|
l home l Artist Profiles l What Is This Country? l l String of Pearls - bio l String of Pearls - tracks l l photos l
|
|
|
|
Biography
|
|
Russell deCarle
bass, lead vocals What Is This Country? From a romantic waltz ("Barroom Girls") to steamy swamp rock ("Mean Streak"); from satiny swing ("Why Are We Holding On To Nothing") to Wheatfield Soul ("Canadian Sunrise"), What Is This Country? mines the mother lode of contemporary country's golden heritage. Echoing the sentiments of her band mates, Besen recalls that, "At the beginning country music was such a sponge, incorporating so many interesting things. And it did that right up to the early '70s, taking in everything from R&B to psychedelia to Big Band music. Today, that's the side of country that still has some interest to me."
First formed by Glass, deCarle and Delorme in 1974 as "a damn fine swing band," the group's insistence on diversity surfaced very early on. "We explored a lot of different sides of the swing thing: not just Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, but we were also into checking out other stuff like Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, the Mills Brothers... all that stuff. It's kind of cool to see it's coming back." But swing is only one facet explored on What Is This Country? With tracks like the mid-60s Merseyside pop of Glass' "Change With Time," and the timeless blues of Besen's "The Vine Is Doing Better Than The Tree" (co-written with Nashville's John Sieger), Prairie Oyster's remarkable versatility has never been so effectively deployed. While writing the travelogue "Canadian Sunrise," which Besen calls "physically descriptive, but metaphorical at the same time," the inclusion of guitar hero Randy Bachman grew into an inevitability. "Randy is such a seminal rock and roll figure in Canada and we were trying to capture a sense of Wheatfield Soul - that 70s Canadian rock sound which is so much part of our landscape.
"Canadian Sunrise" (Joan Besen) I was trying to be descriptive about Canada, from one end to the other, trying to capture the experience of going back and forth across the country so much, as we do. In Canada you go to extremes: you go from ocean to mountain to rain forest and then it's absolutely flat as though the previous extreme never existed. Then it's rocks and trees for miles until you hit another ocean. If you go back and forth you really notice it. J.B. "Why Are We Holding On To Nothing." (Joan Besen) A tribute to a tribute. It's the 40s, Big Band sound as co-opted by the Doo-wop groups of the 50s. It gets across a sense of hopelessness while the main positive aspect is that it doesn't assign blame. Very Patsy Cline. J.B. Baby Don't Come Around Here (Russell deCarle) This is the first song we ever recorded in a minor key, if you can believe that. Turns out there's two on this album, so that's pretty amazing. It's like Cab Calloway or Tom Waits "Oysterized" in a sense by Keith's guitar so that it's almost a rockabilly song. It's really fun to get a chance to do this kind of tune, certainly instrumentally, because we really get a chance to stretch out. And also to incorporate our dear friend Chris Whiteley. We needed a trumpet player and he is just incredible. R.deC. Blue Melody (Keith Glass) I started writing this in Holland -- it was the name of a cologne I saw in the window of a drugstore. The melody came to me immediately. I think of it as a tip of the hat to Don Gibson. It has that kind of feel about it. K.G. Heaven Or Bust (Joan Besen/John Sieger) I have never sung a duet with Russell before. I wrote this with my friend John Sieger while I was co-producing his record in Nashville. I wanted to write a Chuck Berry song, but not "Johnny B. Good"-style Chuck Berry. There's so much more to him than that. He's really a very sophisticated blues guy who can also sing great jazz standards. The song also ended up sounding a bit like Woody Guthrie with almost a nursery rhyme-type melody. David Wilcox plays several guitar parts. He has the best intonation of any slide guitarist I have ever, ever heard. Ever. J.B. One Of Those Nights (Keith Glass) My recollection of meeting someone very special. It's a great fiddle showcase. Sometimes John [P. Allen] ends up being the utility guy in that more often than not he ends up playing acoustic guitar. Quite honestly fiddle hadn't been on the top of my mind for this song, but one day I looked over at him as he played acoustic and said, "Forget it, pick up the fiddle.~' It was immediately evident that was the right thing. K.G. Keep On Dreaming (Keith Glass/John Paul Daniel) I've had really good luck writing with my friend John Paul Daniel. It's the second song we've written with a "dream" theme so I guess that makes us a Dream Team. It's pure power pop with that straight four-beat. You know, "whack-a, whack-a, whack-a, whack-a." I've always wanted a song to have that and when Mike suggested the four-beat it just lit the song up completely. K.G. The Vine Is Doing Better Than The Tree (Joan Besen/John Sieger) Another co-write with John Sieger. Very influenced by Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind. People have often tried to imitate Dylan by becoming extremely metaphorical and florid. I like the fact that he can also go to the most shockingly plain thing to say. J.B. Change With Time (Keith Glass) My friend Willie P. [Bennett] calls this, "a really sweet sentiment." A Mersey-beat sort of thing, but completely unintentionally. Part of that was because I had recently acquired a really cool old Harmony 12-string electric guitar and I had to use it, dammit! I happen to love old harmonies in general, but an electric... Sonically it reminds me of Gerry and the Pacemakers. K.G. Mean Streak (Russell deCarle) This turned into a really deep shuffle. It's kind of funny cause there's no chorus or bridge but the groove itself is one of the fattest we've ever played or recorded. Plus Mike Poole added some special touches in the mix. R.deC.
|
|
Canada's
most honoured country group releases the sixth in an unbroken string of gold-
and platinum-selling albums. What Is This Country? harkens back to the
roots of this quintessentially roots band. "This record very much
resembles Oyster Tracks [1986] as well as Different Kind Of Fire
[1990]," says Besen.
The
album was recorded just outside of Toronto at The Chalet with Mike Poole
co-producing (reprising his
credits on 1996's Blue Plate Special), and guests (besides Bachman)
include some of the group's
most remarkable contemporaries: David Wilcox (slide guitar), Chris
Whiteley (trumpet), Wilco's
Ken Coomer and Anne Murray's Gary Craig (drums), and the legendary Mary
Margaret O'llara (ethereal vocals on
"Canadian Sunset").