Old Man Luedecke might have been born and raised in Toronto, but his musical life really began on the East Coast and is rooted in traditional music far removed from the big city. The talented banjo player and folk musician is back in town tonight for a concert at Harbourfront Centre in support of his beautiful new album Domestic Eccentric, which was released this past September.

Luedecke spent his formative years in Toronto graduating from Crescent School in 1994 before heading to Montreal to attend McGill University. After meeting his future-wife Teresa Bergen in the Yukon in 2001, the couple put down roots in Chester, Nova Scotia in the countryside west of Halifax where they are now raising three children including four-year-old twins and a two-year-old. Family life is central to Luedecke and his new album celebrates domesticity in a wise, humourous, sometimes sad but always honest way.

“I’ve always kind of written about the things I’m into at the time,” says Luedecke, who recorded the album in the cabin he built in the woods on his property. “It’s hugely rewarding to write about where you’re at.”

His song “Early Days” for instance, looks at the time in every parent’s lives when their babies stop being babies and turn into kids. It’s a big moment for any parent, and Luedecke does it justice with his poignant, fun send-up with such lines as: “Saving up for date night, so we can have our fight.” Luedecke has always had a penchant for humour, and the album is a happy one, but there are hints of melancholy that give it more heft and meaning.

“I just don’t think it’s sugarcoated,” he explains. “I mean, I think people feel happy when they listen to my music, but I think the reason they feel happy and the don’t feel nothing at all is that there is sadness in it."

The first track on the album is “Yodelay," which happens to be the first song Luedecke ever recorded, which was featured on his now-out-of-print EP.

“It’s sort of about falling in love, and the rest of [the album] is about the aftermath, having a family and a kitchen and all that stuff,” says Luedecke. “So, that’s kind of where that’s coming from.”

Luedecke is best known as a banjo player, an instrument he discovered back in 1997, a serendipitous moment that propelled him to embark upon a career as a musician. His debut Mole in the Ground was released in 2003 and Luedecke has subsequently garnered significant acclaim for a series of albums rooted in traditional music with the banjo front and centre.

Most notably, Luedecke has won two Juno Awards and his last album, 2012’s Tender is the Night was again nominated for a Juno and was Music Nova Scotia’s Folk Album of the Year.

For Domestic Eccentric, Luedecke once again worked with producer Tim Reynolds. The two traditional music enthusiasts squirrelled away in Luedecke’s cabin where they recorded the record live off the floor. “I’d worked with Tim a few times, but I wanted to do a record where he was more prominently feature in a duet situation,” says Luedecke. “The music was made in the cabin, collaboratively and we did the whole thing without headphones just playing into the air.”

Old Man Luedecke plays on Oct. 14 at Harbourfront Centre. For tickets go here.