>>PREVIEW
COWPUNCHER
Saturday, April 28
The Stetson
Calling Calgary "Cowtown" sometimes isn’t such a bad thing. The much-maligned nickname conjures up images of cowboy boots, dusty foothills and the greatest outdoor show on earth. According to Matt Olah and Cowpuncher, it’s exactly these kinds of images that shape their sound. You can certainly hear strains of old-time country and honky-tonk in the band’s repertoire, but instead of attempting to create a specific sound Olah admits that some things just happen.
"When we started out we never said, ‘OK we want to start a country band,’ remembers Olah. "We just started playing music and that’s how it sounded. Maybe we’re influenced by where we’re from. We’re from Calgary and I think this is what we were just meant to sound like. I mean, I like older country but I couldn’t name you a Brooks and Dunn song. I don’t know a single thing about about pop country. I just happen to have a voice more suited to the older stuff."
Olah admits that though their environment shapes the band’s sound, it’s also the banjo that initially directed their music when he first started playing music again with friend and multi-instrumentalist Shawn Canning. Canning plays banjo, guitar and pedal steel alongside drummer Peter Balkwill and bassist Jay Metheral. Though it may have started out with Olah, things have become more collaborative since.
"When we first started I wrote all the songs," admits Olah. "But now it’s a lot more collaborative, which I like better. When I started playing guitar again it was just me and my guitar in the basement and I owned them. But now it’s Cowpuncher. It’s about friends playing music together. I still write all the lyrics but the music is very collaborative."
Metheral agrees. "Matt’s is a really good songwriter. He’s able to put things to words really well. He may have some of the chord changes worked out ahead of time and then we just take it from there. I might suggest how we should phrase the song a certain way and then we work out the harmonies. I listen to a lot of folk and country-ish stuff that influences what I might do; Steve Earle, Gillian Welsh, Bluegrass and roots stuff. You know, music that’s fun to play and pull out at parties."
Cowpuncher is playing The Stetson on Saturday, April 28 as part of the second F.A.R.M. (Future Alberta Rock Movement) music promoter showcase. |
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