City and Colour's new single "Meant To Be" is a song Dallas Green was not sure he could, or would, write. The song is Green's elegy to dear friend, Karl Bareham, and City and Colour's longtime producer and engineer who tragically drowned when the band was on tour in Australia in 2019.

"One minute I was in Sydney doing press for the record that me and Karl made together. The next minute, I’m finding out my best friend is gone,” recalls Green. “The following 24 hours were a blur. I boarded a plane from Sydney to the Gold Coast and made my way to the morgue to identify Karl’s body. That was the hardest moment I've had in my entire life. It changed me forever."

Bareham's death, combined with navigating personal issues and the lockdowns caused by the global pandemic, left Green in "a zombie-like state" for quite some time. As he began writing songs again, he wasn't entirely sure how, or even if, he could incorporate Bareham's death.

“My coping process when I go through something is to write about it as a way to help myself through it and then hopefully, other people can relate to it and find what they need to help them out of it too," the Canadian singer-songwriter explains. "That's how I've always done it. But this felt different. How do I write a song about my best friend who is gone?”

Green eventually found that path, with help from longtime friend and co-producer Matt Kelly, who's now part of the touring lineup in Green's other band, Alexisonfire. He also remembered words of counsel from Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains, who once spoke with Green and Bareham about continuing his band after frontman Layne Staley's death for the explicit purpose of honouring his late friend and maintaining his legacy.

"I could never have imagined that six months later I'd be staring at Karl's body and go through that process on my own," Green says.

With its pensive blend of electric and acoustic guitars and its gradual build from mournful melancholy to cathartic fury, "Meant To Be" recounts Green's many emotions in the immediate wake of Bareham's death,and with the aid of some hindsight. "The morning came and the sun started rising/But I was missing my friend/How do I carry on?" Green sings, questioning his faith as he declares that, "I don't believe this is how it's meant to be."

"I remember the night that the melody came to me," Green says. "As soon as I came up with the one line, 'the sun kept on rising,' I knew that this was the song that was going to be THAT one, about this certain topic. And then I stopped working on it right away; 'OK, I know this is here now, but I'm going to wait...'"


"Meant To Be" is City and Colour's first new original song since 2019’s A Pill For Loneliness which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album Chart marking the fourth consecutive #1 studio album for the acclaimed singer, songwriter and performer in Canada. The album enjoyed success worldwide notably the UK, Germany, Brazil and Australia, where it debuted #8 on the ARIA top albums chart. In the U.S., the album had impressive, multiple chart numbers hitting #10 Current Alternative Albums, #5 Americana/Folk Albums, #8 Record Label Independent Current Albums, #13 LP Vinyl Albums, and #24 Top Current Albums. In 2020, Green released a two-song cover EP, Low Songs. The EP features the tracks “Murderer” and “Sunflower” by one of Green’s longtime, favourite bands, Low.

Hailing from St. Catharines, Ontario, Dallas Green is a co-founder of hardcore luminaries Alexisonfire, and started City and Colour in 2005 as a (then) quiet counter to AOF, releasing songs via the Internet. They proved so popular with fans that he released City and Colour's first album, Sometimes, later that year. The album won the JUNO Award for Alternative Album of the Year. He has since released five more albums under the moniker, accompanied by a shifting lineup of musicians, and collected 4 JUNO awards, including two Songwriter of the Year awards, plus 1 Triple Platinum, 2 Double Platinum, 6 Platinum, and 1 Gold certification in Canada, and 1 Gold certification in Australia. In 2022, Green was honoured with the SOCAN National Achievement Award in recognition of his philanthropic contributions to music education in Canada..

Beyond the legacy of City and Colour, Green has teamed up with global icon Alecia Moore (a.k.a. P!nk) to form the folk duo You+Me. The duo’s acclaimed Platinum-certified first record, rose ave., debuted at #4 on the U.S. Top 200 Chart, #1 in Canada, #2 in Australia culminating in memorable performances on The Ellen Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“Meant To Be” features Green’s talented touring band which includes multi-instrumentalist Matt Kelly on guitar, Leon Power on drums, Erik Nielsen on bass, and John Sponarski on guitar.