I grew up one the prairies. While I was there I was exposed to a fair share of country music. My particular town claims Terry Clark as one of it's own (Canadian Idol winner Kalan Porter and Blues-Reggae-Death-Country guitar sling Gordie Johnson went to high school there as well). That said, I wasn't exposed to a lot of "good" country. I may have played my share of Shania Twain and Gretchen Wilson in cover bands and but my heart wasn't in it.
To me the true successors to the country greats that still define the genre (ie. Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Jerry Reed, Ian Tyson) were the likes of Neil Young and Fred Eaglesmith.... Guys who wrote about trucks, trains, farming and life on the road and not in some ironic sense. The swill pumped out of the big time country music machine these days is no better than that pumped out of the the auto-tune obsessed pop music world.... more about selling cellular phones than making music.
There is a new generation of "Alternative Country" musicians out there, carrying on that tradition and making music that could go a long way to saving the roadhouse's and and railway bars that have long been the breeding grounds of Canada's live music. These places are at risk of their decades of memories and local colour being painted over and filled with nothing but DJs iPod mixes.
Today I want to discuss Luke Doucet and The White Falcon's album "Blood's Too Rich". I got a pile of discs from their label "Six Shooter Records" a while back and, admittedly this one wasn't really on my radar at the time. I worked my way through a number of albums from more familiar artists before putting "Blood's Too Rich" in the car's CD player for a drive. In the car, on a sunshiny drive on the Pacific Rim Highway the CD was in it's element.
The opening guitar and vocal bits of "Long Haul Driver" set the mood for a solitary cruise in the car and sent my mind wondering into the world of a rig driver out east, dealing with early morning border crossings, a lonely schedule and unceasing dedication to both his woman and his load. I was delivered to that world like I'm delivered to the road life of Bob Seger's character in his song "Turn The Page"
The album continues in the vein of a great driving disc. Great guitar tone, subtle female backup vocals (Think Neil Young's "Harvest Moon") and catchy choruses allow you to be drawn back in even if the spell is broken by a ringing phone or passing police car. There is also an element of swing with walking fretless bass and twangy hollow body guitars that could get your butt shaking if you're not careful.
What I really get from this album and a lot of the current batch of great "alt country" acts out there at the moment is how well they would work in a live show. Anthemic and intimate. Songs that you can sing along with the first time you hear them without feeling like the artist has underestimated the listener. It all sounds genuine to me... like live music should, often a difficult thing to put down on a record.
Neil Young fans will find this album pretty easy to get into, there are some moments that Beatles fan will be satisfied with. In fact lyrical references to The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Rick Danko (Bass player for The Band) makes it easy to see where a lot of the influences come from. Tom Petty could have produced some of the tracks as well... not a bad set of comparisons.
Get it here
Thanks for reading and happy listening, Geoff
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