Welcome to the backlog! This time we’re going to be taking a look at some 2023 music releases from our friends north of the border.
Brett Kissell
The Brett Kissel quadruple album era has fascinated me. The question approaching this project is twofold. First, how does the third of the four albums exist on its own, and second how does it relate to the project as a whole?
For the album itself, it is themed around the west. Think Manitoba, not British Columbia. To this album's credit, as well as Kissel’s, there is genuine Western Swing and Western inspired music on this album. The connections aren’t just skin deep. They are apparent in thematic ideas and touches all throughout. Sometimes overly so, where it feels like you’re listening to the soundtrack for Yellowstone. It is refreshing that an artist like Brett Kissell, who traditionally leaned more in the pop-country direction is still capable of turning up the dial towards heavily country music. Makes me feel that artists would probably be better served occasionally dabbling in some hyper country music to keep their bona fides solidly affixed. Perhaps people wouldn’t be as upset at the most poppy country artists if they would still occasionally put out something heavily traditional.
Back to the album, as far as the inner details are concerned, it is quite nice. It is surprisingly detailed, both in the writing- Oil and Cattle, Legacy, Black Eyed Susans are standouts in that regard- and also instrumentally- Missing You In San Antone, Behind Closed Doors, and Queen On The River do a fantastic job of hearkening back to the old sounds. The album is not as single-minded western as the pre-released Missing You In San Antone single might have made you think, but nonetheless it is a strong project, which was enjoyable to listen to top to bottom.
Importantly, the album stands out on its own from the prior two Kissell releases this year. As it stands with the year closing, Kissell has released all four of the records and each seems to stand for a distinct aspect of his artistic persona. The pop- country side, the folk- country side, the country and western side, and the live performance side. A big swing that paid off. Never thought a quadruple album could work, but even with its lumps, this one pulls it off.
Jade Eagleson
I’ve had my eyes on Eagleson for a couple of years. He's a throwback, cowboy hat wearing, barrel chested, deep throated baritone. Think early career Blake Shelton with more traditional pizzazz. It seems on paper to be an appealing package. That just makes it even more disappointing when analyzing his output.
A few years ago, when country was in the throes of the Bro country and Boyfriend/Metropolitan country eras, the avenue that was looked towards for salvation was neotrad country music, often via Texas. Aaron Watson hitting number one on the country music album sales chart in 2017 was a big moment for this movement. However, the story was not just a reversion or advancement of sound, it was also a lyrical and storytelling change. These artists weren't better just because of their sound, it was because they often had deeper, more meaningful stories to tell.
This is where the disappointment of Eagleson comes in. His music is simply what radio music dressed up with traditional impulses would sound like. There's plenty of fiddle but plenty of heavy percussion, all cranked up to eleven. And Eagleson has the voice to pull this off! However, there’s not much depth occurring. The lessons of the traditional/organic shift the genre has been experiencing aren't fully understood.
The Blake Shelton example is actually quite apt because later on in Blake Shelton‘s mainstream career, he released one of his better albums, Texoma Shore. In comparison with his peak bro country output, it was more organic and tamped down his excesses, but it stayed light and fluffy lyrically like a good cookie. It went down easy, but there was not much to digest.
That's basically where I’m at on this Jade Eagleson record. Check out the bone rattling honky tonk of Shakin' In Them Boots to see what I mean. Even in the ballads, there isn't enough meat in the bones to give it the "more" that it needs. On the plus side, at least the “generic“ music that’s being pumped out now has interesting accompaniment and is actually country so in a sense, it is a win.
Sean Burns
I usually ignore press releases because they are full of mindless fluff. This time is different. Honestly everything that I could say about this record is contained within this press release, so I’m just gonna quote it.
“Friends, I’m proud to announce the release of my new record, Lost Country due out October 27 on Department Store Records.
Not unlike my previous theme records with my band, Lost Country (A Bakersfield Half-Dozen and We Gotta Lotta Truckin’ To Do, and to an extent our debut together, Music for Taverns, Bars and Honky-Tonks), we aimed to turn back the clock to play Country music the way we love to hear it. Presented with passion and respect. and accompanied by a stellar group of veteran musicians, we’re updating the classic honky tonk template with 10 tracks that pay tribute to many of Canada’s forgotten country music heroes, most of whom never became known outside of their home regions. I’m talking legit local legend, regional star status.
This record is the culmination, or really the continuation of my on-going work to preserve and promote Canada’s country music legacy. It all began when I served as host of “Boots & Saddle” on CKUW (Dec. 2016-May 2022) and further investigated on the podcast, The Northern Report, launched in 2021.
Although Canadian country music history is focused around the artists who managed to find success south of the border, the truth is that those who never made it down there created music that was just as good, or even better, than their more famous peers. With Lost Country, I’m doing my part to give these artists, musicians and songs their due.
This is my love letter to the regional record labels like Arc, Boot, Paragon/Marathon, Rodeo, Banff etc. And it's my greatest contribution to Canada's canon of Country music.”
The album lives up to that promise, it's got authentic neovintage production, a bunch of songs you’ve never before, and overall it's an admirable archival work by Sean Burns and uncovering them and giving them new life.
So ends three albums from Canadian artists that I did not explicitly discover for the purposes of reviewing Canadian country. When I was looking through my list of albums, I noticed that I had a few Canadian artists. Thinking it would be nice to try and expand my palate a bit, I dove into the following four artists. Without much knowledge of the scene, I simply looked up the Canadian Country Music Award noms and looked at a popular Canadian country music playlist. Here's the results. I think it will be interesting to analyze.
James Barker Band
I have not bothered listening to an entire album by these guys before. Luckily, this was only a twenty minute EP. Well, it wasn’t that bad. Certainly competent. Lead singer's voice is strident and clear, although perhaps a bit pitchy for my taste. The arrangements are bog standard Nashville, the song topics also bog standard Nashville. Plus side of that reality is that the execution was well done.
It seems that the current country meta is heavily consumed with the pursuit of love. Perhaps this is the byproduct of the average male in America getting married in his thirties which was a large change from how things were not that long ago. Instead of dating and looking for love for five years of one’s life, say from age 18 until 23 or 24, now it’s about fifteen years worth of your life- from age 18 until age 32 or so. Just a small theory to explain why so much of what’s coming out of Nashville is so heavily focused on the pursuit of love. There are few other stories being told. Compare that to older generations, where of course music about finding ones happily ever after was part of the list of topics, but there was also music about a wide range of stories and topics.
With this modern hyper focus on singular topics, the differentiator simply becomes what cute line for the hook or melodic rhythmic novelty do you bring to the table? Sure on this project there are one or two interesting turns of phrase, or some catchy melodic styling, but the broad idea is really no different than what you would hear from idk Adam Doleac, Seaforth, Levi Hummon, or other aspiring radio act.
Perhaps instead of artistic considerations, there is a commercial incentive at play here. There is a government regulation that Canadian radio must play some percentage of Canadian artists. I wonder if because of that, almost every commercial Canadian artist plays the radio game even if they are smaller fry in the pond. That would certainly explain the existence of this EP and how it is squarely aimed for the maximum fulfillment of the current pop country meta.
Dallas Smith
Dallas Smith is a name that has been bouncing around the Canadian scene for many years. Originally a rock artist in the 00's, he went country during Bro Country. Since then, he has tried to remodel himself as a more pop forward artist. He recently signed to Big Loud and it shows. Like a fashion designer, Big Loud- i.e. Joey Moi- has a house sound. This current iteration of Dallas Smith, feels strongly like a simple reflection of what his team thought would sell.
The sound is heavily influenced by the mishmash of songs that you would hear on a Morgan Wallen album. You have some that are more country leaning, some that are trap leaning, some that are the current fusion pop country du jour, and you get some rock influence. When the rock sound comes to the forefront, it feels distinctly Canadian. As in Nickelback.
Dallas Smith may only have been in country music for ten years, but he was in the rock world for fifteen years beforehand. As a forty six year old, he is no spring chicken in the music game. Because of that, a lot of the music is painted with a nostalgic brush. Of course nostalgia isn't reserved for older artists, but it provides a useful tool for an older artist looking to hook into the current meta without giving off "how do you do fellow kids'' vibes. You see an interesting contrast with the James Barker Band. Both albums heavily focus on the search for love, but JBB is living in the current moment. I AM NOW having a breakup. I AM NOW in love. Whereas Dallas Smith often is reflecting on those same ideas with a past focused lens. I WAS heartbroken. I WAS in love that summer. Obviously this isn't absolute, but it's a small observation. Useful for understanding how aging artists navigate their career transitions.
I don’t think you need to be an independent artist to have something interesting to say. I would use Scotty McCreery as a fantastic example of a mainstream artist who still has what to say, but I think technically he's an independent artist who happens to get airplay. This is not some purist request to tank commercial aspirations by demanding out of the box single choices. Most artists aim their singles to be most aligned with the meta. That is savvy. These artists also utilize the space of a full album as an opportunity to stretch and say something more. That is also savvy, but not really the case here.
This is one of those albums where every song is trying to be a hit single, which is definitely a strategy. To be fair, Smith has already released four singles off this album to airplay and done quite well for himself. (1, 5, 6 and 15 and climbing as of early December) Perhaps in the streaming age singles don't have a differentiating factor from the actual album cuts. Exposure to non singles is nearly the same as the intended singles. All are equally accessible. This does seem to be a key part of Big Loud's general strategy. Doesn't mean I like the final product. The song with Mackenzie Porter and CRZY are both guilty pleasures though. One thing pop country does right is making catchy music.
Tim and The Glory Boys
Speaking of catchy music......So apparently this band is an up-and-coming band which won some Canadian country music awards. I have not heard anything from them before and have no preconceived expectations. These are very off the cuff initial impressions. Friendly, very catchy, upbeat, a distinctive fusion of pop country that pulls slightly more from folk pop then it does pop rock. That's where it differs from Dallas Smith's take. It also doesn’t quite feel as close to the Nashville meta as the James Barker Band did. There's still a lot of percussion, but that is backed up with a lot of personality. Surprisingly, there are frequent callbacks to identity on the record. Frequent references to religion and other identity based characteristics are littered all throughout. Canada is not as religious a country as America percentage wise and it is 1/10th the size. I wonder what viability an identity focused message has with the smaller potential audience share. I don’t even know where to start looking to figure out what the median country music listener in Canada is, but these are the thoughts that ran through my head.
The number one thing these fellas bring to the table is large amounts of energy. Float is a clear guilty pleasure even after only one listen. It is a rhythmic tune with bopping, punchy energy and it is utterly hedonistic. The entire purpose of the song is to extoll just having a good ol day out on the water. I usually don’t go for that sort of thing but that’s heavily because the presentation tends to be mediocre or generic. This stands out. They do drop into ever so slightly more serious material and it's done well, for instance the song Bloodlines.
It is similar to the other pop country albums on the list regarding high octane uptempo energy. It is dissimilar in that it is less focused on love and more focused on lifestyle and identity. It is partially similar in that it has a strong folk pop influence, whereas other albums only dabbled in that space without making it their main sound.
Kendra Kay
I have only really started looking into the Canadian scene this year because of Brett Kissel. There's only been a few names that I’ve recognized in general and especially with the female artists. There don’t seem to be many and the only ones I recognize didn’t put out music this year (Tenile Townes, McKenzie porter, Lindsay Ell etc.) I took that as a sign to do some digging and I came across Kendra Kay. Unlike the previous few projects, this isn't blatantly pop. I would consider it to be modern country. It does have a focus on percussion and pop melodies in many places, but it also shows itself capable of stripping town and having more organic moments. The austere atmosphere of Grandpa's Gibson paired immediately next to the over the top mid 2000s girl power energy of How It's Done is a useful heuristic for assessing the range of the record. Each of those songs is a bookend for how far the sound travels.
There's also slightly more depth and conversations on this record. Scars Like Mine is an enjoyable song, not quite Scars To Your Beautiful, but a good attempt. Ross' Song is a beautiful song with a nostalgic lens. Not much different in concept than the other nostalgia bait put out by artists featured previously, but it managed to present it thoughtfully and with a maturity to the delivery and overall presentation that feels more befitting. Kay most likely won't be the next Terri Clark- most won't. I don’t have enough of the handle on the nature of the scene to even see if there's room in the industry for her, but if you are a fan of Callista Clark or MacKenzie Porter then this will go down easily.
Takeaways: well prior to this, my exposure was the occasional Dean Brody song and High Valley. I don’t know if High Valley has been a tremendous influence on the nature of the scene, or if they simply are following trends. I don’t have the background to say. What I can say is that of the records on this list, I see shades of that kind of high octane folk pop energy High Valley has done so well. Although historically it has been the case that Canadian country music was more influenced by folk music than American country, that was more in the 1950s or so. The main influence of that historical remnant is found in the Corb Lund's of the scene. I don’t think that is why the Canadian scene has flashes of folk more so than America. Perhaps there is a commercial explanation. Maybe it is the case that Canada doesn't have as strong a rural culture base as America. I say that with some hesitancy as I’m not entirely sure, but my understanding is that most of the cultural conversation takes place in the cities. Canada is much smaller, so perhaps rural subcultures aren't big enough to create and support their own distinct industries. If so, more competition is had with overt pop music and that explains the heavy pop lean. The radio airplay requirement presumably play a role here as well. Not entirely sure. This sampling shows me that a large chunk of the scene is heavily focused on attaining airplay. They do so well and the artists tend to have a good ear for catchy and rhythmic music.
As we saw from Sean Burns, the pop scene is not the entirety of the Canadian country scene. There is that aforementioned folk and western influence that is still there with Corb Lund and Colter Wall and even Brett Kissell if he's in the mood for it. My interest is piqued. This is all quite new to me, so if there’s anyone out there has suggestions or explanations for the inner workings of Canadian country music. I'm very open to the idea that I completely missed the mark with my partial understandings of Canadian country so please feel free to reach out either in the comments or via email at todayiheardblog@gmail.com
Thanks for reading,
Joe