And from the Edmonton Journal:
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/whatson/story.html?id=3d08136d-61a8-480d-9146-c545c3663380&k=4604&p=2
Peter North,
Freelance
Published: Friday, January 04BLUE RODEO
With: Luke Doucette
When: Monday and Tuesday nights at 8
Tickets: $37.50 to $65.50, plus service charges, through Ticketmaster
- - -
EDMONTON
- It is a testament to the dedication of Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and
Bazil Donovan that the trio has kept Blue Rodeo operating at an
artistically high level for 20 years.
With more than three
million records sold and dozens of sold-out tours to their credit, Blue
Rodeo is a band that turned heads quickly when their roots-driven rock
'n' roll sound spilled out of central Ontario in 1987.
If there have been valleys in the group's impressive run, they were momentary and largely masked from public view.
For
all the successes the members have enjoyed -- and earned --
collectively they've maintained a down-to-earth persona. And they seem
to genuinely enjoy prodding each other to new heights.
The
regimen of creating a new body of work and taking it to their faithful
following, usually during the dead of winter, has long been a Blue
Rodeo tradition.
Winter 2008 finds Blue Rodeo embarking on a
40-date, coast-to-coast tour that will pull into Toronto's historic
Massey Hall for a final three-day hurrah with family and friends on
home turf.
The engagement should be the perfect cap to put on the
extensive run, which will bring much of the music heard on the new
Small Miracles album to legions of Canadian fans.
Cuddy is positive about the state of the Blue Rodeo camp these days and how the latest project unfolded.
"I think this record had more input from all the members of the band than any other," says the guitarist, singer and tunesmith.
"We
spent a lot of time sitting around together with acoustic guitars
tearing songs apart, putting different pieces together and changing
tempos."
The fact "there seemed to be a whole new sense of trust
created" within the band is not something to be taken lightly. Not
everyone has been along for the entire ride. Steel guitarist Bob Egan,
the American of the bunch, joined after his stint with Wilco in 2000,
and keyboard player Bob Packman came onboard just over a year ago.
"It
can take a bit of getting used to how we can talk to each other in the
heat of things after 20 years," says Cuddy, referring to a team that
also includes co-producer Chris Shreenan-Dyck, who can hold his own
when it comes to being blunt.
Shreenan-Dyck held the same chair
during the 2005 Are You Ready sessions and was also the co-producer of
Cuddy's 2006 solo effort The Light That Guides You Home. Cuddy raves
about his ability to draw out and capture the best vocal tracks.
Lyrically,
the new CD's tracks cover a broad expanse of territory. This Town was
inspired during a tour of England that included a date in the community
of Ashton-under-Lyme, which Cuddy describes as "one of the bleakest
places you can imagine."
"There's an incredible sense of helplessness there and it was so depressing we didn't even stay overnight."
Taken
from the brighter side of the palette, instrumentally speaking, is
Keelor's Together, which spins a cool, alluring Latin groove across
lyrics painting a desperate picture of a relationship coming apart at
the seams.
"Greg brought Together to us pretty much that way, as a bossa nova. We got it down in one take."
Another highlight of the sessions was having Doug Riley write the string arrangement for Keelor's Beautiful.
Sadly, the assignment would be one of Riley's last.
The acclaimed keyboard player died of a heart attack "within a month of the session."
After
the CD was finished, it was onto a promotional push with a new spin.
The idea of Blue Rodeo busking all over Toronto still elicits a chuckle
from Cuddy.
"We started one morning at Union Station and finished
that night in front of the Air Canada Centre before a Leafs game, the
day Small Miracles was released.
"Doing five or six songs at 10
locations is a lot of playing and singing. I was beat. What was funny
were the few people who didn't get it. Some thought, 'Oh my God,
they've been reduced to this.' "
Now all the prep work for the
tour has been done, and Cuddy insists that "winter is a wonderful time
to go out. And besides, it's when our loved ones need us the least."
RODEO
CLIPS: To listen to C'Mon, It Makes Me Wonder and This Town from Blue
Rodeo's new album, Small Miracles, go to Online Extras at
edmontonjournal.com
REVIEW BY YOU: Are you going to one or both
Blue Rodeo concerts? If so, send your mini-review to "Your Turn" at
edmontonjournal.com