, drawing untold and unacknowledged experiences into the light. 

With the seasoned and savvy production of Colin Linden, Rheaume’s new album is a blend of classic rootsy twang with folkier traditional elements, primarily the lively Métis fiddle of Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk and accordion, that suffuse the collection with a magical energy and ground the sound in Métis musical history. Like a wooden floor scuffed with the heelmarks of kitchen parties long before, the instrumentation brings a welcoming homeyness and comfort to the stories, harrowing and joyful alike. A safe place for troubled memories, painful truths and resilience alike, Rheaume’s songs are a hearth for the past, pained and precious. 

The Truth We Hold is first and foremost a living archive, preserving story and the true details of events in song. The people, places and stories of this new album criss-cross the country, building a new type of map where many rivers meet. Under Rheaume’s careful, delicate gathering of stories, a guidebook to The Truth We Hold reveals the breadth and depth of this collection’s sources, inspiration and scope. 

The Truth We Hold is available now, and the album guidebook can be found here.

Upcoming tour dates:
Saskatoon, SK: The Bassment, Apr 30
Winnipeg, MB: West End Cultural Centre, May 2
Dryden, ON: Dryden Performing Arts, May 4
Ottawa ON: National Arts Centre, May 8
Toronto, ON: TD Music Hall, May 21

Press Release courtesy of Tire Fire Press.