Anytime you have a relative in politics, you're going to catch some flack from people, because that's just part of the gig.Collection: Politics
My family went to a Mennonite Baptist church - they're pretty conservative Christian folk. We weren't on a colony or anything like that, but it certainly shaped me throughout the years.Collection: Family
Being raised Christian and going to church in a small town, that has a lot to do with my makeup as a human being, and has a lot to do with my songwriting, too.
Duct tape solves all problems, I think.
I think a lot of people dont realize I come from a pretty rural area in a place where people are real westernized, and they love country music, because thats the kind of lives they lead.
I feel like if you spend too much time on the record then theres something wrong. It shouldnt be like pulling teeth. It should come naturally.
When youre talking about the genre country music, it used to be called Country & Western music. It plays a pretty big role in that pantheon of country music. Thats the whole reason why those guys in Nashville started wearing cowboy hats and boots back in the day. That didnt come from the South, that came from the West.
I grew up in a pretty small town in a rural area in southwestern Saskatchewan, close to the Montana border. You either work the oil rigs, or you farm, or you ranch.
Blood on the Saddle' is one of my favorite cowboy records of all time.
But 'Night Herding Song' was funny 'cause we tried to record it in the studio in RCA one day, but theres no reverb in the room... Its really hard to do a piece like that without any reverb because you cant hear anything back.
I think there is a certain lack of curiosity when it comes to Canada because it just sort of seems like it's just the North - what could be interesting about that?
I do a lot of explaining of where I'm from to Americans.
You wait for months or half a year to put the record out and thats always the hard part for me because Im pretty eager to get these songs in peoples ears.
I knew before going into the studio that I wanted to make a Western record, featuring a combination of traditional Western folk and cowboy songs and some tunes that I had written that were heavily influenced by that kind of music.
Its a strange thing because the West is rooted in a very harsh reality of hard living and scratching out a life for yourself, but its also wrapped in this mythos. There are of these tall tales and crazy stories about the West that you hear and can never really be sure of whats true and whats not.
You can listen to a lot of cowboy records that sound goofy and almost cartoon-y. Its a fine line to walk, having traditional cowboy songs rooted in some kind of reality, while at the same time maintaining that mythos without it becoming a mockery of it.
I grew up listening to country music because that's what was playing in our house.
Ive always loved the tradition of murder ballads.
One positive Covid test can stop a tour, leave venues short staffed, or even prevent me from crossing the border to get home.
Ive been an opening act for pretty much as long as Ive been out here doing this, so to be able to go out and be a headliner is an adjustment for me.
I grew up around rodeo culture and a lot of farms.
Singing is a tricky business so I sort of had to work at ir. But it's also sort of natural. That's my voice.