Alberta’s own Corb Lund released his brand new album this last Friday. The country-folk singer-songwriter is on his twelfth studio album, and shows no signs of slowing down. Now, I do tend personally to go for more of a rock/pop country sound. However I do love some more traditional country and western stuff every now and again, so am certainly excited to be checking this out.
The album opens on a fantastic acoustic guitar riff with ‘The Cardplayers’. It has an instant Old Western feel to it, Americana and folk blended together perfectly. Corb’s vocals fit perfect over the top, and the harmonies add another great level to it all, making it massively catchy. Some of the guitar work throughout the track is incredible too, especially through the second verse. It’s a masterclass in folk/blues guitaring, and I’m not at all jealous… It’s a great, darker, more old-school take on country, and an amazing way to open the album!
Single ‘I Had it All’ opens perfectly on some great harmonica work. Long time readers know that if it’s one thing I love as much as a sax, it’s a harmonica. It leads into another great acoustic-blues rock verse and chorus. Again, it’s a damn catchy chorus too, especially with the harmonized vocals. Corb Lund is a fantastic lyric writer, and that is evident in this track. It’s all so simple yet such effective music. It’s another fantastic track, and just a fun listen.
Now, as a Brit, I’m not going to pretend to know the ins and outs of what happened at Fort Worth back in the day, so am not going to comment on the lyrical content of ‘Was Fort Worth Worth It?’. However, as a song overall, it’s another catchy, fun Americana track. Some of the guitaring is amazing, and the chorus is a great, reflective section. I can’t get over just how good the harmonies are in every track, adding so much to an otherwise basic, almost one-man-band style arrangement. Who knows, it may be controversial but screw it, it makes it onto our playlist!
The biggest single from the album, ‘Out on a Win’, is up next. It’s another simple, steady, but incredibly fun track. It’s another track where the lyric writing from Corb Lund stands out massively to me, too. It is a fun, chilled-out track that almost has a touch of indie to it in the vocal delivery, too. Meanwhile ‘Redneck Rehab’ is possibly my favourite track on the album. From the old-school sound of the build-up intro into a fantastic riff and the clapping over the top, it all sounds great. It makes it feel more of a campfire song, which I loved. It also has an infectiously catchy chorus, again featuring some awesome lyrics and harmonies. It’s another track that easily makes our playlist!
The title track slows down the pace even more, but is still every bit a fantastic song. And as a tribute track to someone named Ian, it’s a beautiful, heart-felt track. You can very much feel the emotion in Corb’s vocals and writing, and the pace fit it perfectly. It’s another great track on an album packed full of them.
It was around the time of ‘When the Game Gets Hot’. While it is only 11 tracks and 37-minutes in length, most of it sounds pretty similar. I completely get that it’s due to the style Corb Lund plays, but by seven tracks in I was starting to get a tad restless. The aforementioned track is awesome, having almost a Santana ‘Smooth’ kinda swing to it. The rest of the tracks on the album after it are also great. Especially ‘It Takes Practice’ and another single and closing track ‘Old Familiar Drunken Feeling’. I’d happily listen to them all again, but maybe next time breaking them up with a couple of tracks in the middle may help my destroyed attention span!
Overall: This is a great album! As I said, it’s not 100% what I tend towards when I go for country music, but it was a lot of fun to listen to and Corb Lund is clearly a very talented guy. There isn’t a bad track on this album and some of them are truly fantastic. I’ll be listening to a lot of this for weeks and months to come!
The Score: 8/10