Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans will take the stage at the Pilsner Bush Bash, at CN Centre on Thursday, which will take on a honkytonk, cabaret-style atmosphere for the night.
"That's our natural habitat," said Lund. "We're really lucky because we have a variety of venues that we play, we do theatres and outdoor festivals, honkytonks and we play punk rock bars, we play nice night clubs and I like all of them but honkytonks are where we belong. I like the honkytonk style for the communication with the audience. It's raucous and lubricated."
Lund said performing is his favourite thing to do with his music.
"But nothing beats a live show," Lund added. "In terms of just sheer fun, playing honkytonks is great. They're rowdy and people are looking you right in the eye -- it's good."
Lund went on tour last fall to promote his latest album, Cabin Fever. That was a general tour where he hit all the bigger centres. This tour is more for fun to visit with fans in smaller centres.
Lund is a Juno-award winner and seven-time Roots Artist of the Year winner at the Canadian Country Music Awards. At the show, Lund will be backed by his longtime band, The Hurtin' Albertans, including members Grant Siemens, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist; Kurt Ciesla, upright bassist; and Brady Valgardson, drummer.
During the show, Lund has a unique way of letting the Hurtin' Albertans know what's on the playlist.
"We've got seven records now, so it's impossible to fit them all into one show," said Lund. "To keep me and the band guys interested we don't really use a set list. It's all kind of random. I have a series of baseball hand signals that I give my guitar player, Grant, because he plays about four different instruments, right? So near the end of one song I'll give him a signal and then he knows what instrument he's playing next. Yeah, I sorta wing it every night. It's more fun that way. We'll definitely play some new songs and and the old non-hits, too."
Off the new album, Lund likes Gettin' Down On The Mountain and the motorbike song, which is fun, he said.
Lund has a collection of BMW motorcycles so he wrote an ode to them in Mein Deutsches Motorrad, which means My German Motorcycle. Lund said he's got Alberta songs and even a Saskatchewan song and next he promises to put together something for B.C.
The May tour is quite intense, with a show almost every night of the month.
"We're doing a very thorough barnstorming of B.C.," said Lund. "We've been in Prince George before and I seem to recall some fisticuffs last time we were there and we're really looking forward to it."
Tickets at all Ticketmaster outlets.
