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TIM
HUS INTERVIEW ON THE JOHN RUTHERFORD SHOW
CKUA RADIO, AUG 1, 2003:
(Music Playing: “Gravel Pit Song”
3:20
Track #3 on the Tim Hus album “Songs of West Canada”)
JR-Alright, that is Tim Hus from a recording called
“Songs of West Canada” and that is the “Gravel
Pit Song”. We’re joined here in the studio today
by none other than songwriter and Canadian music artist Tim
Hus. How are you doing this morning, Tim?
TH-I’m doing well, John. Good morning! Thanks
for having me on the show.
JR-It’s good to have you. You’ve been having
a busy summer. You just got back from some shows in British
Columbia, is that right?
TH-That’s right. I was out at the Merritt Mountain
Music Festival doing some shows in the city of Merritt. I’m
originally from B.C. so I’ve got a number of places that
I like to play out there.
JR- So you now reside here in Calgary?
TH- Yeah, Calgary is the home town for me now. I came
out here in October of last year. It hasn’t been a year
yet but I got a little band together called “The Rocky
Mountain Two” We are called Tim Hus and the Rocky Mountain
Two and we’re singing all those Canadian songs that the
Canadian folks love to hear.
JR- I’ve really been enjoying your record. I
got it in my hands a couple of weeks ago and it has made its
way to the CD changer on many an occasion. It’s a lot
of fun. As well, an observation would be that it’s really
very well rooted in Canadian folklore and themes and almost
the taste and feel of Western Canada. There are a lot of touchstones
for this type of music here, isn’t there?
TH- I really think so. It started like this: I was
just writing songs about things that I was doing. When I got
out of high school I went to work in a logging camp. I was just
learning to play the guitar at that time and I wrote my song
“Bigwood Timber” there and that’s all about
the logging camps. I went out to the coast and worked on a fishing
boat and that’s where I wrote the salmon fishing song
“Seine Boat”. My dad was a trucker so we’ve
got truck driving songs on there. There is a historical song
about the driving of the last spike on the Canadian Pacific
Railway because that always interested me. Then I hung out with
some rodeo cowboys and I wrote them a song. So they really are
folk songs about the people I met and they seemed to like that.
The album has found its way to all the right places. My friends
in Prince Rupert say that out on the salmon fishing boat that
is all that they listen to. The same is true at the CELGAR pulp
mill in Castlegar. They say they all listen to that in their
lunch room. So, I’m pretty happy that it’s being
heard by the right people.
JR- You’ve really lived the experiences. You’re
taking themes and ideas from direct experience, life experience
as you grow up in this part of the world.
TH- I think so. I try to. My father was a world traveler
and I traveled around a bunch too and I always liked Stompin’
Tom a lot and he is all about songs of the land and the people.
You know, Woody Guthrie, those were the first songs that I learned.
He was all about that too. When ever we had a break at school
like Easter holidays I would go and hitch-hike around and I
was interested in meeting the people and seeing what they were
doing.
JR- Yeah, a great source of inspiration. You were recently
overseas. You recorded this record not in Canada!
TH- Yeah, that’s kind of ironic in a way. I used
to be based out on the West Coast and in the winter of 2001
I was over in Germany. I went over there and played at trade
shows and exhibitions in the Canadian Pavillion. I got to be
an ambassador for Canada. They wanted a guy to sing Canadian
songs. I would sing them songs about Calgary and Merritt and
what the loggers do out here. They think everybody over here
walks around with an axe so I kind of fed it to ‘em that
way.
JR- (laughing) They received these songs well and you
feel that it gives Canada an appropriate reflection of some
of the cultural icons of this part of the world?
TH- I would say it does. It probably romanticizes it
in a way but everybody wants that a little bit.
JR- That’s what songwriting is all about! So,
you’ve kept busy in the summer months working in what
may be for folk music festival fans a bit of an extension of
this concept. There are a lot of festivals that are really about
cowboy poetry and cowboy culture or western culture. You’ve
been on that circuit for a while haven’t you?
TH- I haven’t been at it that long, actually
just this last year I’ve been delving into that circuit.
I find it very interesting.
JR – Are there rodeos and things like that going
on as well?
TH- Sometimes there are rodeos in connection with it.
The emphasis is that these are “western” gatherings
and festivals as opposed to country music festivals. They are
deeply rooted in the western culture and keeping the West alive.
JR- Is the cowboy poetry element a major part of these
festivals? Are there storytelling sessions around campfires?
Is that an accurate picture of what goes on?
TH- Maybe not strictly campfires but there are certainly
lots of poets. I would say that it is half poets and half pickers.
There are lots of really good poets. One that I really like
is Mike Puhallo from Kamloops. I got a couple of his CD’s
and I have been listening to spoken word recitation. I always
admired those poets because they don’t have any music
to lean on. They pretty much just have the material to go on.
JR- Do these festivals have a distinct and different
kind of feel to them than the folk festivals? They are kind
of a separate entity to some degree. I imagine there is some
crossover in audience but I’m not sure that everybody
is familiar with this format.
TH- I would say that they are similar to folk festivals
because they are very open and friendly and everybody feels
welcome. There are a lot of farmers and ranchers and rodeo cowboys
who are proud of what they are. That’s what they are there
for: they want to hear western culture.
JR- When we set up this meeting I said that I would
love it if you brought in some recordings from your own collection.
Music from artists who have influenced you and formed your work.
One of the recordings that we have cued up here falls into the
“trucker music” category. You mentioned that your
father was a trucker. Is that right?
TH- Yeah, my father was a truck driver and he also
helped to build the Trans Australian Railway a long time ago.
JR- Oh Wow! Really?
TH- He was a trucker. I came upon this record in a
little shop in Nanaimo, British Columbia. This record is called
“Dick Curless live at the Wheeling Truck Drivers Jamboree”.
(laughing) It’s one of my favorite records. I once heard
that a big rig without a Dick Curless record is like a fuel
tank with no diesel!
JR- (laughing) This is the real thing, is it?
TH- I think it is.
JR- Very well, let’s listen to Dick Curless.
Some truck driving music that Tim Hus has brought along to the
studios here at CKUA this morning.
(Music Playing: “Chick Inspector”
2:56
Track #1 from Dick Curless’ album “Live at the Wheeling
Truck Drivers Jamboree”)
JR-
Oh yeah! That’s the real thing for sure! That’s
“Dick Curless live at the Wheeling Truck Drivers Jamboree”,
a 12” vinyl recording on the Capital record label. There
you have Dick Curless on the front cover wearing a snake skin
vest, and his eye patch, and what would be the material of that
shirt? Polyester plus?
TH- (laughing) Yeah, he’s standing in front of
the big cab overhead diesel. I don’t know Johnny, they
don’t seem to sing ‘em like that anymore, do they?
JR- (laughing) No, that doesn’t appear to be
the case. We were just talking while this record was spinning
that at one time in North American music history this was a
specific genre and segment of the music industry. You were mentioning
that this is not such an active scene today.
TH- Yeah, it seems kind of funny. Everywhere you look
they are tearing up rails and taking out the railways. They
move more and more freight on the highways. We probably have
more truckers than ever. There used to be whole albums of trucker
songs.
JR- There used to be people that collect just trucker
songs.
TH- You still see those old albums like “24 Great
Trucker Hits” and “Convoy” and all that. Particularly
in the 70’s it was very big. I don’t know. I just
haven’t seen many trucker compilations in recent years.
JR- I want to touch base with another artist that you
have garnered some comparisons to. Not just in the style of
songwriting that you are working with but maybe vocally and
in terms of presentation. One of Canada’s great folk heroes:
Stompin’ Tom Connors.
TH- I think a lot of Stompin’ Tom’s work.
I wore a lot of heels off of cowboy boots stompin’ along
to his records while growing up.
JR- Did you have your own piece of plywood?
TH- Yes I did. I really like what Stompin’ Tom
does with the Canadian songs. We hear so many songs about Texas
and Tennessee. I like those songs but I honestly think that
most of us have never been to Texas or we are just not that
close to Alabama. Instead of a song like “Take me back
to West Virginia” why not a song like “Take me back
to Calgary” for a change?. Sing about Saskatchewan and
the Red River. Stompin’ Tom was really big on that: songs
of Canada from coast to coast. Stompin’ Tom is a Maritimer
and he spent a lot of time in Ontario but he doesn’t have
that many songs about Western Canada. I’m from the West.
I love singing Stompin’ Tom Songs but there were songs
about the west that I wanted to sing that he never wrote so
I had to write them.
JR- So you are taking care of the Western side of the
country.
TH- I like to think so.
JR-In your bio material I noticed that Stompin’
Tom had some kind words to say about you.
TH- I wrote a song about Stompin’ Tom because
he really means a lot to me. I called it “Man with the
Black Hat”. When Stompin’ Tom heard the song he
wrote me a letter saying that he really liked the song and he
liked the other songs I was singing and that “Canada needs
more singers like Tim Hus!” That surely brought a tear
to my eye. He sent me a nice picture that I have framed on my
wall.
JR- Should we listen to something by the man himself?
Let’s turn to a recording here from Stompin’ Tom.
What do you want to hear?
TH- This is a song that Tom wrote about Western Canada.
It’s about the Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver that
collapsed when they were building it back in 1958. This is “The
Bridge Came Tumbling Down”:
(Music Playing: “The Bridge Came Tumblin’
Down” 2:46
Track #2 on the Stompin’ Tom album “My Stompin Grounds”)
(Music Playing: “Man with the Black Hat”
2:36
Track # 6 on the Tim Hus album “Songs of West Canada”)
JR- There it is: Tim Hus and the song about
Stompin’ Tom Connors, the man with the big black hat.
I could hear the stompin’ goin’ on! That’s
great, Tim.
TH- Thanks. I kind of like that one and the people
seem to really like it too. Stompin’ Tom has a lot of
fans in this country. He may have the broadest demographics
of any performer I know of. If you ever go to a Stompin’
Tom concert you will see kids, old farmers, business people,
lawyers, students, and the whole bit.
JR- He’s had an interesting recent resurgence
into the marketplace with fans in the punk rock sector. He has
really crossed over into all sorts of various age groups.
TH- Maybe he’s following Johnny Cash that way.
It seems the punk crowd really digs Johnny Cash.
JR-(laughing) The Canadian punks are really into Stompin’
Tom Connors.
TH- I met a punk in Jasper and he told me that all
the punks in Ottawa watch the “Red Green” television
show and they listen to Stompin’ Tom.
JR-Maybe they all have a roll of duct tape in their
knapsack. Who knows? Very much formed by the environment, that
is the essence of Stompin’ Tom’s work. You’ve
obviously picked up on that same feel. Use what is around you
and what is very obvious. The muse for your work is very organic
and very honest.
TH- Thanks, John. That is a compliment.
JR- I know you’ve got a new record that you are
working on. Have you started the writing? Are you writing much
these days?
TH- I’m always writing here and there but I have
all the songs set to go for the next record. I’ve got
some really good ones on there, Alberta stuff. I’m looking
forward to recording it this Winter.
JR- Will that be with your new band? The Rocky Mountain
Two?
TH- There used to be Johnny Cash and the Tennessee
Two and now here we are with Tim Hus and The Rocky Mountain
Two because we are in Western Canada. Rick Preston plays the
electric guitar. He has been playing in Calgary all of his life
and he is a very good musician. Warren Walsh plays the upright
bass.
JR- Warren is a good friend of mine and somebody that
I have worked with on various musical projects as well. It sounds
like you guys have a great band and are having fun as you make
your way around various festivals and cowboy events. You have
a special event coming up right away. You will be heading up
to Edmonton tomorrow, is that correct?
TH- Yes, tomorrow the Corb Lund Band is playing at
the Powerplant. That’s a home town show for them up in
Edmonton and we are on the bill as well. I am quite excited
because when I first heard Corb Lund it spun my head around
about three times! He’s got the Alberta cowboy, history,
bootlegging, poker playing culture nailed down. I think the
world of his work and I think he likes what I do too so it is
nice that we will be doing the show together. I’m looking
forward to trying out some of my Canadian songs on Corb’s
fan base.
JR- That is exciting! I know Corb is enjoying enormous
success with his release of “Five Dollar Bill” on
the Stony Plain label. What a wonderful double bill! It seems
like a perfect match.
TH- Could we play a song off of the album? I was hitch-hiking
in Saskatchewan and I got a ride with a rodeo cowboy from Caroline,
Alberta who was on his way to a rodeo. I think he was one of
the first rodeo cowboys that I met and he was really cool. The
song that I wrote about him is called “Pickup Trucks,
Rodeos, and Dust”
JR- I hope you guys are rolling around this part of
the world in an old pickup truck full of air horns and stickers.
What kind of vehicle are you rolling around in?
TH- (laughing) I’m ashamed to say it’s
not that pretty.
(Music Playing: “Pickup Trucks, Rodeos,
and Dust” 3:46
Track #4 on the Tim Hus album “Songs of West Canada”)
JR- Tim, it’s been a blast having you in the
studio here this morning. This has really made my Saturday!
Thanks for coming in and helping us out this morning.
TH- Thanks for having me on the show, John. I really
appreciate it and good luck to you and Dan with “No Guff”
and all the exciting stuff you have coming up. I wish you all
the best and I hope to see you again.
JR- We’ll catch up again soon I’m sure.
I know that you’re a big Corb Lund fan. What is your favorite
Corb Lund song?
TH- My favorite Corb Lund song is called “We
used to ride ‘em”. It’s a western song that
you could play at any cowboy gathering.
(Music Playing: “We used to Ride ‘em”
2:55
Track #10 on Corb Lund’s album “Unforgiving
Mistress”)
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