Corb Lund – My (life in) music lists

Playlist: O Canada – 45 indie and alternative Canadian anthems

Happy Canada Day everyone!

This is one of those holidays that I love and have always appreciated but have even more so in recent years. I am blessed to live in a beautiful country and one that is relatively safe and free. And though I haven’t gotten downtown to take in the festivities that our nation’s capital puts on for quite some time, I do try to observe the birthdate of my country in my own way, usually by spending time outside, hiking or biking, tending the bbq, enjoying a brew or two or three, and taking in a closer (to me) fireworks display. The weather forecast is looking a bit rough to start today so I’m not sure yet what we’ll get up to but I plan to enjoy the holiday nonetheless.

I often try to do a post on these pages to observe the return of Canada Day in some way, so I’m actually surprised I haven’t done a playlist yet, something I am remedying this year. And honestly, I slapped this one together pretty quickly and it was really easy to do so because there’s lots of great material to pull from. These 45 songs represent some of my favourite tunes by some of my favourite Canadian artists from the last four or five decades. I start the almost three hours of great tunes with the “alternate” Canadian anthem by North Vancouver’s Spirit of the West and end it with my favourite song by Kingston’s The Tragically Hip, the band that for nearly twenty years was indisputably Canada’s band and its frontman Gord Downey, our poet laureate. In between those two tunes, you’ll find alt rock classics from the 80s and 90s (Grapes of Wrath, 54.40, Sloan, Northern Pikes), as well as a slew of tunes from the Canadian indie rock renaissance from the mid-2000s (Stars, Metric, Dears, Arcade Fire) when the ears from around the world seemed to be turned in our direction, and of course, more recent stuff as well (Alvvays, Elliott Brood, Nap Eyes, Tallies). There are bands and artists here representing almost all of the ten provinces but unfortunately, none from the three territories.

So this is mostly for all of my fellow Canadians out there but like my home country, I would welcome anyone from around the world to come and enjoy our riches. I invite you all to put this playlist on, along with your red and white clothes and maple leaf temporary tattoos, and enjoy the music, whether you’re out barbecuing, enjoying a cold one, out for a swim in your pool, sitting on your porch, out for a hike, camping out, or looking for a parking spot close to a Canada Day celebration somewheres.

Cheers!

For those who don’t use Apple Music, here is the entire playlist, with links to YouTube videos:

“Home for a rest” Spirit Of The West (North Vancouver, British Columbia)
“Archie, marry me” Alvvays (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)
“Stay out” Elliott Brood (Toronto, Ontario)
“Ageless beauty” Stars (Montreal, Quebec)
“Rosy and grey” The Lowest Of The Low (Toronto, Ontario)
“When the night feels my song” Bedouin Soundclash (Kingston, Ontario)
“Don’t haunt this place” The Rural Alberta Advantage (Toronto, Ontario)
“Everything you’ve done wrong” Sloan (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
“The safety dance” Men Without Hats (Montreal, Quebec)
“Follow me down” Nap Eyes (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
“I go blind” 54-40 (Tsawwassen, British Columbia)
“Mari-Mac” Great Big Sea (St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador)
“Hare tarot lies” No Joy (Montreal, Quebec)
“Red” Treble Charger (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario)
“Weighty ghost” Wintersleep (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
“I’m an adult now” The Pursuit of Happiness (Toronto, Ontario)
“I wanna be in the cavalry” Corb Lund (Taber, Alberta)
“Teenland” The Northern Pikes (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)
“Sprawl II (Mountains beyond mountains)” Arcade Fire (Montreal, Quebec)
“Claire” Rheostatics (Etobicoke, Ontario)
“Still” Great Lake Swimmers (Wainfleet, Ontario)
“Don’t walk away, Eileen” Sam Roberts (Westmount, Quebec)
“Temptation” The Tea Party (Windsor, Ontario)
“Tournament of hearts” The Weakerthans (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
“Lost in the plot” The Dears (Montreal, Quebec)
“All the things I wasn’t” The Grapes of Wrath (Kelowna, British Columbia)
“Infamous” Basia Bulat (Toronto, Ontario)
“Spiritual pollution” Pure (Vancouver, British Columbia)
“Greater than consequence” Amos the Transparent (Ottawa, Ontario)
“Ordinary people” The Box (Montreal, Quebec)
“Memorize the city” The Organ (Vancouver, British Columbia)
“Walking with a ghost” Tegan and Sara (Calgary, Alberta)
“Breathing underwater” Metric (Toronto, Ontario)
“Made for TV” King Apparatus (London, Ontario)
“Use it” The New Pornographers (Vancouver, British Columbia)
“Rossland Square” Cuff The Duke (Oshawa, Ontario)
“Eat my brain” Odds (Vancouver, British Columbia)
“Goodnight goodnight” Hot Hot Heat (Victoria, British Columbia)
“The ghosts that haunt me” Crash Test Dummies (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
“Paper girl” July Talk (Toronto, Ontario)
“Don’t you know” Elephant Stone (Montreal, Quebec)
“Brian Wilson” Barenaked Ladies (Scarborough, Ontario)
“Mother” Tallies (Toronto, Ontario)
“Swing your heartache” Young Galaxy (Montreal, Quebec)
“Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)” The Tragically Hip (Kingston, Ontario)

And here is the promised link to the Apple Music playlist.

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.

Live music galleries: Corb Lund [2024]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

Corb Lund performing at Ottawa Bluesfest 2024

Artist: Corb Lund
When: July 11th, 2024
Where: SiriusXM stage, Ottawa Bluesfest, Lebreton Flats Park, Ottawa
Context: So this year’s edition of Ottawa Bluesfest wrapped up five days ago and as is usual when I purchase a full festival pass, it’s taken me a few days to recover from the grind. Indeed, I always find myself glad it’s over but at the same time, sad and missing having live music to see every night. All told, I went to seven of the ten nights of the festival and saw more than twenty excellent sets. Hands down, my favourite of the bunch was Corb Lund’s 8pm set on the SiriusXM stage on the second Thursday night. I’d heard of the Canadian country singer-songwriter before, of course*, but had never really given his music a chance**. I had done a small sampling in the week before seeing him so was somewhat familiar with some of the tunes. Lund and his band powered through a set that played on the rockabilly, blues, and rock country side of the genre. With lyrical themes of trucking, farming, and drinking, he had the crowd jumping like maniacs and knocking back cans of Canadian like it was water. Corb and his cowboy hat never took himself too seriously but his talent on the guitar was palpable and his voice hit all the right notes, even when he yodelled. His backing band kicked ass, as well, with Grant Siemens setting the tone on the lap steel and Sean Burns knocking us all out with his upright bass chops. It was such an eye-opening performance, that I’ve resolved myself to make up for all the lost time without his music in my life and would definitely jump at the chance to see him and his group perform again.
Point of reference song: “Redneck rehab”