Coast 2 Coast Closeup – Justin Fancy

After paying his dues performing live, night after night, on St. John’s vibrantly popular George Street pub scene, country recording artist Justin Fancy, from nearby Conception Bay South, Newfoundland, is preparing to take his rightful place on the national stage with the release of his debut album, Sure Beats A Good Time. With these seven brand new songs, Fancy is determined to prove he’s no one-trick pony. He masterfully combines classic country songwriting influenced by artists at the forefront of the country scene from the 1970s to early 1990s with his own take on today’s country sound.

From Merle Haggard and George Jones to Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, and Travis Tritt, he gravitated towards iconic artists who had a talent for telling great stories through their lyrics. The notion of someone relating to or seeing themselves in his songs was too powerful to steer him in any other direction.

In early 2020 Fancy released back to back, stand-alone radio singles and videos, as an introduction to the country music scene. Long Time Comin’ and Think About You were received favourably, cracking over 137,000 streams on Spotify and being and added at numerous radio stations across Canada. The video for Think About You, which starred long-time friend and former Big Brother Canada contestant (2019/Season 7) Samantha Picco as Fancy’s love interest, received a huge accolade by being featured on CMT.com (who have rarely featured Canadian artists in the past).

Fancy was originally due to record Sure Beats A Good Time at Sevenview Studios in Springdale, with fellow Newfoundlander Clint Curtis, a veteran musician in his own right, who is quickly developing a reputation for delivering world-class, Nashville-quality production values right on The Rock. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit and large swaths of the population went into self-isolation, they had to come up with a Plan B.

Never one to concede defeat, Fancy ended up cutting his tracks for the album remotely, while 700 kilometers away, Curtis put the finishing touches on each of the record’s seven songs. This is a story of adaption and perseverance at its best.

Listen to the interview