Fold Up Your Heart

2014 Maple Blues award Nominees for "Electric Act of the Year!"

Like a beat up old Dodge burning down the highway with a brand new set of rims and a candy metallic paint job, Soulstack carves out their modern roots music in nouveau-retro-style, inspired by sweaty sounds and throbbing rhythms, once thought lost forever...all sung performed with deep intensity, wild conviction, greasy organ, sweet tremolo-soaked guitar, and heartbreaking harmonies.

“Compositions are based on classic soul forms, and there are many moments that sound vaguely familiar, but that’s because Knight and Wessenger are working with the basic building blocks – the DNA of soul, if you will – yet never resort to imitation.” (Blinded By Sound)

These young Soulstack men stand by their beat-up vintage instruments and bleed every ounce of emotion from them - taking the listener on a rhythmic and melodic journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the exhaust-tinged fuzz of Detroit and up through to Southern Ontario where Jonathan Knight & Soulstack cut their debut album, “Big Red” with award winning engineer Jeremy Darby (Smokey Robinson, Keith Richards, Prince etc.)

Receiving outstanding reviews and airplay across North America and Europe, “Big Red” charted at #2 on National College Radio, and has appeared on a number of ‘best of’ and ‘top ten’ lists for 2012 including Galaxie, and Dawg FM. The catchy “Since you Came Around” was selected by CBC Radio One program Here And Now as the Song of the Week and the CD has been nominated for an Independent Music Award (12th Annual IMA’s - Category: Blues Album)

The band spent the summer of 2013 touring, the highlights of which included performances at the Festival International de jazz de Montreal, Mont Tremblant International Blues Festival, and others.

Press:

"Stack of soul from Soulstack’s debut CD! Toronto blues/ soul/ R and B band Soulstack are aptly named— a stack full of soul, that wouldn’t be out of place on the classic Memphis R and B Record label Stax. They make an auspicious debut on “Big Red” starting with a brief intro, then a catchy slice of R and B sweetness, “Stone Cold Man” which wouldn’t be out of place on an Earth Wind and Fire record. It has an unstoppable beat to draw you in, then some tasty organ and a catchy , slightly overdriven guitar riff. It ends on a beautifully bent harmonic, leaving the listener wanting more."
- Richard Amery, L.A. Beat (Apr 27, 2012)

"SOULSTACK NAILS IT WITH BIG RED Irrespective of the blues style Soulstack draws on for a particular song, the band hits the head of the musical nail. All but one of the album’s 13 tracks are originals penned by Jon Knight and Wessenger, with the exception of a spirited cover of the traditional gospel number In My Time of Dying."
- Robert Reid, The Record (Apr 30, 2012)

"Big Red Soulstack (Independent) 4.5/5 There must be something in the drinking water, but some of the best blues I’ve heard in the last six months has been coming out of Toronto and Soulstack is a case in point. If you like the blues, you’re gonna love this, their debut album. The track that first got my attention was In My Time of Dying, a traditional gospel number surfaced in the 70’s as an extended blues jam on Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and is in fact my favorite song from that album. Soulstack’s arrangement is very different, probably closer to the song’s original intent, and nicely done I might add. This album feels very live off the floor, so it was no surprise to learn that it was recorded in just two days. I love that organic approach, as opposed to breaking it down into small parts and re-assembling it again like a ship model. If given a choice between soul and mechanical perfection, I’ll take soul every time. Big Red is the good stuff. "
- The Rock Doctor, Gonzoonline.ca (Apr 10, 2012)

"The premier album from first-rate Ontario quartet Soulstack may go down in history as "that cool album with the dreadful cover," but if there is any justice in the world, it won’t. Neo-soul outfits are popping up like zits on a teenager’s face these days but these cats stand out, which makes us think that the giant farm implement on the cover makes sense after all. The band plows down the competition by the sheer weight of its musical performances here.Their invigorating mixture of whiskey-inflamed vocals, classic-sounding organ work and some super tasty guitar licks all add up to a kind of rootsy realism that is mostly non-existent these days. Singer Jon Knight has the kind of lived in pipes that hit the same level of intensity as Steve Marriott or Black Crowe Chris Robinson, and he even manages to keep the histrionics in check. The running order of the songs, the basic and clean production and the general ebb and flow of the album make for a satisfying listen worthy of repeated p"
- Jeff Monk, Uptown - Winnipeg (Apr 11, 2012)

"This band sounds like they're from Florida or Atlanta...not Ontario."
- Bman's Blues Report (Apr 12, 2012)