Daniel Lanois, The Maker from his 1989 album ‘Acadie’.

It’s hot… too hot to be able to think clearly. It’s 2am and 26C (78F)… it’s supposed to be cooling right now, and raining with lighting, but it’s not. It has been at or near 30C for the past three days. Then there’s the humidity Canadians are known for loving… with the humidex this region was in the lower 40C’s yesterday.

So since I can’t concentrate on anything besides sweating right now, here are two videos from Daniel Lanois’ 1989 debut album ‘Acadie‘.

Daniel was born in Hull, Quebec, and has been a record-producer ever since. He has worked with (in order of coolness): Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, the Neville Brothers, Bob Dylan, Scott Weiland, U2 and Peter Gabriel.

Acadie is a collection of songs written in the different styles of French North American music. It starts in Acadia, moves to Quebec and then down to New Orleans.

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Even though it only reached number 166 on the Billboard 200, Acadie is generally considered to be one of the best Canadian albums “of all time“.

This song… “Jolie Louise” is about a young family living in a mill town just down the road from here, on the Quebec side. Feel free to click through to find the lyrics. “The Maker” (above) is Lanois’ take on the New Orleans spiritual… that’s Aaron Neville singing backup.

Daniel Lanois, “Jolie Louise” from his 1989 album ‘Acadie’.

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