CORB LUND
Counterfeit Blues
New West Records
Corb Lund is a mainstay of the Canadian music industry where he has won countless awards for his roots-based music. Over the course of seven albums with his band, The Hurtin’ Albertans, Lund has build a strong collection of tunes that have aided his reputation of putting on a cracking live show.
For Counterfeit Blues, Lund took a batch of his tunes that he knows ‘inside out’ and re-cut them in the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis. To give the songs a point of difference to their previously recorded versions, all instruments were played at the same time, with no isolation and no overdubs. It is essentially as live as the band could perform in the studio.
Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer sounds as though the band are set up in your lounge room as well as having one of the most unforgettable riffs on the album. It may not be well known that Lund studied jazz before leaning towards writing country tunes. He revisits his old stomping ground with the jazz/rockabilly fusion of Big Butch Bass Bull Fiddle.
Counterfeit Blues may not be a revolutionary idea, but is a damn sight more interesting than other best of collections, and you would expect nothing less of the clever wordsmith. Any album with (Gonna) Shine Up My Boots and Truck Got Stuck is well worth the price of admission.
4 stars
CHRIS HAVERCROFT
