He is six-time Canadian Roots Artist of the Year (including this year), whose quirky songs and on-stage charisma have earned him a huge Aussie following. Rob Potts and CMC are proud to present Corb Lund and his electrifying band, the Hurtin’ Albertans, as they head down under for their September 2010 Australian Tour.
In almost a decade of trips down under, Australia has become a second home to Corb. The Aussie crowds have embraced the characters and stories in Corb’s lyrics and the rowdy energy of his live shows. His 2005 single, Truck Got Stuck, is still one of the most requested videos on the Country Music Channel (CMC) today and a highlight at any Corb Lund gig.
The September tour will be the Canadian singer/songwriter’s biggest tour here yet, running from late September through till mid-October, and criss-crossing the country - from Atherton to Sydney, Hexham to the Deni Ute Muster. Joining Corb on the tour will be exploding new ABC recording artist, Peter McWhirter, whose new video and single, I Will Stand by You, is due for release in July, ahead of his debut album, Lucky as a Seven.
The second date on the tour will also see Corb team up with US country superstar Tim McGraw for the special CMC Rocks North Queensland show. This massive outdoor event will be staged at Reid Park in Townsville, and will be the biggest country music concert ever seen in North Queensland. The show will also feature local artists including Steve Forde and Jasmine Rae.
Corb says he sees a lot of similarities between Canadian and Australian audiences. His last visit to our shores was in 2009, when he played the CMC Rocks the Snowys Festival, exposing his music to an even wider audience. He used a live recording from his Snowys set as a bonus track on his new album, Losin’ Lately Gambler.
This new album features Lund’s signature character sketches - hard-luck gamblers, deadly female gunslingers, and stories drawn from Corb’s youth as a rodeo rider, working the oil rigs and his family’s experiences as ranchers. These vivid depictions of the Canadian West are never less than universal.
Lund notes, “My gut feeling at the beginning, which I think has been borne out, is if you write about what is familiar to you and do a good job of it, the specifics fade away and the universality of the message comes through. When I was younger, listening to Springsteen singing about the slums of New Jersey, that was alien to me, but I got it, because the music is so good. That’s what I aspire to - to paint a picture that’s intriguing.”