Corb Lund closes TURF in western style

Corb Lund is one of Canada’s best, and probably one of its most overlooked, songwriters. And I’m somewhat ashamed to say that it’s been several years since the last time I saw him perform despite deriving a lot of pleasure from his albums. Luckily, that drought came to an end on Sunday night at the Horseshoe Tavern as part of the Toronto Urban Roots Fest’s club series.

Lund cut his teeth in the ‘90s with Edmonton punk/alternative rock band The Smalls before returning to the music of his ranching roots and embarking on a career that embraces traditional, honky tonk and alternative country styles and has attracted fans of Americana and folk with his backing band The Hurtin’ Albertans.

Lund’s songs are clever and often humorous, but can sometimes be poignant and address social problems and personal travails, perhaps most notably in “Sadr City,” which tells the moving tale of an Iraq war veteran, and “Sunbeam,” which he wrote for his late niece. 

You can’t take Lund’s ranching heritage away, however, so western themes and tunes about horses, cows and other farm animals also have a place in Lund’s repertoire.

With three albums certified gold in Canada, Lund has obviously struck a chord with his countrymen. Even in downtown Toronto, many in the audience were singing along to rural and outdoorsy-oriented numbers like “Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer,” “The Truck Got Stuck,” “Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier,” “Little Foothills Heaven,” “Buckin’ Horse Rider” (in which Lund incorporated some of “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys”), “Dig Gravedigger Dig,” the Hayes Carll collaboration “Bible On The Dash,” “(Gonna) Shine Up My Boots,” “Getting’ Down On The Mountain,” “Cows Around,” “Roughest Neck Around,” “S Lazy H,” “Talkin’ Veterinarian Blues” and “Hurtin’ Albertan.”

And an old school country singer is hardly worth a lick without a few drinking songs, and Lund and his SNFU sticker-emblazoned guitar engaged the crowd with a singalong cover of the cowboy classic “Rye Whiskey” and the set-ending “Time To Switch To Whiskey.” 

The audience wanted more and, after a brief time off stage, Lund and his bandmates returned to treat it to “The Truth Comes Out” and the ever-popular “Five Dollar Bill.”

Other commitments unfortunately prevented me from attending earlier TURF performances at Fort York on Sunday, but year four of the consistently high quality fest ended on a very high note with Lund and friends.