Uptown Magazine Online - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News

Uptown Magazine - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News

October 29, 2009


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2009-10-29

A return to his roots

Corb Lund's latest album, Losin' Lately Gambler, finds him drawing inspiration from familiar territory

Jen Zoratti

Canadian alt-country cowboy Corb Lund returns to the Burton Cummings Theatre on Halloween night with newly released sixth record, Losin' Lately Gambler - a love letter of sorts to the Canadian West. Backed by his longtime band, The Hurtin' Albertans - bassist Kurt Ciesla, drummer Brady Valgardson and Winnipeg guitarist/banjoist Grant Siemens - Lund spins vivid, almost folkloric tales about bad-ass female gunslingers, hard-luck gamblers, horse doctors and defiant ranchers, largely inspired by his ancestors (Lund, who was born in Taber, Alta., and lives in Edmonton, is a fourth-generation Albertan).

Uptown called the troubadour to find out more about the new album.

Uptown: Losin' Lately Gambler is your first release on noted American roots label New West Records, yet it's peppered with Canadian references.

Lund: (laughs) Yeah, we'll see how it goes - I didn't set out to do it that way, but then I wrote Long Gone to Saskatchewan and This Is My Prairie and it kind of went off from there. But the thing is, most of our audience in the States is from the West and they understand cowboy culture. I'm counting on the fact that Saskatchewan is an exotic place to them. When you mention Saskatchewan to Canadians, they smile because it's like their kid brother. To Americans, talking about Saskatchewan is like talking about Timbuktu.

Losin' Lately Gambler seems more personal than your last record, 2007's Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!, which was more of a historical narrative.

Yeah, it is more personal. A couple of tunes deal with relationships, which is something I don't write about unless something happened to me. (Lund broke up with his longtime girlfriend). It seems so fake otherwise. There's a lot of vet songs because my dad's a horse doctor. This album is also kind of a return to my honky-tonk roots.

Sonically, it sounds the closest to what we sound like at a show. It's got a real natural feel. My guys really stepped up to the occasion.

I wanted to ask you about This Is My Prairie in particular, a song in which you address the conflict between oil companies and longtime land owners. What compelled you to write it?

It's a big issue in Alberta. There's a lot of tension between the oil companies and the ranchers. Pollution is hurting the area. There are pipelines that keep getting bombed up North. There's some real terrorist shit going on. But it's interesting to see a 60-year-old, cowboy hat-wearing rancher talking about environmental issues.

Have your politics changed?

Yeah. I'm not as left as most musicians I know, but I'm pretty anti-corporate. My politics are confusing at best. The more I read, the more confused I get. On an individual level, capitalism is great. When it gets to a corporate level, it gets twisted. There's no moral conscience.

Pretty heavy stuff to tackle in song.

Yeah (laughs). I'm kind of getting to the point where some days I'm optimistic but sometimes I think we're fucked. You watch four documentaries in a row and you can't help but feel screwed.

Much of your songwriting has a literary sensibility to it. Have you always been into songs that tell a story?

I think I started writing songs in my late teens. I did a lot of creative writing as a kid - I actually just came across a bunch of these weird stories I wrote when I was 12. I love story songs as a listener. Not every one of my songs is a story, but I don't do the word poem thing too much. In the rock world, there's a lot of word poetry going on. There's nothing wrong with that, I just think it's harder to craft a coherent tale.

I think what I write about is different than what most country guys are writing about. Relationships are fine to write about, but not all the time. I'm a compulsive information junkie. I end up writing about what I'm into at the time.

Your home province seems to be a constant source of inspiration for you.

That's what interests me - my own story and where I come from. Its easier to put Houston in a song than Calgary, but I've had people tell me they want to come to Alberta because of my songs. My family has lived in Alberta for over 100 years, so I feel comfortable talking about it.

What does your family think of your music?

They love it - they get it more than when I was doing rock 'n' roll.

Yes, how does one go from playing with Edmonton punks The Smalls to penning country tunes?

It was actually more strange for me to get into Black Sabbath at 15. The stranger twist was rock 'n' roll. But, as far as writing goes, it's not as different as people think. I always say its like the difference between doing an oil painting and doing a pencil sketch.

My old band played a hell of a lot of gigs in Winnipeg. I think we played the Albert more than any other club in the country.

CORB LUND AND THE HURTIN' ALBERTANS
Oct. 31, 8 p.m., Burton Cummings Theatre
w/ Ridley Bent

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