‘I don’t write songs with an audience in mind. I write what I write because it’s what I write’ — True-blue Albertan Corb Lund follows in the footsteps of idols like Dylan Young and Earle
Corb Lund and the horse he rode in on
Sitting with a small entourage at Calgary’s Ship and Anchor late last year Alberta roots darlin’ Corb Lund had no idea that within three months his then freshly released CD Horse Soldier Horse Soldier! would be nominated for a Juno (Roots and Traditional Album of the Year Solo) and sitting at the top of the charts (No. 1 on CBC Radio 3). Or maybe he could. After all his previous two albums had earned the same nomination (with Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer winning it) and moved the longtime road veteran from bars to soft-seaters.
While he tunnelled through history books to uncover inspiration for Horse Soldier! he really needed look no further than his own backyard or at the horses flashing by his tour-bus window to find tales of tails and battle trails. The daring album stitches together ancient mounted Mongols with the four RCMP gunned down in Mayerthorpe the way a barbed wire fence stitches together two sides of the horizon. For fans who fell in love with Lund for his feel-good rollickin’ tunes like “Hair in my Eyes” and “The Truck Got Stuck” the history tutorial might be a bit of a stretch. If so Lund’s not worried.
“The critics already love the album and we’ll see about the fans but the songs have had good response in the months I’ve played them live” he says. Even if the fan response was lukewarm Lund would shrug. “I don’t write songs with an audience in mind. I write what I write because it’s what I write. A lot of my influences — Dylan Young Earle — do the same; they weren’t writing the same song 20 or 30 years into their careers.” When asked if his band blinked at the diverse slate of songs Lund brought to the table he says they didn’t. “They are a really professional band so they just got to the music and [figuring out] how to do the songs justice.”
The plethora of sold-out gigs on his current tour is the outcome of his gamble. Indeed there have been more than a smattering of careful listeners who have begun to approach Lund to thank him for the handful of simple but powerful lines in the title song lines that pay tribute to the Mounties gunned down in cold blood three years ago. In fewer than 40 words Lund somehow captures the intake of breath and output of tears as Canadians reacted.
Hidden under the themes of horses and war that dominate the album is one more subtle thread — regret. The autobiographical “The Horse I Rode in On” is about playing the Ponoka Stampede and making a grand entrance on a skittish sorrel horse. The vivid storytelling invites the listener to see the show with the spotlight crowd band and livestock. It seems to be a song of lost love but the narrator laments the lack of horses in his life as strongly as the absence of his loved one. “Especially a Paint” revisits the same wistful feel of the ranching trail not taken.
When asked about the last time he was on a horse Lund’s slightly tired face brightens instantly. “Last week” he says. “We were down [at the Lund family homestead near Taber] last week.” Ironically taking the trail away from horses may lead right back to them. His sold-out gigs steady album sales and constant radio play have enabled Lund to purchase 80 gorgeous acres tucked up near a lovely Alberta river. May he soon enjoy trails riddled with more happiness and less gunpowder than the hapless characters on his album.
