Corb Lund was going to be a rodeo dude. Coming from a rodeo family, as a kid and into his teenage years he was riding bulls and steer wrestling; but those teenage years he also picked up a guitar, and the guitar eventually took precedence over any rodeo, with Black Sabbath riffs being more important than galloping horses and roping steer.
Early music forays found him playing in punk-metal outfit The Smalls, but he’s made a name for himself in the roots and rowdy country world. Lund will return to the Southwest on Tuesday, playing what may already be a sold-out show at the Dolores River Brewery in neighboring Dolores.
He’s always been an indie-type musician, a Slayer-loving, country-and-hard-rock fan playing upbeat, outsider music no matter the genre.
“It’s been an interesting journey. I think spending a decade in an underground rock band where they value uniqueness and finding your own unique voice, it has affected my country and western songwriting,” he said. “Because if there’s a quirkiness or unusualness in my western music, I think it comes from foraging my songwriting skills in an environment where they encourage and look for unique angles.”
He takes those unique angles – there’s a dry humor heard in his tunes, autobiographical cuts that reference a rural upbringing to blue collar work to alcohol-induced decisions, as he sings “it’s time to switch to whiskey we’ve been drinking beer all night” as heard on his “Losin’ Lately Gambler” LP. Irreverent lyrics aside, he’ll be the first to admit he was a guitar player first.
“I picked up the guitar and learned your Iron Maiden riffs or whatever, but I didn’t start writing until later,” Lund said. “First, you have to develop some ability on the guitar before you can start writing. It didn’t come long after that, I just thought that’s what people did, learn to play music, and write songs, that’s what all my favorite bands did so I just thought that’s how you did it.”
If you go
WHAT: Corb Lund with Lauren Morrow.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday.
WHERE: Dolores River Brewery, 100 Fourth St., Dolores.
TICKETS: Sold out.
MORE INFORMATION: call 882-HOPS.
As a songwriter, he’s quite prolific, however, his latest release, titled “Songs My Friends Wrote,” is a record of covers. Lund keeps some great company, as life as a touring songwriter presents you with the opportunity to befriend and hang with other touring songwriters. “Songs My Friends Wrote” is Lund digging into and recording tunes from some of his friends’ back catalogs.
“A lot of them are my generation and are straight- up buddies. Some of the other ones like Tom Russell, Ian Tyson, Fred Eaglesmith have been doing it longer than me and it started out as me opening for them and getting to know them, and we’ve become friends since then,” he said. “It’s kind of cool when you get to become friends with your heroes.”
On stage, he digs into two-stepping outlaw country, heavy roots rock and singer-songwriter storytelling. It’s a full blown, alternative country, rowdy roots rock package.
“There’s a couple elements to our music, it’s a fun live show because my band is really fun, we play all kinds of old-fashioned country, and there’s a lot of story elements to the songs too, there’s a lot of story songs. It’s interesting listening, and yeah it’s fun. It’s always fun,” Lund said.
Coming up a rancher in a rodeo family has given Lund an affinity for the rural, American West. This tour has him moving around Montana, all the way to the California coast and down into Texas, as well as Colorado, a state of which he’s quite fond.
“I don’t mean to kiss ass, but Colorado is one of my favorite states,” he said. “We’ve played a ton there, and I’m really looking forward to getting back.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
