John K. Samson has been writing highly intricate narratives for the past 15 years as frontman for the beloved Canadian pop-rock band The Weakerthans. Wednesday night at The Black Cat, he took the stage with another band playing songs from his recently released solo album Provinicial as well as stripped-down versions of fan favorites.

Centered around the roads and stories from his home of Riverton, Manitoba, Provincial doesn’t tread far from his other work. Songs like the bouncy single “When I Write My Master’s Thesis”—which he dedicated to the graduate students in the audience—and “Heart of the Continent” could easily be placed on any of The Weakerthans four albums. Samson spent the night living up to his reputation as a stellar poet and wonderful storyteller.

Most of the evening felt like an episode of VH1 Storyteller’s as he prefaced most of his songs with colorful anecdotes. One song was inspired by the relationship between Ms. Krabappel and Principal Skinner from The Simpsons (“The Last And”). Another was about a man dying from Tuberculosis in the Manitoba Ninette Sanatorium in the 1900s (“Letter In Icelandic From the Ninette San”). The most memorable being the one for his oddly moving petition song to the Hockey Hall of Fame to induct Reggie Leach, (“www.ipetitions.com/petition/rivertonrifle/“).

When he wasn’t sharing the inspiration for his newest songs, he was dipping into the back catalog sharing stripped-down versions of “Night Windows”, “The Reasons,” and other Weakerthans songs while taking fan requests along the way. He also dropped a wonderful rendition of Jawbreaker’s “The Boat Dreams From A Hill” and a few choice Propaghandi cuts over the nearly two hour show that featured two encores.

It’s been nearly five years since the last Weakerthans album. There’s no talk of a new one coming out anytime soon. But if Provincial and Samson’s Wednesday night show is any indication, he’s still in top form and it’ll be worth the wait.