Rob Lutes is a soulful singersongwriter from Montreal with an ever-growing collection of literate, moving meditations on life and love.

His ability to encapsulate universal ideas and questions, even the subtle ones, coupled with his gritty, heartfelt delivery and worldclass performance chops, have invited comparisons with several legends in the roots genre from John Hiatt to Fred Eaglesmith. “He will soon be counted amongst the ranks of the best in the industry, a rare talent that keeps getting better with each project released” says Hello Darlin’ Productions promoter Matt Large. Greg Quill of the Toronto Star deemed his third CD, 2007’s Ride the Shadows “a brilliantly understated gem…among the best of the year’s roots/blues crop.” The Ottawa Citizen named the CD “one of the Top Ten in Canada for 2007”. Following on the success of that work, which garnered a licensing deal from Rounder Europe and a saw him tour internationally, the former Kerrville New Folk songwriting winner went into the studio in autumn 2008 with noted producer David Goodrich (Chris Smither, Jeffrey Foucault), to record his much-awaited fourth CD. The result, the just-released CD Truth & Fiction, is his most confident work to date. “The process was so creative this time,” Lutes says. “David put us all in a great space to let these songs come to life, where it feels like the music just really supports the lyrics. That’s always the goal for me.” The ability to encapsulate universal ideas and questions has become a hallmark of Lutes’ songs. “These songs are works of creativity for me but my own philosophical truth is buried in these songs and stories.” The impressive group of musicians with Lutes on this release include noted singersongwriter Annabelle Chvostek (Wailin Jennys) on vocals, percussionist Geoff Arsenault (Ray Bonneville, David Myles), Montreal-based jazz giant Morgan Moore on bass, Olivier Demers (Vent du Nord) on violin and Lutes’ gifted sideman Rob MacDonald on resophonic and electric guitars. Goodrich himself saddles up a few instruments to round out the sound that envelops Lutes’ own rhythmic fingerstyle guitar as never before. Truth & Fiction met with rave reviews and spent three months in the top ten on the EuroAmericana Chart. Lutes is touring Canada, Europe and the U.S. in support of Truth & Fiction in 2009. He will release a new CD, his fifth, in Spring 2010. .