Whenever I crave some new country tunes from our northern neighbor, the default settings on my search engines have been locked on the Canadian prairies for many years now. Always on the lookout for the traditional variety of country music, I have often referred to Saskatchewan as the Nashville of the North, given the ratio of quality trad-country artists per capita throughout the province.
For the uninitiated who may scoff in disbelief at such a suggestion, while I encourage you to brush up on your homework, allow me to toss a few prominent SK country artist names at you. Colter Wall! Yes, everybody knows this guy, right? Brett Kissel. Kacy and Clayton. Belle Plaine and Blake Berglund. The Denim Daddies. Tenille Arts, Jake Vaadeland and the Sturgeon River Boys. I’m just getting warmed up here…but as you shall quickly discover, the province is incredibly rich in country music roots.
Regina, SK-based ‘countrypolitan’ band Wolf Willow are no strangers to us here at GDW, having featured several times on our pages over the years, and remain one of the finest country music ensembles in Canada. The band released their latest album, “Soul of Slippery Butte,” last September to critical acclaim, and during some promotional touring, paid a visit to Little Jack Farms just south of Saskatoon to record a live music video for the album’s lead track, “You Come To Me.”
If, like me, you have an inkling for the era of country music that burst across the airwaves from the late 60s into the early 70s, then you are going to enjoy Wolf Willow’s take on the genre. If you crave a little Tijuana Brass as found in Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” and some of the famous Bakersfield Sound popularized by Buck Owens, then you are going to LOVE Wolf Willow’s take on the genre.
Forget about that unwritten rule that if you want to play in Texas, you’ve got to have a fiddle in the band – because for this live performance, the Regina collective double up the number of fiddles. Indeed, look carefully and you shall find a cast of nine musicians here for this recording – which (and not unlike Calgary, AB band The Hello Darlins) demonstrates how Wolf Willow can rotate an interchangeable cast of musicians at any given notice to meet their musical needs.
The band determined that the track needed pedal steel, so we have that. Congas would be nice too – check. And, of course, why not cap everything with some solid horns!!! Check every one of the essentials on this one, Wolf Willow has the bases covered – and are clearly having fun at this shoot. It shows. They shine. The chemistry is outstanding as always. This is a band that remains high on my list to catch live should they head to the eastern provinces and/or the US east coast one day. With a short 3:13 run time, this makes perfect viewing while your coffee brews…
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
