Corb Lund is set to release his first album of original material in five years, Agricultural Tragic, on April 24 (Pre-order/save/add). The album’s first single, “90 Seconds Of Your Time,” is available today (stream/download).
Along with today’s album news, Lund announces a 25-date Canadian tour, set to begin April 27 in Victoria, BC. A full list of dates can be found below. The show will be bigger and better than ever, with newly added production elements, as well as VIP packages including a meet and greet and acoustic performance, available at corblund.com.
Of the new music, Lund says “I worked really hard on this album—harder than I’ve ever worked before. This time around I took my time and wrote more songs, rehearsed more with the band, and explored sounds much more deeply. It took some time, but I’m really proud of this one and I’m excited to finally be able to share it.”
Agricultural Tragic is a record with instantly detectible depth and energy. Its title draws a taut thread backwards in time through Waylon, Williams — even before Robert Johnson — to that pre-fenced and perilous era of exchange between untamed infinity and we humans striving to make this land ours, using heart, hope and horses.
The album’s title, Agricultural Tragic, is also the name of Lund’s self-applied subgenre. While examining his own body of work, he noticed and wryly named this larger narrative string of rural adversities. So-called “Ag-Trag” themes continue to feature prominently in Lund’s latest songwriting, thus leading him to choose Agricultural Tragic for the name of his 10th full-length studio album.
“There are people who do Western music and they kind of freeze-dry it, like museum-style,” Lund says. “I don’t do that at all. I’m interested in expressing myself currently. Which is actually what it feels like to have six generations of cowboy heritage thrown into the crazy 21st Century urban setting. I love the traditional style and I use it. But I approach it with abandon and irreverence.”
Corb Lund has received multiple CCMA, Juno, and international award nominations and wins. His seventh album, Cabin Fever, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Canadian Charts in 2012; three of his records have been certified Gold, and his 2015 studio album, Things That Can’t Be Undone, cemented his status as one of the best contemporary country singer/songwriters working today. Last September, Corb released Cover Your Tracks, an 8-song collection of unexpected cover songs previously recorded by AC/DC, Nancy Sinatra, Billy Joel, Marty Robbins, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Willie Nelson & Ray Charles, and Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show.
A rural Albertan hailing from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with a long family lineage of ranchers and rodeo people, Lund is about as authentic as they come. Before his current bandleader incarnation with the Hurtin’ Albertans, Lund was an integral part of the smalls, a legendary Canadian indie rock band who didn’t quite fit into any single category, either, mixing punk, speed metal, jazz and — indeed — country. Embracing both his Western heritage and his indie-rock past through his music, Lund has been known to filter a range of cowboy themes past and present through his unique lens – from rough-and-tumble tales of lawless frontier saloons to the sombre realities of running a modern family ranch.
Tour dates:
April 27 Victoria, BC Alix Goolden Performance Hall
April 28 Duncan, BC Cowichan Performing Arts Centre
April 30 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
May 1 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
May 2 Penticton, BC Cleland Community Theatre
May 3 Prince George, BC Vanier Hall
May 4 Edmonton, AB Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
May 5 Calgary, AB Jack Singer Concert Hall
May 7 Jasper, AB The STAND EASY, Jasper Royal Canadian Legion
May 8 Williams Lake, BC Gibraltar Room, Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex
May 9 Innisfail, AB Daines Rodeo Ranch
May 11 Prince Albert, SK EA Rawlinson Centre For The Arts
May 12 Lloydminster, AB Vic Juba Community Theatre
May 14 Regina, SK Casino Regina
May 15 Saskatoon, SK Coors Event Centre
May 16 Cadillac, SK Cadillac Community Hall
May 19 Winnipeg, MB Burton Cummings Theatre
May 21 Sudbury, ON Towne House Tavern
May 22 Toronto, ON El Mocambo
May 23 London, ON London Music Hall Music Complex
May 24 Peterborough, ON Market Hall Performing Arts Centre
May 25 Montreal, QC Le Belmont
May 26 Ottawa, ON National Arts Centre
July 16 Edmonton, AB Midway
July 17 Calgary, AB The Palace