Colter Wall’s sound channels the legends of old
He’s a talented young picker with maybe three dozen songs under his belt. There’s a rumour going ’round that he sold his soul to the devil; he never used to play guitar so well.
But that’s an old story. Here’s a new one.
Different dude, a marvel in his own right, rouses a sold-out crowd in Regina. He plucks a flat-top, kicks a bass drum and belts out in baritone The White Stripes’ Hotel Yorba. Jack White he is not, clad in denim, plaid and a cowboy hat.
Colter Wall hasn’t sold his soul. His ode to Robert Johnson’s Faustian fable could lead you to believe he has, plucking a gorgeous minor melody, voice resonant in singing a story. Reverend, reverend please come quick Because I’ve got something to admit I met a man out in the sticks in good ol’ Miss
He drove a Series 10 Cadillac and wore a cigar on his lip.
“I still remember my first songs being just terrible, just awful,” says Wall, who started songwriting a year-and-a-half ago.
He’s come a long way since then, and longer still from his musical origins (piano lessons as a child, a penchant for hairmetal solos when he started on guitar in Grade 8, and an R&B cover band during high school in Swift Current).
“In my foolish youth I guess I was more concerned with being showy,” says Wall, 19.
That changed in Grade 11, when he heard Bob Dylan for the first time. The song: Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.
“I remember being absolutely blown away at his writing,” says Wall. “The effect that his words had on me was pretty substantial, and from that point on I kind of decided I wanted to write songs.”
That was during his initial foray into folk, roots and Delta blues, styles he’s increasingly drawn to for their authenticity.
“I think it’s the most raw music has ever been and will ever be … It’s not hiding behind anything; everything is just there and really exposed.”
And that’s appealing to a lot of people, judging by the current roots revival.
“We now have musical genres that are basically pumped entirely out of computers and machines rather than out of people, so I think I may be wrong in saying this but … (people are) sort of reverting to the exact opposite, which is the most stripped down music there is in folk music and in bluegrass and blues music. It’s just some people singing harmonies, sometimes just one guy with a guitar and harmonica; it doesn’t get any more stripped down and raw than that.”
That’s who Wall is — one guy with a guitar (or a banjo, which he recently started practising).
After his high school bandmates moved on to university, he was “really miserable” not playing music.
So he started playing alone and continues to do so, even though he has fun collaborating.
Solo, he harks back to outlaw country: Townes Van Zandt is a writing influence; Johnny Cash is a vocal one.
“It’s hard to say you share anything with Johnny Cash, because he’s Johnny Cash — but we share some baritone levels that we kind of sing the same on.”
Wall can thank his dad, Premier Brad Wall, for the introduction to those legends.
“He was constantly playing Waylon (Jennings) and Johnny and all those guys as a kid, and Willie (Nelson),” said Wall. “The exposure to that stuff at such an early age, that’s a pretty important role in guiding me down the musical path that I am now, listening to older stuff.”
Wall’s mother Tami is a classically trained pianist; she provided his earliest practical experience at music, which he’d like to do professionally.
He’s in his second year at the University of Saskatchewan, working on his backup plan lest a music career doesn’t pan out. He’s in general courses now, and plans to pursue an education degree.
Catch him live on Jan. 31 at Saskatoon’s Le Relais with In With the Old, and Feb. 6 at Regina’s Artful Dodger with Scott Richmond. An EP, which he’s recording with Jason Plumb in Regina, should be out this summer.