Just in time for the new, improved and expanded Performance in the Park in Banff comes Corb Lund’s new release, Counterfeit Blues.
Lund and his Hurtin’ Albertans band picked through a selection of their early albums, packed their bags, headed to Memphis and recorded live off the floor at the famous Sun Studio – the way Elvis and Johnny Cash did decades ago.
Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans – Kurt Ciesla (upright bass), Brady Valgardson (drums) and Grant Siemens (guitar, lap steel, banjo), play Performance in the Park, Saturday (June 21) at the Banff Administration Building grounds. Special guests for the evening include Elliott Brood and Jeremy Fisher.
Performance in the Park kicks off June 20, with Sarah Harmer and special guests Whitehorse.
“We’re excited to be playing there,” said Lund. “It sounds like a great event. I love the Rockies and as a kid in Cardston, I was always looking toward the mountains. I’m honestly looking forward to playing outdoors there, it’s a beautiful place.”
While in Memphis recording Counterfeit Blues, the band also recorded the documentary Memphis Sun, which originally aired on Country Music Television (CMT) in December.
The spirited set of rockabilly, rock n’ roll and honky tonk country found on Counterfeit will be available on CD, vinyl and digital download and packaged as a special two-disc CD/DVD set with Memphis Sun – which documents the band’s journey from the north of Alberta to the south of Memphis for the two-day recording session in the hallowed ground where rock and roll was born.
Pulling off the recording of Counterfeit and Memphis in two short days was no big deal, said Lund. “When you’ve played together as long as we have, and the guys have known me forever, it was pretty effortless. For a new band, that might not be the way to go, but for us, it was no problem.”
Along with the release of old favourites on Counterfeit Blues, Lund is also working on new material for a next album. “I get ideas all the time,” he said, “and I usually have to block off some time to do my songwriting. When I get serious about it, I go off to my cabin to work.
“My songs are about family history and regional history and I’ve got western cowboy in my background (Lund is also a fourth-generation rancher). Also, I read a lot, so some songs have military history in them. Anything can end up in a song, really and anything I’m doing in my life can become a song.”
Inspiration can come from anywhere, he said, including the flooding of June 2013. At one point, a TV commercial related to the dogged determination it was going to take to stage the annual Calgary Stampede caught his eye. “They were using the phrase Hell or High Water and I thought that was amazing. It was a metaphor for the city’s courage, it really inspired me.”
His song “Blood, Sweat & Water” was the result – a tribute to everyone who toughed it out in southern Alberta.
For Counterfeit, Lund and crew went back to 2002's breakthrough Five Dollar Bill, their first gold record in Canada, and 2006’s Canadian Country Music Association’s Album of the Year, Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer, among others.
“It turned out really well,” said Lund. “Partly because we know the songs inside out and have played them live a thousand times and partly because recording at Sun is a very old fashioned, low-tech process that ends up sounding really great if you can pull it off.”
Counterfeit Blues is Lund’s ninth album, with a career that stretches back to 1995’s Modern Pain.
When not in country music mode, Lund will also be found on the road with punk metal band, The Smalls, which is gearing up for performances in late August. The Smalls are getting back together for Calgary’s X-Fest and Edmonton’s Sonic Boom festivals.
The Smalls – Lund (bass), Terry Johnson (drums), Mike Caldwell (vocals) and Dug Bevans (guitar) – will be reunited after putting out four albums over the years.
A Juno award winner who has multiple Canadian gold records to his name, Lund has played with The Who, Emmylou Harris and Robert Plant, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell. He has also won the Canadian Country Music Awards Roots Artist of the Year eight times running.
Over the last couple years he has played upwards of 200 shows throughout North America, including opening an arena date for self-professed fans Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley, a tour with friend Hayes Carll, who co-wrote and duets on the hilarious stand out “Bible on the Dash,” a showcase at SXSW and tours in Australia, New Zealand and all across Europe
Performance in the Park is co-presented by The Banff Centre, Parks Canada and Banff Lake Louise Tourism, in collaboration with the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
