CREDIT: MARTIN GIRARD
Ian Kelly is stopping in London on his 25-date tour, making a stop at Grooves Records before headlining a show at The APK.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. Perhaps we haven’t quite achieved the vision of the future that was projected in the late 1950’s, but under the surface, the world in 2015 couldn’t be further from the American landscape that existed when Jack Kerouac published his seminal novel On The Road in 1957.

Kerouac’s divisive counterculture book casts the bohemian lifestyle into a particularly romantic light against a tapestry that was a strong empowered nation, a place that never truly seemed unsafe to explore with abandon and aplomb. Such isn’t the case for modern travelers, and although it doesn’t discourage people from embarking on their own backpacking exploits around the globe, it takes a special sort of person with a particular resolve to undertake such an adventure.

It’s noteworthy then that Montreal singer-songwriter Ian Kelly has resolved to undertake a similar sojourn. Although it’s impossible to tell what role jazz music and drugs are going to play in his 25-date nationwide tour, he will travel alone – leaving behind his regular rhythm section for his first exclusively solo tour in years.

Kelly kicks off his massive tour with two appearances in London on March 16, appearing at Grooves Records downtown for a free instore performance beginning at 3 p.m. before headlining The APK with special guest Elliot Maginot.

The tour will take him first through the Maritimes and then out west, and with luck, he’ll be greeted by warm weather on his return home to Quebec in May.

“Maybe it doesn’t make sense to go out and play that many shows, but I thought, ‘Let’s do this grand tour of small venues and go play from coast to coast,’” Kelly said. “But when I thought about toning the show down, I thought it’d be great to spend some time on my own ... it’s just a different experience. I’m really looking forward to it.”

“I wrote so many [songs] before selecting the 10 that made [All These Lines], and before I started to record anything, I made sure I really loved the songs with that single instrument and vocals before I started to add tracks to them,” he said. “It’s easy for me to take those songs and play them by myself, and since I’ve been playing with bands for such a long time, it actually feels good to take them back down to their essential arrangement. It’s not really hard. It’s fun.”

For Kelly, the tour represents more than just the opportunity to support 2013’s All These Lines and his latest single “I’m On Your Side.” It also offers a bit of a palate cleanser as he prepares for new projects to come, including a full film score and a new album in the works.

“It’s fun to be on the road, but it is fun to stay at home, too,” he said. “After this, it’s going to be cool to stay home for a while and think about what I want to do next.”

Much of the last year was spent building a new addition to his home studio, a large room designed professionally for its acoustics that he describes as “an amazing space to work in.” The exciting new space has Kelly rethinking his approach to producing his music moving forward, and it’s easy to tell he’s eager to be close to home to work.

“Because I had a pretty shitty-sounding room, I think it influenced me while I was creating previous albums to add as many tracks as I possibly could to hide the flaws of the recordings,” he said. “Now that I have this amazing room, I want to do recordings that feature way fewer layers because I can manage to get that sound I always wanted. I’ll still have to work on it, but my room is not a handicap anymore.”

For more on Kelly, his tour across Canada or new music to come, visit iankellysmusic.com or follow along on Twitter @iankellysmusic. As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, Kelly will welcome his third child in 2015, so enjoy the time we have with him before he holes up for the summer to work on his art.

And for more of the latest music news and touring artists in London, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. Spoiler alert: this week I’ll be tweeting from the Juno Awards in Hamilton, apologies in advance for all the #Junos activity. I’m out of words.