A celebration of a beloved Canadian icon, featuring dozens of original interviews and exclusive photos

Joel Plaskett has earned an awful lot of honourifics in his career so far, counting folk hero, indie darling, and national treasure among them. And that’s just since the Halifax musician started making records of his own in 1999. For a decade before that, he was one-quarter of Thrush Hermit, a band of scrappy Superchunk disciples who became hard-rock revivalists and one of the last survivors of the ’90s pop “explosion” of major-label interest in Halifax.

Canada’s east coast has never been much of a pop-culture mecca. Most musicians from the region who’ve ever made it big moved away. But armed with a stubborn streak and a knack for great songwriting, Plaskett has kept Halifax as his home, building both a career and a music community there. Along the way, he’s earned great respect: when he plays shows in Alberta, east-coast expats literally thank him for staying home.

Nowhere with You is the study of how he pulled this off, from the origins of Canada’s east-coast exodus to Plaskett’s anointment as “Halifax’s Rick Rubin.” It’s a story about what happens when you call a city “the new Seattle,” about the lessons you learn playing to empty rooms in Oklahoma, and about defying radio-single expectations with rock operas and triple records. It’s about doing what you want, where you want, no matter how much work it takes.

Josh O'Kane's profile page

Josh O’Kane is a staff reporter with the Globe and Mail. He has previously written for the Telegraph-Journal, Toronto Star, Exclaim!, and New Brunswick’s Here Magazine. He grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick, but, like thousands of Maritimers before him, now lives in Toronto.

“Well-paced, comprehensive and extensively researched . . . More than a biographical account, Nowhere With You is a meditation on roots and community.” — Globe and Mail

“For any fan of Plaskett’s, Nowhere With You is simply a must-read.” — Winnipeg Free Press

“An exemplary rock’n’roll biography, perfectly tracing the timeline of Plaskett’s rise up the ranks of Canadiana while also offering up enough unknown tidbits to surprise even the most well-informed supporters and historians of East coast indie rock.” — Exclaim

“Canadians love to talk about our great storytellers of the past when we have one walking amongst us today. Joel is as deft with words as he is with emotion. He is as truthful, funny and brilliant as any who have come before him. Any opportunity to learn a little about Joel is one that is not to be missed.” — George Stroumboulopoulos

“A lovely book. Worthy of the CanRock literary canon and then some.” — Dave Bidini, member of Rheostatics and author of On a Cold Road and Writing Gordon Lightfoot

“Author Josh O’Kane has lovingly created a well-researched story of the life, the lore, and the passion behind Joel Plaskett, a truly great Canadian artist. Nowhere with You is an inspiring read in many ways. It’s a book about song, place, collective and solo music experiences, career defiance, and believing in yourself and your community. As I read the last chapter with a tear in my eye, I had to drop the needle on Joel’s latest slab of wax, which is a celebration of Plaskett’s career so far, just like this book.” — Grant Lawrence, CBC personality and author of Adventures in Solitude

“Nowhere with You is as eager, ambitious, and warm as Plaskett’s music itself, serving not only as an essential archive to date of one of our country’s all-time talents, but of a time and, more importantly, a place, in Canadian music.” — Nicole Villeneuve, Editor at AUX.TV