Paul Cafcae: Heartbreak Train
The rootsy Toronto-based artist impresses on a romping tune featuring his cool guitar picking and warm vocals.
By Kerry Doole
Paul Cafcae: Heartbreak Train (Independent): This Toronto-based roots singer/songwriter released his second album, Miss July, last month. A new name to me, he impresses with this focus cut.
Rather clever of him to combine two staples of country music, trains and heartache, on the same song! It's a pleasing twang-filled romp, propelled by some great guitar picking and warm vocals.
Cafcae tells FYI that "It's by far my favourite track from this record. The lyrics were co-written with my good friend, Bonnie Memphis, who has her own band The Bonnie Memphis Mafia.
He recorded and produced the entire track himself, with mixing and mastering completed by Aaron Fund Salem. Cafcae shows off his axemanship on fluent acoustic and electric solos, and he tells us "I was going for Django Reinhardt and Les Paul respectively."
The Russian-born Cafcae studied intensively at music school there, and is a skilled multi-instrumentalist, on guitar, piano, harmonica, accordion and more.
To hear more, check out his nightly live stream called Live From Quarantine Episodes on his Facebook page, which has been on every night for the last three weeks (8:45-9:00 pm). It will feature Heartbreak Train tomorrow. Look for ad-hoc Instagram and YouTube live-streams too.
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Rogers Stadium during a rainy walkthrough in 2025.Courtesy Photo