It’s a twang thang
Tyler Gilbert finds that sometimes a little twang isn’t that bad
It turns out that Tyler Gilbert has a bigger country vibe to his music than he thought he did.
Gilbert, a folk/rock artist from Regina, received the news after recording The Montana Kid, his latest album. The 11 tracks on the album have a definite country feel and Gilbert wasn’t sure if the new sound would take his fan base by surprise.
“They weren’t as surprised as I thought — apparently I’ve had a bit of a twang in my music for the past albums that I wasn’t aware of,” Gilbert said with a laugh during a recent interview to advance his CD release show on April 30 at The Club. “I was telling someone the other day that the album turned out a little more twangy country than I thought and he told me, ‘Well, you’ve always had that sound in there.’ I guess I never realized that.
“I do think that once they hear the entire album, they’ll be a little more shocked. Even though I had a few little country things in past albums, this one is that way through and through. One of the things I noticed about this album compared to the last album was that the new album flows really well. My previous album, OK Murphy, had a very diverse range that went from solo, folk songs to rock songs but this one is balanced with similar style songs.”
Recorded in Regina at Blue Door Recording and Retrosleep Studio, The Montana Kid is the fourth album from Gilbert. Produced by Justin Bender, the album’s country feel wasn’t something that Gilbert initially planned.
“I had sort of an idea as I started working on the album — the songs on this album are older than you’d think,” explained Gilbert. “When I started writing them I was in a bit of a country phase so the songs came out with a little more twang than I anticipated. Then I got in the studio and started recording ... when it was finished, we listened to the album and it was a lot more country than I had wanted. But that’s a good thing — it sounds great and I’m quite happy with the album.”
The sound of the new album isn’t the only difference between The Montana Kid and OK Murphy.
“This one was actually a little more organic than the previous album,” said Gilbert. “On the previous one, I had everything planned out and I had everything down but with this one I just kind of let it go. I just had the basic sounds and let Justin do his thing.
“I added pieces here and there and it grew within the studio.”
So now that the album is complete and set for release on May 2, what does Gilbert think is the best way to record — with a detailed plan or letting the sound happen organically?
“They’re both good methods, it just depends on what you’re going for,” said Gilbert. “If you’ve got a really solid idea, then plan it all out but sometimes the organic method works out. They’re both great; they’re both very creative.” Gilbert spent much of April on the road with shows throughout Nevada and California before returning to Regina for the CD release party. He has an additional 20 dates booked for May, June and July with shows in Manitoba, Ontario, New York and Ohio.
He feels fortunate to have the opportunity to tour and share his music.
“Everywhere you go, and I wrote a song about it once called Hang, it talks about how everyone is nice to musicians. I’m not necessarily sure they should be but they are and I’m grateful for that,” said Gilbert. “As a touring musician, you get to travel around and meet people who want to meet you, just because you are an artist. It’s a wonderful experience to tour around, meeting people in a different country who are appreciative of what you do.”