Additional Information
On August 28, 2025, Joseph Edgar released The Songs of Parkton Miller Vol.1, his first English-language album after more than 20 years in the business. Having grown up speaking both languages, the Acadian artist has decided to share this other side of his culture with us today. It is also a return to his roots, with country-folk-blues tones reflecting his love of music, which was rekindled by a trip to Brazil. The heart is at the forefront! There are no bossa nova percussion or warm brass instruments here, but rather a desire to return to the essence of what makes playing music so enjoyable: simplicity and emotion. We spent a few moments with him to find out more about his vision, his inspirations, and the collaborations that led to this unique album. Joseph Edgar thus paves the way for his alter ego, Parkton Miller.
PAN M 360: Who is Parkton Miller and why did you immortalize him as the album title?
Joseph Edgar: I grew up in Moncton, in a neighborhood called Parkton, on Miller Street. And since there were maybe three French-speaking families out of about forty houses, when we played outside with the neighborhood kids, I started developing my English vocabulary very early on. And now, when I was releasing an entirely English-language album, I thought, “Okay, but what would my name be in English?” I even hesitated to put Joseph Edgar aside: I felt like I needed an alter ego to give me the right to make this album, solely in English. I finally decided to take that angle with the title.
PAN M 360: What did you want to share on this album?
Joseph Edgar: At first, everything happened very spontaneously. I mean, I went to Brazil for a few weeks (haha) and every night I went to see small local shows where there were these incredible singers and musicians who were overflowing with passion for their art. And who, purely and simply, far from the media and the spotlight, made music with their hearts. When I came back from my trip, the songs appeared and they came out in English, without necessarily being guided by a specific desire to say something, but rather by the feeling of pleasure I found in playing in Brazil. There’s also a synchronicity in that, for personal reasons, I’ve been spending a lot more time in New Brunswick lately, and I find myself launching this album, inspired by my roots in Moncton, while I’m back at my family home. At the end of the creative process, I realized that it was really an album about going back to my roots.
PAN M 360: I listened to it and I really like it! There’s a feeling of intimacy and closeness on the album that makes it all the more authentic. How did the recording go at home, where we sometimes hear sounds in the background?
Joseph Edgar: It came together really naively. I was recording in my living room, getting inspiration on my balcony, and tracking, sometimes in the middle of the night, haha, on a small guitar that didn’t sound too loud so as not to wake up my girlfriend (haha). It was a really intimate and quiet process, and we thought it would be interesting to let the listener experience that closeness.
PAN M 360: How did the album’s production go with your collaborators?
Joseph Edgar: Well, after the “all by myself at home” phase (no one knew I was doing this), I came out of my creative space and sent the demos to Ben Bouchard. And then to Jo, Jo Laf, and Sunny Duval, because I could see myself doing these songs with them. At first, I wanted us to go into the studio and redo it and apply for a grant and all the usual stuff, but everyone was like, “Wow, these demos are really effective, we should get together and polish them up as is right now because otherwise time will pass and you’ll start second-guessing yourself” (they know me well, haha!). Since the essence was already there and the emotion was already coming through, we didn’t want to make the mistake of overproducing and distorting the songs. In the end, this album was a translation of the vibe I had witnessed in Brazil: making music from the heart with a stripped-down approach, close to its original spirit.
PAN M 360: Tell us a little about your collaborators, Benoit Bouchard and Sunny Duval, Jocelyn Gagné, and Jonathan Lafrance.
Joseph Edgar: I met Jocelyn Gagné in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 2010 through the Breastfeeders, of which Sunny was also a member. Jocelyn and I really hit it off, and shortly after, he contacted me to say I should come to Montreal to make an album. I went, we made demos for what became the album Interstice—he was the producer—and that’s when we became best friends, brothers. I love him dearly, he’s become my #1 partner in crime in Montreal, both personally and musically. As for Sunny, we get together whenever we can, here and there, on projects when we have the chance. He’s another one of my go-to guys. Then there’s Benoit Bouchard. Since 2018, I think, he’s been mixing all my albums and helping with the arrangements. Finally, Jo is my boy, my drummer for the past 6-7 years and a true friend as well. These are all people I can count on, who have seen me crash, get back up, etc.! They are really the people I share the most with, the ones I confide in the most: my musical family!
PAN M 360: There’s a definite return to country-folk roots here. Was that something you wanted to do at this point in time, or did it develop over time?
Joseph Edgar: Seven songs came to me when I got back from my trip, and then I remembered that there were two songs I had recorded a few years ago and put away in a drawer, waiting for the right moment to release them. Sometimes songs come to you while you’re writing, and you flush them because it’s not the right time! I’d also had the experience of putting an English song on a French album in the past, and I didn’t think it fit, so this time I really wanted to group them together and present them as a collection.
PAN M 360: Does writing in English come as easily to you as writing in French?
Joseph Edgar: It’s important for me to work in French and to be one of those who defend the French language in a minority environment, but at some point, I’ve released eight albums and several EPs, all in French… I told myself that I now had the right to make an album in English, since English is also part of my identity and my expression. I gave myself a freedom that I hadn’t given myself before. In the end, it’s the song that decides which language it will use to express itself, and that’s really what guides me.
PAN M 360: This is your ninth album. Has the process evolved for you over time? Do you have a different perspective on it now?
Joseph Edgar: I think that sometimes you can end up feeling a bit “stuck” with the pressure from labels. The industry has changed a lot, network marketing… On a personal level, we try to do what we want anyway, but there are often constraints. And with this album, I’m really going back to why I started making music 20 years ago… if not 30 years ago with my first band, 0 Degrees Celsius, in the 90s. It’s directly related to the vibe of authenticity that I felt in Brazil, which brought me back to why I started making music. And so there’s a kind of resistance because I did it in exactly the opposite way to how you’re supposed to do it (haha): I did it independently through my production company Cris du Goéland. The cover is from my personal archive and I released the album without any fanfare, letting it gently sink into people’s ears.
PAN M 360: Where did the album artwork, which you mentioned earlier, come from?
Joseph Edgar: This is a photo that was taken of me spontaneously, on my way back from L’Espace Public in Hochelaga, in the middle of the night, by my friend Lili de Grâce. It was during the “blood red moon” in February when I had just arrived from Brazil and was walking back home, so it captures the precise moment of that contrast upon my return. It’s a real photo of me, where, once again, we are close to the essential.
PAN M 360: What are you cooking up next? Where can we catch you performing soon?
Joseph Edgar: In recent weeks, I’ve been playing a lot in the Moncton area, but I’m traveling around a bit this fall, to Rimouski, Edmundston, whether it’s with a band or in more intimate solo shows, which I really enjoy doing! As for new songs, well, there are two dormant songs that I put on this album, but I have plenty more (haha)! Also, naming this album Vol. 1 opens the door for me to develop in that direction. Now I have an avenue for those songs. I like to let things happen, I don’t “chase” songs… I’m always surprised and filled with gratitude when they appear, but it certainly won’t be long before I get back to it. Even if, for the moment, I’m letting this album settle and take its place.
