In The Country with Dave Woods

Montreal's Manny Blu is getting ready to release his new EP DEViL on August 20th. The project features five songs written by some of Nashville’s best writers including Ryan Beaver, Jessi Alexander, JT Harding, Brinley Addington, Anthony Smith, Michael Hardy, Craig Wiseman, Aaron Eshuis, Joe Clemmons and Logan Wall. Featured on the album is the single "Valet" featuring fellow Montreal artist Brittany Kennel released in early July. “Valet” tells the story of a couple falling in love while experiencing some of the most cherished Nashville spots, romanticizing the place that Manny now calls home.   While definitely one of the most traditional country-sounding songs found on DEViL, Manny continues to push his punk-inspired mentality forward by embracing the fact that an acoustic country ballad is the perfect, unexpected addition to the EP tracklist. Being a former hockey player & MMA fighter, Manny knows that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. So when Covid derailed live shows, he launched his own live performance series Live & Turned Up on his Official YouTube page. The series "Live & Turned Up" finds Manny performing a mix of original songs, fan favourites, and unexpected covers. Manny describes the new EP as “an ensemble of songs that have a variety of skill sets and sides of me as an artist that I haven’t shown before, and is probably the most complete project I’ve released to date. I think DEViL has elements that call back to what I’ve released before and what I have coming next.” With the EP's singles "Train" and "Valet already released, Manny just dropped a third single, the weekend party anthem "Circle Up" featuring singer-songwriter Blaine Holcomb lending his vocal talents to it.