Skip to content

Award-winning country artist Corb Lund coming to Courtenay

Corb Lund discusses Grand Ole Opry, his solo show, and the songs of his friends
30246789_web1_220830-CDT-corb-lund-1_1
Corb Lund, coming off a U.S. tour, an appearance at Grand Ole Opry, and the release of a new album, is coming to Courtenay with a solo acoustic show.

It’s been a long couple of pandemic years for touring artists.

But Corb Lund and his band the Hurtin’ Albertans hit the ground running in 2022, playing shows all over Canada and the U.S., including an appearance at the country music shrine Grand Ole Opry.

Lund has another lengthy tour ahead of him, including a solo acoustic stop at Courtenay’s Sid Williams Theatre on Monday, Sept. 19.

But it’s not just B.C. where he’s warmly welcomed. Lund found enthusiastic crowds waiting for him after his two yeartwo-yearabsence, wherever he’s played.

“It’s been really good — especially in the states,” Lund told Black Press about getting back out there after the years of lockdown. “I thought we’d maybe have to build it up again, but we had our best American tour yet this year. We’re going back in October.

“We put a record out in 2020, Agricultural Tragic’— I thought it might die on the vine, but everybody knew the songs, so I guess they’d been listening to it in quarantine.”

Lunds brings a rocking alt-country sensibility to his shows with the Hurtin’ Albertans. His foray into the Comox Valley this month will be a solo affair, him and his guitar on stage. A change of pace he’s looking forward to.

“I do it periodically. I get to flex a different muscle than usual. I love playing with my band, but I also love playing solo shows. I get to talk a little more. I play some of the same songs, but a little differently sometimes, and I play a lot of songs I don’t play with the band.

“It’s a good way to introduce new songs. It’s a much different repertoire and setlist than my setlist. Also, I like to explain where the songs came from, and what I meant by this and what I meant by that, taking requests… I really like it.

“You can go really different avenues with the song choices, and I like the idea that I can talk more. It’s hard to talk too much with the band — the guys standing around waiting. It’s fun to be able to tell stories and BS a little more, explain things.”

Lund’s last scheduled appearance in the Comox Valley – at the 2020 Vancouver Island MusicFest - was scrubbed due to COVID. A scheduled appearance at the legendaryGrand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, was also postponed due to the pandemic.

He had a make-up date at the iconic Opry earlier this year.

“We were supposed to do it a couple of years ago, and then COVID messed it up,” he said. “But they had us back as soon as they could make it happen.”

He played three songs, two of them with the Opry band.

“It was pretty magical. I think my style works well for that format — it’s story songs and old-school country. People really liked it.”

Lund said his career has never been made up of big moments —“it’s always been a slow build.

“I’ve always been on the fringes, and that’s what I like, because I do what I want and sing what I want, and no one’s ever told me what to do musically,” Lund continued. “I’ve never had one big break that shot me into stardom. Any success I’ve had in my career has been a series of small fractures along the way — a steady climb.

“If I was 23, and called to do the Opry, I’d be like, ‘Oh my God!’ But it kind of snuck up on me, because it was just another thing on the itinerary. And then, when I actually did it, it was really moving. And that was one of the moments.

“It kind of caught me by surprise, when I was actually there singing on that stage it was really moving.”

Lund may be on the fringes, but the singer-songwriter from Taber, Alberta, has certainly had a long and storied career in music, starting with the Smalls, the rock band from Edmonton he help found in 1989. Moving into country with the Corb Lund Band, now the Hurtin’ Albertans, he has released nine albums, three of them certified gold, and won numerous awards in different genres in Canada and the U.S.

Coming on the heels of 2020’s Agricultural Tragic, Lund released a new album earlier this year, a pet project of covers — Songs My Friends Wrote. The record is a 10-song set featuring Lund putting his spin on some of his favourite songs written by close friends and world-class songwriters such as Hayes Carll, Todd Snider, Ian Tyson, and more.

ƒor tickets to the Courtenay show, visit sidwilliamstheatre.com



Barry Coulter

About the Author: Barry Coulter

Barry Coulter had been Editor of the Cranbrook Townsman since 1998, and has been part of all those dynamic changes the newspaper industry has gone through over the past 20 years.
Read more