Corb Lund’s latest album, “El Viejo,” offers a collection of slick and sometimes surprising country songs.
“I’ve been wanting to make a record like this for a long time,” Lund said in the album’s promotional material. “The band, Franny and I produced it ourselves in my living room with no adults present. It’s all acoustic, not an electric lick on the album… banjos and mandos and string basses and stripped-down drums. I put a ton of work into the tunes, and I’m pretty proud of this batch.”
Despite this straightforward recording method, the album never sounds like a demo. The production is remarkably clean for a living room recording. I think this reflects well on both the production skills of Lund and Scott Franchuk and the talent of Lund’s longtime band The Hurtin’ Albertans.
As his band’s name implies, Lund hails from Alberta, Canada. I’m unsure how many people are aware that our neighbor to the north has a rich history of great country artists, with a recent star being Colter Wall. Lund has been part of that tradition since 1995, and the album and title track is named in tribute to a legend in Canadian country.
That man is Ian Tyson. According to Lund, he was nicknamed “El Viejo,” Spanish for “The Old One,” in later years by another great songwriter, Tom Russell. The song “El Viejo (For Ian)” is undeniably the emotional heart of this album. It’s a touching tribute to the passing of a man who felt he belonged to another time.
“You know I hate to see you leave
But it ain’t no secret you believed
You was meant for earlier days
Wilder times and a freer range
So old compadre, Lord I know
You was likely glad to go
I hope it’s easier in time
For those of us you’ve left behind”
Feb
This approach makes the song feel bittersweet instead of fully somber. There’s something comforting in thinking of Tyson as a man who simply left a world and time that didn’t suit him.
Throughout this record, one of the things I’m most struck by is Lund’s talent for creating catchy, satisfying melodies. Even on a first listen, one has the urge to try to sing along to these songs despite not knowing the words yet. I must risk cliché by saying that, despite varying subject matter, these are cowboy songs in the pure sense that they make you want to find a campfire to sit and sing around.
The cast of characters that fill these songs all fit in the spirit of the country genre, though many stray from the stock characters fans may have come to expect. One notable example is the song “Insha’Allah,” which, by my interpretation, is inspired by the film “Lawrence of Arabia” and the real historical events it portrays.
The song is a standout on the album. The instrumental is a fascinating fusion of country and Arabic music, and the lyrics make an unconventional setting and subject matter feel at home in the genre.
Another departure from the usual canon of country characters includes an aging martial artist in “Out On a Win.”
Country purists can rest assured there are still plenty of classic themes and archetypes to enjoy. This includes three solid songs about gamblers: “The Cardplayers,” “I Had It All” and “When the Game Gets Hot.” The latter has the added pedigree of being co-written by Brian Koppelman, screenwriter of one of the most iconic gambling movies ever made, “Rounders.”
The album’s lead single, “Old Familiar Drunken Feeling,” takes on that classic country theme of intoxication, though not the alcoholic variety the title implies. I’ll keep it vague and say the lyrics mention purchasing the substance after playing a show in Colorado. While this is not exactly new territory in the country genre, the song is a lot of fun, and I could see it joining the ranks of classics like Guy Clark’s “Worry B Gone” and Willie Nelson’s “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.”
The songs of “El Viejo” offer portraits of outsiders that interweave into a patchwork of free-spiritedness. While all of these songs may be stripped-back and acoustic, they pack a punch. There’s little to no sad strumming to be found. Any fan of hard-hitting, unvarnished country music will find a lot to love in Lund’s latest release.