Corb Lund a straight shooter
Taped to the side of Corb Lund’s acoustic guitar is a list of 95 songs from all eight albums — plus two extra tunes.
Unlike most musicians, the Edmonton cowboy refuses to stick to the same set list night after night. He prefers to choose as he plays, using a series of hand gestures to send signals to The Hurtin’ Albertans — bassist Kurt Ciesla, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Grant Siemens and drummer Brady Valgardson.
“I’ll play a song and near the end of the song or as I’m finishing, I’ll give (Siemens) a hand signal, so he knows” which instrument to pick up next, says Lund.
A flat hand means Siemens needs to switch to a lap-steel guitar, while a claw means to go for the banjo. These gestures — and his band’s ability to choose from 97 songs — are only two examples of Lund’s meticulousness. His songs — such as Cows Around, The Gothest Girl I Can, Truck Got Stuck, Time To Switch To Whiskey — are packed with the tiniest of details, painting vivid snapshots of prairie life. On the lips of any other musician, these lyrics might seem too much, but they’re perfect for his conversational style as a singer.
Four months ago, Lund and his bandmates made their (triumphant) mainstage debut at the Folk Fest. Since then, the son of southern Alberta ranchers scored his first No. 1 album in Canada — selling more than 5,000 copies of Cabin Fever during the first week of its release. He also launched a 17-city Canadian tour in November. (He postponed five Ontario dates due to an illness in the family.)
The Journal talked to Lund about girls, guns, poker and hitting the top of the charts. Q: What’s it like to have a No. 1 album?
A: Good, I’m kind of stunned. It’s neat because it’s a very Edmonton record.
We made it here at Riverdale, (Journal multimedia wonder) Fish Griwkowsky shot the pictures, Jeff Sylvester did the graphics.
It’s very Edmonton, so it’s cool to have international reviews raving about the record and having it made right here in town.” Q: Was The Gothest Girl I Can (on Cabin Fever) inspired by one particular goth girl? A: No. Nice try, though. My standard gag about the song is that when I saw Guy Clark Jr. at the Folk Fest a few years ago, he played his Homegrown Tomato song. He said: “Ever since I’ve been writing songs about tomatoes, people have been bringing tomatoes to the shows.” So I wrote a song about goth chicks. Q: You’ve written several tunes about pistol-packin’ characters over the years. Are you a good shot? A: I do all right. Did I tell you I won a shooting contest in Texas last year?
I played this festival in west Texas last summer and as part of it, they had this thing called Cowboy Action Shoot. What you do is shoot a six-shooter and a lever-action rifle, you know the old-fashioned ones? You shoot these targets and you’re timed and I won it. I won a pistol. It took me a year to get it imported, but I finally did. It’s a modern replica of an 1890s’ Colt-style six-shooter. Q: Did the six-shooter inspire one of the tunes on Cabin Fever — Priceless Antique Pistol Shoots Startled Owner? A: No, some other ones did.
I just played the festival again in July and had to defend my title. I came in second, but I came in second to the guy who is the co-writer of two of the songs on my record — Matt Skinner. Q: Are you a better shot than you are a poker player? A: Just slightly. I’m adequately good at both.
The last serious poker-playing I did was two summers ago, in Vegas. I did one of the World Series events for Omaha Hold ’Em. I didn’t win, but I didn’t do too badly. Then I won a bunch of money in some side games, so it was good. I kind of OD’d on poker for two months and since then, I’ve just been too busy to do it. Q: In Cows Around, you list off the breeds of cows. Did you have to Google any of them? A: A couple. No, I had to Google some of the spellings, but not the breeds themselves. It’s funny — if you miss one, you’ll hear about it. I’ve already heard about it from Australians — there’s one breed I missed, the Murray Grey. I generally try to be accurate, so I can throw it in live. Q: I can’t believe I’m going to ask you this, but do you have a favourite breed of cow? A: Well, my dad raised Welsh Black. He and a couple of partners brought the first bull over from Wales in the ’60s. It’s not a popular breed, but there are some things about the breed that are good for Alberta. They have longer hair and they calve really easily.
They didn’t work out for my dad, though. Have you heard of Welsh Black before? There you go. The breed probably wouldn’t have made it into the song except I knew about them through my dad.