“What happened to the protest singer?” asks Paul Cargnello on the searing opening single of his new album, and it's not rhetorical. With his 20th album, Combat Blues’, out now on Quartier General, the Montreal-based singer-songwriter and producer is back with a defiant, groove-laced, politically charged collection that refuses to look away. Think The Clash filtered through Curtis Mayfield with a jolt of Gil Scott-Heron. This is protest music for people who aren’t done fighting.
>
‘Combat Blues’ isn’t here to make you comfortable. It’s here to shake you awake. “This record is about speaking truth when it’s easier to whisper,” explains Cargnello. “We’re watching the world burn through our screens, and we’ve forgotten how to yell. This is me yelling.”
