Canadian Indie Folk Songwriter Bocephus King Delivers A Somber & Spellbinding Groove In His New Single ‘One More Troubadour’

“Worldly” would be one of the more appropriate descriptors for Canadian folk singer-songwriter Bocephus King, who has spent the past two decades releasing music influenced by numerous cultures, and has traveled far and wide to see them for himself.

Born James Perry, the genre-defying veteran is embracing his wandering minstrel spirit with his new single “One More Troubadour.”

Perry first got his music career off the ground in the mid 1990s when he recorded his first album, Joco Music, with some friends at a cabin in Point Roberts, Washington, which was released in 1996. Canadian boutique label Tonic Records helped him put it out, and after playing it up and down the West Coast, it also caught the eye of New West Records, a Nashville Music Row indie rock and Americana label. With them, he released his follow-up, A Small Good Thing, in 1998; it was recorded in Minnesota with The Rigallatos, who toured the album with him as well.

Now back with Tonic Records, Perry is readying for his seventh album, The Infinite & The Autogrill Vol 1. “One More Troubadour” is the first single in anticipation of the collection, and if it is any indication of the album’s contents, fans can expect a rich assortment of somber, entrancing folk-style songs.

From the first couple loops of the silvery riff through the cyclical melody of the verse, the listener’s interest is piqued. Perry’s vocals are well-matched for the instrumental, gently controlled to balance the easing build. He is joined by layers of harmonizing female vocals which add to the subtle eeriness of the song. They add an almost-vintage feel, suspending the listener in time as they listen to the tale being spun.

A troubadour he is, indeed: that is, a poet who writes verse to music. “I’m a troubadour….literally a wandering minstrel,” Perry emphasized in a post explaining his recent travels to Turkey. The single is befitting of this identity, a five-minute musical folklore in and of itself.

King’s Spotify page supports the GoFundMe fundraiser “Music is Essential Medicine,” a collection set up to support his musical endeavors in Istanbul, where he appears to be as of early February this year. “There is an opportunity here to assemble some incredible master musicians to record, as live shows are not possible,” he shared in the description for the cause.  “I’d like to make a recording with as many of these musicians as possible, giving them some work and creating something that brings peace to the listener.”