TRACK: Little Kid’s ‘All Night (Golden Ring)’ is a dark roots duet

TORONTO’S Little Kid are in the process of making the step up from Ontarian word-of-mouth cult act to the modern roots first team.

The project of Kenny Boothby, Little Kid have shared the video for “All Night (Golden Ring)” as a taster for their LP Transfiguration Highway, which is out on July 3rd via Solitaire Recordings.

Operating since 2011 as a home project, Little Kid have built up a following as a support act for the likes of Pinegrove and Car Seat Headrest. Kenny has now fleshed out his domestic nom-de-plume with the addition of Megan Lunn, Paul Vroom, Liam Cole and Brodie Germain to flesh out the instrumentation.

Little Kid’s prolific Bandcamp output contains such brilliantly quirky DIY outings as the recent Botched Restorations series, in which he sold out a run of cassettes recorded to order, directly to tape, containing ten songs selected by the purchaser.

“All Night (Golden Ring)” is a duet between Kenny Boothby and bandmate Megan Lunn, and explores the relationship between Tammy Wynette and George Jones. The track is named for an album of duets, Golden Ring,  that the one-time real-life couple recorded – after Wynette and Jones had divorced due to his abusive behavior, having failed to find the same measure of success as solo artists. 

“I was really saddened to read about that, and to picture how that must have felt for Tammy,” says Boothby. “I can only imagine what it would feel like to have to sing with my abuser, much less to have to sing love songs with him and act like everything is OK.”

And if bands of the likes of The Low Anthem, Whitney, Richmond Fontaine and Pinegrove light up your musical world, you’ll find a lot to explore in the fragile, nuanced roots yearning of Little Kid.

To pre-order Little Kid’s Transfiguration Highway, which is due for release via Solitaire Recordings on July 3rd, visit http://www.solitairerecordings.com/little-kid