Barney Bentall
Nearly a decade ago, Barney Bentall was feeling the need for a change and made the switch from rocker to rancher. He bought a ranch in the Cariboo region of BC and set out to learn all he could about raising cattle. While he spent much of his time working the land, Bentall didn't completely give up on his music. He continued to write songs when he felt inspired to and played a handful of shows every year.
Barney has been nominated for and has won countless music awards, has recorded five gold albums with his band The Legendary Hearts and has sold in excess of 10 million records. Now, after almost a decade since his last recording, Barney is back with an amazing release, Gift Horse. Members of Blue Rodeo, including front men Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, collaborated with Bentall on three songs on this new album.
Gift Horse was made over the course of the last two years. Nine of the songs were recorded in Vancouver with his band-mate Johnny Ellis producing. The rest of the CD was recorded in Toronto with Blue Rodeo, at their studio The Woodshed, with Barney's good friend Jim Cuddy producing. The album hits stores in August of 2006 and was supported by a Canada-wide tour.
Relationship to Blue Rodeo
Blue Rodeo and Barney Bentall have a long history together. Below are a few examples of their work together:
- Collaborated with fellow Canadian musicians on the Buried Heart Society project (2002) to record "The Streets Where You Live" which is a tribute to women who suffer daily from the abuses of drug addiction and life on the street. Among the collaborators were Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo, Sarah Harmer, Sarah Slean, Colin James, Ron Sexsmith, Tom Wilson and many others. and many others.
- Bentall has performed on stage countless times with Blue Rodeo. Some memorable performance were at Blue Rodeo's April 2005 Are You Ready CD release party in Winnipeg (along with Matt Mays, Ron Sexsmith and Great Big Sea) and more recently, at the Malkin Bowl in Vancouver's Stanley Park.
- Barney Bentall and Colin James have been known to join Blue Rodeo on stage to perform a rousing rendition of "The Weight" by The Band.
- Barney Bentall was a first round draft pick for the 2006 Juno Cup team. Some of his team-mates included captain Jim Cuddy as well as fellow rockers and one-degree artists Alan Doyle (Great Big Sea) and Jarrett Murphy (Matt Mays & El Torpedo).
- Three of the songs from Barney's new album Gift Horse were recorded at Blue Rodeo's The Woodshed recording studio and produced by Jim Cuddy.
Quotes
" It just was a natural place to go. Whenever Blue Rodeo is in town, they're very kind to let me up on stage and sing with them. It always feels so comfortable musically. " - Barney on performing with Blue Rodeo
" I love what that band has done for Canadian music. I've known them for a long time and have played with them often. It felt very comfortable." - Barney on collaborating with Blue Rodeo on his new album
Related Web Links
Official website
MySpace page
Last Updated
September 2006
Special Thanks To
Bluegirl