One Liner: Classic, old-school western sound from a 28 year old Canadian.
Wikipedia Genre: Western, country, folk Home: Saskatchewan
Saturday
Thoughts: I'm really liking this stuff. I had a period, about 25 years ago by now, when I lived in Dallas and listened almost exclusively to The Range, a radio station up there that played all the Texas Country and Americana that you could stand. Great stuff. Bruce Robison, Guy Clark, Chris Knight, Dixie Chicks, Willie, Charlie Robison, Pat Green, Marty Robbins, BR549, Bob Wills, Two Tons of Steel, Haggard, Waylon, Dale Watson, and many more. It was great. Around that same time, I remember becoming obsessed with two other artists - I don't know if that was because of The Range or otherwise, but the cowboy tales of Chris LeDoux and the smooth, top-notch songwriting of Don Williams. Both of those dudes are top tier when it comes to writing a song. But The Range also got me on a tear with what I'd call Campfire Cowboy tunes - the kind of music you could imagine a tired cowboy singing around the fire while drinking his burnt coffee and staring up at the stars. The absolute king of those songs, in my opinion, is Don Edwards. Sadly, he has passed away, so we won't be getting him at the Festival any time soon, but he is rad. His duet with Nancy Griffith on "Night Rider's Lament" is lovely, but that whole Best Of compilation that they released right about then, in 1998, was my freaking jam.
Anyway, I bring that up because this dude is right there in that same wheelhouse. He's doing yodels. He's doing classic story songs. He's doing a waltz about running cattle. His voice is gruff and gravelly like he literally just came out of the dusty trail. I love it.
Funny enough, he's from Saskatchewan, Canada. His father was a politician who served as the premier of Saskatchewan. He went to the hilariously named University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Sounds like something Bugs Bunny would say. But he paused his studies once he thought he might be able to make a go of it at music.
Strangely, I reviewed his first EP back in 2017, and yet I have no recollection of it at all. Too much music in my head, I suppose. Here is what I said back then: "Colter Wall - Imaginary Appalachia. No Spotify bio available, and I don't recall how this guy came to my attention. Might have been through a cousin-in-law who was telling me about some good new music. Dude brings Johnny Cash to mind, if Cash had made the soundtrack for the show Justified. He's Canadian, which is an interesting twist to the listening experience, because I don't think I ever would have guessed that. The runaway hit on Spotify is "Sleeping on the Blacktop" with 1.3 million streams [now up to an impressive 188 million, in part because of being featured in Yellowstone].
Apparently this song was on the Hell or High Water soundtrack, which makes sense like my Justified reference does. Hard scrabble Texan bank robbers or Kentuckian drug runners, not too much difference really. His voice is seriously a trip. His youthful appearance makes it seem like he'd sound like a kid, but then his voice is all gravel and Marlboro Reds and Old Grandad whiskey. I like it. I'm looking forward to the full album later this year." The other big streamer from that album is "The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie," with 98.9 million.
After that 2017 EP, he's released four more great albums. 2017's Colter Wall (produced by Dave Cobb), 2018's Songs of the Plain, 2020's Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs (quite a title!), and then 2023's Little Songs. In my opinion, all killer, no filler. I could just let these albums wash over me for days. I'm about to go out to West Texas for a few days, and I can tell you what will be playing as I sit on the front porch of the log house and watch the stars come out.
Other top streamers for you to check out: "Cowpoke," from WS&WOPS, with 58.8 million streams.
The power of the harmonica, combined with the lonesome wail of the pedal steel, is just so good. And then the yodeling little laments. Love it. The top track from the 2017 album features Tyler Childers long before that was a household name. 62 million streams for "Fraulein."
Cover song of an old school track from the '50's, but they crush it. Those harmonies are strong. Lovely version of a song that's been handled by everyone from Townes to Willie. According to the Wikipedia, this song takes its melody from Woody Guthrie's song "Oklahoma Hills." I might need a deep dive into Woody some day... How about the top track from the new disc - that would be "Corralling the Blues," with 8.6 million streams.
I sort of respect that there are zero music videos created for these songs. Just straight up classic country music without any modern fuss or muss. Lyrically, he explores what it is like to survive in the hardscrabble west in a way that most country music has left behind. I am very curious to know what this guy is really like, right now. His music makes it seem like he should be an 80 year old living out his last days on his Wyoming spread, and yet he's freaking 28. He's probably eating avocado toast in a hip Nashville coffee shop right now.
Well, actually, I found an article about his home life, and he's doing exactly what I wanted him to be doing. "It’s an early summer afternoon in the southwest corner of Saskatchewan. Singer-songwriter Colter Wall sits on the bed of his F-350 in the middle of the Canadian prairie at his ranch, the Rafter CW, where he runs a yearling cattle operation. There is a daunting pile of scrap posts next to him (“I inherited them with the place,” he says with a chuckle), several drought-resistant Caragana trees edging the property, and a nice set of steel corrals with a loading chute set in the back." Awesome. It sounds like he really, actually ranches that land, and then records and performs when he can fit it in to that schedule. Love to hear it. That is an excellent article, by the way, if you want to dig further in to this guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment