This review has bonus “live event” coverage following. So if you like to read a concert review from the tour supporting this record, you’ll find it immediately following the more traditional album review.
Or for those who have been with me for a while…the usual.
Disc 1786 is…Corb Lund
Artist: El Viejo
Year of Release: 2024
What’s up with the Cover? A saddle without a horse. The album is called “El Viejo” which is a reference to Ian Tyson, Canadian singer and friend and mentor to Lund, who died recently. I like to see the missing horse as illustrative of the loss of Ian Tyson, but I didn’t read that anywhere, so I could be wrong.
Either way, I’m a fan of a simple cover like this, and it looks even cooler in black and white.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a Corb Lund fan for a long time now, so this was just me buying his latest.
How It Stacks Up: I have ten Corb Lund studio albums plus another album where does covers of other artists. So 11 albums total. Of all of those, “El Viejo” comes in at #8, but don’t judge it to harshly – there are lots of great Corb Lund records.
Ratings: 3 stars
Corb Lund is one of those artists that has figured out what he does best and is content to sit in the centre of that wheelhouse and do more of it. This is not criticism. If anything it means you can count on a Corb Lund giving you more of what you already like about him.
Such is the case with “El Viejo” which has Lund inhabiting all manner of blue-collar heroes. He starts out with gamblers, but before you know it he’s moved on to MMA fighters, low level villains, traveling singers and that old Corb standard; horse soldiers.
Lund isn’t a vocal gymnast. He doesn’t have a four-octave range that allows him to belt it out and make you feel the feels. Instead he relies on skillful wordsmithing, and a great talent for phrasing and delivery that punctuates every punchline or emotional moment in a song. Lund’s vocals have a lovely mid-range bit of grit that makes you want to pay attention. He is the guy at the table that always has the best stories, and his command of his audience is always easy and natural.
After a couple of solid songs about gambling (“The Card Players”, “I Had It All”) and a bit of ranchin’ and bull-riding (“Was Fort Worth Worth It?”) Lund takes on a new topic – MMA fighters - with “Out on a Win”.
“Out on a Win” is one of the record’s best songs, as Lund fully digs into the MMA world, with old school references to the Gracie family, and a bunch of other references that if you are into the sport, you’ll love to hear (I am not into the sport, but still picked up about half of it). But it isn’t all these references that makes the song great – that’s just scenery. It is Lund capturing the feeling of the aging fighter, coming to the realization he hasn’t made the big time and at this stage off his career, it is not happening. His dream gone, he’s negotiated down to one last wish – that his final fight is a win. You get the sense he will be denied even this but like all of Corb Lund’s characters, you root for him all the same.
The album’s title track is an homage to Corb Lund’s mentor and friend, the recently passed Ian Tyson. Melodically, it is one of the strongest tunes on the record, and a fitting homage to a titan in Corb Lund’s life.
While thoughtful lyrics are Lund’s bread and butter there are a couple of songs where they let him down. “I Had It All” has some cringe-level strained rhymes, and “Insha’Allah” is an example of a writer falling in love with a new phrase and proceeding to overuse it. No serious judgment though – I’m just as guilty of this as anyone.
The album ends with Lund returning to one of his specialties – self-deprecating humour. “That Old Familiar Drunken Feeling” is a song about Lund getting too high before a gig and realizing the only way he’s going to make it through the show is to mask the marijuana with something more familiar – liquor. The whole tale is good fun, but the turning point stanza is my favourite:
“I steeled myself, I said, what the hell?
And proceeded to forget all the lines
It was endless and seemed like a fever dream
Western hats and neon signs
So, in a desperate position, I made the desperate decision
That I'd handle this the cowboy way
Which is to pour enough whiskey on the problem
Till it catches on fire or it goes away”
Good stuff, Corb. After all these years he’s still got it, and “El Viejo” is a worthy entry into the catalogue of an artist who has consistently released quality music for the past thirty years and more. Ian would be proud.
Best tracks: The Card Players, Out on a Win, El Viejo (for Ian), That Old Familiar Drunken Feeling
The Concert: Monday, November 25 at the Capital Ballroom, Victoria BC
I’ll admit that at the end of the day on Monday I was not feeling like a concert, or much of anything beyond curling up on the couch under a blanket. However, I decided despite my distracted and weary state of mind I would lean into the experience and see where it took me. I’m glad I did, because it would turn out to be one of the best shows of the year.
Corb Lund was touring solo – so this show was acoustic guitar and no band. Just Corb and us. He put on two shows in one night (one at 7:00, and then another at 9:00).
I was shocked to find the entire dance floor of the Capital Ballroom festooned with folding chairs. This was to be a sit-down affair very much at odds with the usual experience at this venue. Being middle aged with a dodgy back, I was well-pleased, and getting there early, Sheila and secured a couple of primo “regular seats” behind and above the fold outs. I was briefly worried some jackasses would stand right in front of us and block our view while pretending to not even notice (a known tactic of the West Coast Jackass) but mercifully this did not come to pass.
Corb came on stage looking a little trepidatious for a man who has been a master of his craft for going on 30 years. I suspect he’s a bit of an introvert in real life. Both the singing and the guitar work early on were scratchy, but he quickly put that behind him and found his groove.
As I noted in the album review, Corb’s voice isn’t a powerhouse, but it has a natural storyteller’s feel to it, and he knows how to work it to best effect. His guitar work was merely OK (it’s there to accompany the story not ‘wail’). However, it was notable that on at least three occasions he changed the key by moving the capo around mid-song. I’ve never seen that before, but it was a nifty trick, and not easy.
The set list was no doubt influenced by the limitations of a single acoustic guitar, but only in the best possible way. Lund started off with three great military history songs, “I Wanna Be in the Cavalry”, “Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier” and “Student Visas” before taking a clever off-ramp with “Insha’Allah” which is a song about both military history (Lawrence of Arabia stuff), horse-themed stuff (now the third of four featuring horses) and off the latest record. “Insha’Allah” isn’t a favourite for me of of “El Viejo” but he followed it up with “That Old Familiar Drunken Feeling” so we’ll call it a wash.
Corb followed up the new material with a bunch of crowd favourites. You could tell everyone loved the hits from yesteryear although you could also tell they didn’t know the words as well as they thought they did. This included me, but I didn’t sing along and prove it to my neighbours (you’re welcome, neighbours). At my previous Corb Lund outing in 2016 (read the review at Disc 824) I had the displeasure of having such non-knowledgeable (and drunken) louts directly behind me blaring away into my unwilling ear holes. This time we were protected by choice seating, and so despite the distant trill of idiots in far corners of the room, I was able to enjoy Corb’s work to its fullest.
In terms of banter, you don’t get much better than Corb Lund. He is cool but vulnerable, and funny without pandering. He gives a quick intro to some songs, but mostly lets the lyrics tell the story.
Lund also did a couple of Ian Tyson covers, honouring his friend with renditions of “Summer Wages” (a classic) and “La Primera” (a deep cut from Tyson’s 1999 album “Lost Herds”). Both were amazing, particularly “La Primera” which Lund touted as one of Tyson’s greatest songs. I can’t disagree. It was brilliant and deeply affecting and will undoubtedly force me to dig into Tyson’s discography, starting with that record. Well played, Mr. Lund.
Overall, Lund’s easy storytelling manner, and the quality of the song selection temporarily pushed all my worldly cares into the corners of my mind, and I sat head in hand (our chairs came with a table) smiling away in thoughtful reverie.
Also, a word on the merch table, which was well stocked with lots of t-shirt options AND a sticker package (I know I’m not eight years old any more, but damn it, I still like stickers).
When I got home it was only 9:30 (remember, we went to the early show) I hadn’t had enough cowboy for the evening so I watched the last 45 minutes of “Unforgiven” again, and then, soul filled with great music and recharged for the moment, went to bed.
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