Episode 60: Bob Sumner

We sat down with Canadian musician Bob Sumner at AmericanaFest in Nashville; we discuss his recent record Some Place to Rest Easy, which has become one of my favorite releases of 2024. The musical vibes are lovely, echoing the sounds of my favorite Randy Travis records of the 90’s, but Bob also hits us with gut punch lyricism that brings to mind Townes van Zandt and Steve Earle. 

   Bob is a wonderful conversationalist, there is a lot of great stuff in this one.  We hear about how one positive comment from a high school teacher may have been a life changer, how he made a listener cry at his first open mic performance, what he learned from making music with his big brother for 20 years as part of The Sumner Brothers, and writing songs and playing guitar while driving his car delivering food.

Together we come to the realization that not only is Bob a great writer himself, but he has a gift for recognizing the perfect lines written by others (I look forward to discovering something witty I said to Bob appearing in one of his future songs).

  Check out the video below for Bob’s song Motel Room, he has some killer dance moves, and the song and video display the way Bob worked with both joy and sadness while putting this record together.

    This was one of my favorite discussions on the podcast, and I thank Bob for being so generous with his thoughts and for being such a great listener.