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Corb Lund is sick of love songs

He likes to write about interesting things. Hear him sing about interesting things at The Machine Shop on Friday Sept. 16
corb lund
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When it comes to musicianship, Alberta’s Corb Lund is surprisingly modest, especially considering the number of awards he’s collected over the years.

The songwriting part, however, comes naturally, he told SooToday during a recent phone interview.

“I’m not a fantastic singer or great guitar player. I’m adequate,” Lund said. “I’m not a natural player, especially compared to my guitar player, Grant [Siemens]. He can play circles around me, no matter how much I practice. Likewise, there’s singers out there who are fantastic natural singers. The only real natural ability that I think I might have is the writing part. Not that I don’t work at it, but I might have a predisposition for it.”

“I write about weird sh*t, too. I’m happy about it,” he laughed. “I’m so sick of love songs. I write a love song once in a while if it’s real. But I like to write about interesting things. The world is full of interesting things.”

It’s that predisposition for songwriting that has garnered him countless nominations, 11 Canadian Country Music Association Award wins, and one Juno statuette.

And it’s Lund’s prowess for storytelling and rhythmic phrasing throughout eight studio albums worth of material that has drawn critical acclaim and fans world-wide to his side.

For his October 2015 release, Things That Can’t Be Undone, Lund and his Hurtin’ Albertans – with whom he’s toured and recorded for more than 15 years – decided to let producer Dave Cobb lend a hand at forming each track.

“Each [album] that we do, we get more and more comfortable with less studio tricks and more of the four of us standing there singing songs,” he explained. “I’m a fan of organic, analogue, natural things in my life, including recording. It just sounds better. Everybody gets all wound up about getting the perfect recording, when really getting the emotion is more important than getting everything perfect.”

Given that Lund comes from a long line of Alberta cowboys – six generations worth – it might seem strange that he got his start playing the likes of Black Sabbath before forming the popular 90s Canadian punk band The Smalls.

“About half the time [I was with The Smalls] I was doing country and western gigs on the side. So it was a natural progression [into country],” Lund said. “To me, as a songwriter, it’s not as different as people think. From the outside, it looks super different. But it’s kind of like playing hockey and football. There’s no reason you can’t do both. From a writing standpoint, it’s really not that different. It’s just a different flavour.”

“They’re both kind of a ‘common man’ thing. They both have an independent spirit. I think they share some of the same values.”

When Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans perform in Sault Ste. Marie at The Machine Shop on Friday, Sept. 16, fans may not hear any tracks from The Smalls, but everything else is fair game, he told us.

“We have eight records worth of material, so we just wing it every night,” he said. “We’ll take requests and every night will be different. We’ll play whatever you want to hear. Just yell it at me.”

“I’m excited to come back to the Sault. It’s gonna be fun.”

Presented by Girl Friday Productions, the show will also include the Sudbury ‘bloodgrass’ band Murder Murder in the opening slot.

Tickets for Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans are $42.50 each and can be purchased at The Machine Shop, Case’s Music, Northern Superior Brewing, or online here.

To learn more about Corb Lund, please click here.


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Donna Hopper

About the Author: Donna Hopper

Donna Hopper has been a photojournalist with SooToday since 2007, and her passion for music motivates her to focus on area arts, entertainment and community events.
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