Kentucky Releases New Single "In Kingston Tonight," a Tribute to The Tragically Hip and a Call to Carry Canada Forward

Kentucky, the musical project of Almonte, Ontario-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Jordan Holman, releases his stirring new single "In Kingston Tonight," a song that arrives as both a love letter to one of Canada's great music cities and a deeply felt call to every Canadian to take what The Tragically Hip gave us and carry it forward.

Written, recorded, engineered, produced, mixed, and mastered entirely by Holman at his home studio The Kentucky Bend, the single is his most passionate and fully realised work to date, and its release was timed with a headline performance at the municipal Canada Day celebrations at Hardy Park in Brockville, Ontario.

The song grew from a real and specific moment: a Filipino girl at a Kingston bar singing traditional Irish songs and eating poutine, the kind of quietly extraordinary Canadian scene that holds a whole country's story in a single frame. "There's music outside / In Kingston tonight / In the square where we prayed, cried, and stayed," Holman sings, before the lyric opens up into something larger, reaching toward the night of August 20th, 2016, when The Tragically Hip played their final show in Kingston and an entire nation gathered around screens and in public squares to witness it together. "So here we are / And now we're the stars / Now we're the stars" is not a boast but an inheritance, a recognition that the torch has been passed and the only question is what we do with it.

Kentucky's sound occupies a space he has carved out entirely on his own, a genre he and his listeners have taken to calling Northern Americana, rooted in rock, folk, blues, and ambient music but shaped by the landscapes, stories, and spirit of Canada in a way that places him in natural company with Gord Downie, Tom Petty, Patti Smith, and Brian Eno all at once. Holman plays and sings everything on his recordings, a one-man orchestra of soaring melodic vocals, dynamic acoustic and electric guitar work, bass, drums, piano, keys, and percussion, all of it recorded and produced in-house with a precision and warmth that belies the solo nature of the enterprise.

His story is as compelling as his music. After triumphing over a near-death battle with drug addiction in 2020, Holman embraced his second chance at life as a second chance at music. His debut solo album 'Second Chance Music,' released in 2025, chronicled that transformation with gritty honesty and enduring hope, and was followed by a live album, a string of standalone singles, several music videos including one banned by TikTok, and a documentary of his 2025 Tour-By-Boat of the Rideau Canal. He has played more than 250 shows across Canada in the past three years, building a devoted audience that spans generations, drawn to his unfiltered storytelling and captivating, improvisational stage presence.

The remainder of 2026 is one of the most ambitious and uniquely Canadian touring programmes any independent artist has announced this year. Following the Canada Day release show in Brockville, Kentucky embarks on "The Canadian Promise: A Toonie Tour of Royal Canadian Legions" across Ontario, a Tour-By-Boat Part 2 along the Trent-Severn Waterway in September, a monthly residency at the legendary Cove Inn in Westport through October, and a capstone run as Via Rail's Artist-on-Board aboard The Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver, December 12 to 17.

TOUR DATES

Jul 1 — Brockville, ON — Hardy Park (Canada Day Headline)

Jul 4 — 1000 Islands, ON - The Ivy

Jul 17 — Almonte, ON — Almonte Legion (100th Anniversary of the RCL)

Jul 18 — Almonte, ON — The Almeda (Municipal Event)

Aug 12 — Toronto, ON - The Local

Aug 28 — 1000 Islands, ON - The Ivy

Aug 29 — Port Hope, ON — Port Hope Legion (Toonie Tour of Royal Canadian Legions)

Sep 11-18 — Trent-Severn Waterway — Tour-By-Boat (locations forthcoming)

Sep 19 — Westport, ON — WestPORCH Festival

Oct 5 — Westport, ON — The Cove (Monday Musical Resident)

Oct 9 — Burks Falls, ON — Burks Falls Legion (Toonie Tour of Royal Canadian Legions)

Oct 12 — Westport, ON — The Cove (Monday Musical Resident)

Oct 19 — Westport, ON — The Cove (Monday Musical Resident)

Oct 26 — Westport, ON — The Cove (Monday Musical Resident)

Dec 12-17 — Toronto to Vancouver — Via Rail Artist-in-Residence aboard The Canadian