Tim Hicks

Let’s get something out of the way: longevity is not a synonym for stagnation. Sometimes, longevity is a symbol of stubborn refusal to compromise or insistence on marching only to the beat of the most exhilarating drum.

Take Tim Hicks. If anyone was ready for his proverbial close-up, it’s the acclaimed, chart-topping and award-winning artist. His presence as a consistently electrifying entertainer on the Canadian music scene may stretch back more than a decade, but his latest and third studio full-length album, the alternately scorching and tender Shake These Walls, scans as strikingly new.

That’s what happens when you’re lucky (read: dogged) enough to locate your most authentic musical voice at the precise moment you find yourself in Nashville scratching it out alongside some of the sharpest blades in the musical toolbox.

Co-written by Hicks who writes the songs that define his character, Shake These Walls evolves musically. “I wanted to show people I had grown,” Hicks says of the new album. “There is truth in each of these songs because I co-wrote every one of them. I have a personal connection with every lyric, every riff. People are going to find there’s a healthy dose of the Tim Hicks party in there but there’s lots of other stuff certain to be interesting to many different people.”