Canadian singer, songwriter, and poet John K. Samson is best known as the frontman for the indie rock outfit the Weakerthans. During the early '90s, while playing bass for Propagandhi, Samson released a solo cassette called Slips & Tangles. A few years later, he formed the acclaimed Weakerthans. By 2009, Samson released City Route 85, the first of two solo EPs for Epitaph. Provincial Road 222 followed a year later and, like much of his work with the Weakerthans, focused on his thoughtful and often melancholy folk-pop. In 2012, Samson re-recorded the material from both EPs and added new songs to constitute Provincial, which made the longlist for the coveted Polaris Prize. Winter Wheat followed in 2016. ~ Timothy Monger