Corb Lund Band

Johnny Cash has been prematurely reincarnated and he lives in Alberta, has a kick-ass three-piece country & western band and his name is Corb Lund. The much anticipated follow-up to 1999'S Unforgiving Mistress is a tasty strip of beef jerky from start to finish. These tales of bootlegging, cattle ranching, whiskey drinking, buckin' horses and the end of the world will cause you to cast aside all reasonable disbelief and remain convinced that country & western originated as an Alberta musical form. Lund (ex of the Smalls) is an astonishingly lyrical rodeo poet who weaves captivating campfire tales and together with bassist Kurt Ciesla, drummer Ryan Vikedal and producer Harry Stinson (Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett), arranges diesel-powered acoustic vignettes that trail blaze the listener through "big sky" country and deposits them lovingly in the path of a bareback, nostril-flared, dust kicking bronco. Five Dollar Bill should top all the "best of" lists this year.