Canadian singer/songwriter Corb Lund has just released his ninth studio album Things That Can’t Be Undone (New West Records). It is his first studio release in three years and the new material has a maturity and depth that suggests he has been using the intervening period very wisely.
The acute songwriting and model country rock treatment result in a collection of memorable stories that will be ringing in your head and your heart.
I heard Lund being interviewed at this year’s Americana Music Festival in Nashville (with Brian Wise from Melbourne Australia’s Off The Record radio show). He spoke of his new album and how it came together. Working with one of the hottest producers around, Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton) at his Nashville studio Low Country Sound, they bunkered in for two weeks, dissecting the songs, rebuilding them and developing the sound and the arrangements they wanted. The players were Lund’s long-time band The Hurtin’ Albertans – Grant Siemens (electric guitar and lap steel), Brady Valgardson (drums) and Kurt Ciesla (bass).
Corb Lund – photo Jim Jacob
There’s not a doubtful moment on the record. “S Lazy H” is a beautiful and gripping tale about the loss of the family ranch (Lund is a 6th generation farmer):
“Sometimes right isn’t equal, sometimes equal’s not fair
There will soon be rows of houses on that ridge over there
Many lifetimes of labor will be all but erased
So shed a tear and look skyward, God help the S Lazy H.”
“Washed-Up Rock Star Factory Blues,” (written with Evan Felker of the Turnpike Troubadours) and “Alt Berliner Blues,” evoke classic Dylan’s talking, rolling, biting blues. “Sunbeam” has Lund grieving over the death of his niece.
There’s the catchy “Run This Town”:
Perhaps best of all, the powerful weariness of “Sadr City” about the Siege of Sadr City, the first major religious violence in Iraq after the U.S. incursion – the last lines of the song are heartbreaking.
Lund’s previous studio album Cabin Fever (2012) was widely acclaimed and provided considerable impetus for his career and profile outside Canada. With Things That Can’t Be Undone, his reputation will be further enhanced. It’s one of the most appealing albums of the year.
Track listing
1. Weight of the Gun
2. Run This Town
3. Alt Berliner Blues
4. Alice Eyes
5. Sadr City
6. Washed-Up Rock Star Factory Blues
7. S Lazy H
8. Goodbye Colorado
9. Talk Too Much
10. Sunbeam
Thanks to Thrillhill Music
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