Blackie & The Rodeo Kings
Although I like all of the musicians in Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, with the possible exception of Colin Linden, I prefer to hear their work in BARK more often than their individual work. Given how well they're doing, I suspect I'm not alone.
May, 2004
It really started as a lark, an artistic lark, but a lark nonetheless. In 1996 Canadian roots musician extraordinaire Colin Linden, ex Junkhouse rocker Tom Wilson and folk maven Stephen Fearing banded together under the moniker Blackie and the Rodeo Kings to record and play the songs of folk icon Willie P Bennett. Naming themselves after a Bennett song, their ‘High or Hurtin: The Songs of Willie P. Bennett’ was released to some acclaim and then they quietly went back to their solo day jobs.
Except a funny thing happened. As the months went by the critical kudos rang in their ears and more importantly they realized that their love for Bennett’s material aside, they really loved playing with each other. So they recorded another album, a double that was even better than the first. High praise followed and more significantly people bought it. There was something there.
For ex-Junkhouse rocker Tom Wilson it’s been a kind of musical vindication. As a self-described middle-aged man Wilson remembers the days when music meant something to his generation. And for him the growing success of Blackie is all about his generation and their hunger for quality music. “Blackie and the Rodeo Kings are fitting into that demographic that is not being catered to” Wilson says firmly over the phone from his Halifax home. “The fact that we get so many people following us who have come to the table for us and bought our album because its passed along at dinner parties or people coming over to other peoples houses. There’s still a human element in the way that our music communicates to people. It doesn’t rely on Muchmusic or Muchmoremusic. It doesn’t rely on radio play even though they’ve been so good to us on this record. It relies on human contact, on people saying to each other ‘you’ve got to hear this fucking record!’.”
The record he’s referring to is last year’s ‘BARK’ which has not only consolidated their fanbase but in fact expanded it. Without losing an ounce of their raw rootsy charm, it’s a more raucous affair with some out and out barnstormers tossed in there for flavour.
The artistic growth has paid off in more than one way. Nice reviews aside, BARK (which by the way doubles as the acronym for the band) surprised everyone by getting on the radio. “’Had Enough Of You Today’ went to number fourteen on the rock charts” laughs Wilson, “Which was unheard of because we were competing with Nickelback and Sam Roberts! We’re like middle-aged guys in matching suits. It’s ridiculous that we made it onto the rock charts!”
“We were up for a Juno this year but we lost obviously because we started to get too popular for our own category” Wilson muses. “I think it’s typically Canadian. Have you ever seen Blackie and the Rodeo Kings at the Home County Folk Festival? Have we ever even had a phone call from the Home County Folk Festival to play? Well guess what? Once you’ve had a top twenty hit on radio, then you’re getting a little big for your britches.”
With their current success (their latest single ‘Water or Gasoline’ is one of the top radio adds in the Americana format in the US) and their current tour opening for Merle Haggard (May 27 at London’s JLC), Linden, Fearing and Wilson are finding Blackie and the Rodeo Kings less of a side job and more of their main gig. “With this record there’s more and more and more” Wilson says in wonderment. “The traditional path with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings is that we make a record because we like hanging out with each other, release it do a bunch of festivals in the summer, do a little tour in the fall and that’s it. But it’s taking on a new life right now. We’re devoted to it. This is obviously something that people like.”
For Wilson himself, life is good. He’s blissfully smitten with his new paramour Cathy Jones of ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’, he’s healthy, doesn’t do drugs, and proudly proclaims that he hasn’t had a drink in four and a half years. As for his career, Wilson’s blast of demi-fame with Junkhouse was nice but he admits it doesn’t compare to his work with Blackie and The Rodeo Kings. “It was less rewarding than what I’m doing now” he gulps. “I hate to say that about Junkhouse but it is. This is very rewarding.”
May, 2004
It really started as a lark, an artistic lark, but a lark nonetheless. In 1996 Canadian roots musician extraordinaire Colin Linden, ex Junkhouse rocker Tom Wilson and folk maven Stephen Fearing banded together under the moniker Blackie and the Rodeo Kings to record and play the songs of folk icon Willie P Bennett. Naming themselves after a Bennett song, their ‘High or Hurtin: The Songs of Willie P. Bennett’ was released to some acclaim and then they quietly went back to their solo day jobs.
Except a funny thing happened. As the months went by the critical kudos rang in their ears and more importantly they realized that their love for Bennett’s material aside, they really loved playing with each other. So they recorded another album, a double that was even better than the first. High praise followed and more significantly people bought it. There was something there.
For ex-Junkhouse rocker Tom Wilson it’s been a kind of musical vindication. As a self-described middle-aged man Wilson remembers the days when music meant something to his generation. And for him the growing success of Blackie is all about his generation and their hunger for quality music. “Blackie and the Rodeo Kings are fitting into that demographic that is not being catered to” Wilson says firmly over the phone from his Halifax home. “The fact that we get so many people following us who have come to the table for us and bought our album because its passed along at dinner parties or people coming over to other peoples houses. There’s still a human element in the way that our music communicates to people. It doesn’t rely on Muchmusic or Muchmoremusic. It doesn’t rely on radio play even though they’ve been so good to us on this record. It relies on human contact, on people saying to each other ‘you’ve got to hear this fucking record!’.”
The record he’s referring to is last year’s ‘BARK’ which has not only consolidated their fanbase but in fact expanded it. Without losing an ounce of their raw rootsy charm, it’s a more raucous affair with some out and out barnstormers tossed in there for flavour.
The artistic growth has paid off in more than one way. Nice reviews aside, BARK (which by the way doubles as the acronym for the band) surprised everyone by getting on the radio. “’Had Enough Of You Today’ went to number fourteen on the rock charts” laughs Wilson, “Which was unheard of because we were competing with Nickelback and Sam Roberts! We’re like middle-aged guys in matching suits. It’s ridiculous that we made it onto the rock charts!”
“We were up for a Juno this year but we lost obviously because we started to get too popular for our own category” Wilson muses. “I think it’s typically Canadian. Have you ever seen Blackie and the Rodeo Kings at the Home County Folk Festival? Have we ever even had a phone call from the Home County Folk Festival to play? Well guess what? Once you’ve had a top twenty hit on radio, then you’re getting a little big for your britches.”
With their current success (their latest single ‘Water or Gasoline’ is one of the top radio adds in the Americana format in the US) and their current tour opening for Merle Haggard (May 27 at London’s JLC), Linden, Fearing and Wilson are finding Blackie and the Rodeo Kings less of a side job and more of their main gig. “With this record there’s more and more and more” Wilson says in wonderment. “The traditional path with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings is that we make a record because we like hanging out with each other, release it do a bunch of festivals in the summer, do a little tour in the fall and that’s it. But it’s taking on a new life right now. We’re devoted to it. This is obviously something that people like.”
For Wilson himself, life is good. He’s blissfully smitten with his new paramour Cathy Jones of ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’, he’s healthy, doesn’t do drugs, and proudly proclaims that he hasn’t had a drink in four and a half years. As for his career, Wilson’s blast of demi-fame with Junkhouse was nice but he admits it doesn’t compare to his work with Blackie and The Rodeo Kings. “It was less rewarding than what I’m doing now” he gulps. “I hate to say that about Junkhouse but it is. This is very rewarding.”
posted by bk @ 6:06 PM
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