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FAST
FORWARD WEEKLY, JUNE 5, 2008
PURPLE
MOHAWKED COWBOY TRUCKERS
MUST BE A TIM HUS GIG NEAR HERE
By Mary-Lynn Wardle
How do you know
you’re at a Tim Hus show? There’s a guy with
a purple Mohawk lining up to buy an album behind a trucker,
miner, logger, cowboy, college professor, skateboarder
and a bunch of little kids. Also, it’s increasingly
likely
that if you’re not singing along,
then you’re the only one in the crowd who isn’t.
“The singalong thing has actually been building
for a number of years, probably since my Alberta Crude
(2004) album, but it was very sporadic at first,”
the Alberta songwriter says.
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Despite finding success across
the country, Tim Hus hasn’t figured out the best
way to haul himself from coast to coast
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“Once in awhile, you would see someone who was familiar
with the odd song. Today, sometimes the whole crowd sings along
to the point where I can stop for a moment, and they will take
over.”
With the release of his third album, Bush Pilot Buckaroo, on
the revered Stony Plain label, Hus notes that people in out-of-the-way
places seem to know how to sing along to the songs as well.
The widespread appeal of his music is based on marrying stick-in-the-head
riffs to familiar subjects.
“I have done quite a few different occupations myself,
and I meet a lot of people and hear a lot of stories,”
he explains. “I’m always on the lookout for a particular
situation or story that has a universal appeal. I try to write
songs that are entertaining, enjoyable and informative and hopefully
chronicle something that folks can relate to.”
Apparently, a gamut of folks can relate, as Hus has played to
an audience of kindergarten children and seniors in wheelchairs.
The children jumped about and danced, and the seniors enjoyed
it, too. Seems that the music keeps everyone happy — parents
have told Hus that they play the music in their cars to keep
their kids occupied.
For people trying to keep all the lives and all the miles from
all of Hus’s songs straight, here are the basics: they’re
all about Kootenay Ale beer, Peterbilt trucks, Husqvarna chainsaws,
Highway 6 (Nakusp up to Slocan City, especially the bluffs),
visiting P.E.I. and eating potato pancakes.
No wonder Hus has performed in places as diverse as welding
shops, logging camps and Parliament Hill. His newly formed relationship
with his record company was earned on the strength of his odometer.
“I am very excited to be releasing my album on Stony Plain
Records,” he says. “Obviously, they are a good fit
for my type of music, as they are Canada’s premier roots
music label. I used to sit and listen to Ian Tyson’s albums
and look at the photographs and read the album notes and see
the Stony Plain logo on the album cover.”
After taking in life’s grand spectacle from coast to coast
and from purple hair to the seniors’ home, Hus has only
one question for the world. It’s rather prosaic for a
guy who has driven up to 17 days between gigs and who has blessed
the face of Canadiana with a fresh pitcher of beer: “I
would like to ask if anyone knows what van, bus, truck, horse
trailer or touring vehicle holds the most cowboy pickers and
musical equipment and has the best fuel mileage,” he says.
“Anybody have any idea?”
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Tim Hus Music Copyright 2008
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