Home cooking fuels Rodeo
Latest album recorded in familiar space
A little home cooking. It is the ultimate comfort food.
And literally and figuratively, it’s exactly what the members of Blue Rodeo were craving and needing to nourish them, 25 years into their illustrious career, as they were setting out to record their 13th studio album In Our Nature, released late last fall.
It’s a familiar-sounding Rodeo record, which cofounder Jim Cuddy says was informed by the fact that the band was producing over an extended period of time in a very familiar space, fellow frontman Greg Keelor’s farm studio outside of Toronto.
“Making the record at Greg’s place there’s a certain result. No matter how aggressive and edgy you try to be, Greg’s place will always round the edges. It’s a comfortable place,” says Cuddy from an equally comfortable locale, Banff, where the band was taking a two-day pause before continuing their tour, which stops in Edmonton this weekend. “So it’s the kind of record we expected to make.”
And, apparently, needed to make. After a quarter century, millions of albums sold, numerous awards and accolades, Blue Rodeo found itself in a somewhat precarious position as a result of Keelor’s health issues — namely hearing loss and difficulties that required him to back away from the noisier aspects of the band’s sound. He was replaced live in his electric guitar duties by veteran player Colin Cripps.
As Cuddy says, retreating to a place where everyone was comfortable, especially his afflicted friend, was vital in the continuing creativity of the group.
“We needed him (Keelor) to be back at the centre of the thing, contributing.”
So confident are they in the new material, they’re performing In Our Nature in its entirety during their current cross-Canada jaunt.
The band will perform the complete 14-track album in order in the first set of the evening, and then return to the stage for a second set of Blue Rodeo hits and fan favourites.
Cuddy says the approach speaks not only to the relationship and trust the band has built with its audience over the years but also their need to take themselves and their fans outside of that comfort zone to keep things fresh.
“It requires a certain amount of patience on the audience’s part and it’s a long night, but I think it’s been rewarding,” he says of the show.
Making it more special for the musician is it’s something of a family affair — opening act for the tour is his son Devin Cuddy and his band.
The elder Cuddy admits there was a certain amount of “nepotism behind the choice,” and he believes the crowd is showing up early to check out the warm-up act because of the family tree. But he’s quick to point out his offspring and his band have “worked and gotten themselves in the position that they would have been on our radar regardless of whether he’s my son or not.”
He’s also obviously enjoying spending time with his boy — the off-day interview also coincided with Devin’s 27th birthday, which they were going to celebrate with a nice dinner — and has a difficult time completely stifling his feelings as a proud papa.
“From the papa point, yeah, I absolutely love it. And you know that when he comes and sings Lost Together with us at the end of the night, it’s hard for me to contain myself. It’s really a nice moment.”
That seems to be a fairly common theme in the Blue Rodeo camp these days: nice moments. In fact, a pretty great 2013 was capped off with a late December phone call to Cuddy and Keelor letting them know the pair have been appointed Officers in the Order of Canada, which they’ll celebrate at a ceremony later this year.
“It’s a very moving moment when they call you. First of all you’re just thrilled, like, ‘Oh my God, I won something.’ And then they thank you for your contribution to Canada. And that one, that got me. That made me tear up a little bit. You never think of the macro view of what you’re doing.
“We certainly recognize that we’ve been in people’s lives in this country for a long time. So it’s very moving.”
And, who knows? Before 2014 is out, Blue Rodeo may find itself getting yet one more award it’s never been given — perhaps the cookbook equivalent of the Giller Prize.
Yes, bringing things back to the idea of home cooking and creation, to coincide with the release of the latest album, the band also released with cook and fellow artist Kate Boothman a tome called Sing For Your Supper.
The book features recipes of the meals Boothman made for the band while they were recording In Our Nature, the band’s favourites as well as some of their own creations.
On the tour, audiences will be able to buy the book of comfort food that helped fuel