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COUNTRY
MUSIC NEWS - COVER STORY, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2008
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By Larry Delaney
Tim Hus…he’s different than
most…certainly nothing like the bulk of today’s
young country stars who rely on ‘Hollywood looks’
instead of the grit that real country music is built on.
Tim Hus has carved out a rather unique career with his
songs and his ability to capture an audience with the
material. For sake of comparison, consider him the new
millenium version of Stompin’ Tom Connors…without
the ornery attitude; or perhaps a modern day storyteller,
the ilk of a Gary Fjellgaard. Neat comparisons…and
one’s that Tim Hus not only confirms to be reasonably
accurate, but also something that he deams to be proud
of, to have his name mentioned in the same breath as those
Canadian icons who traveled down the same musical paths
that Hus is following today.
“Yeah, I
like both of those great storytellers” says Tim
Hus. I can only dream that I will someday have touched
people the way those guys have with their songs”.
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Tim Hus is well on his way to doing just that. He already has
four albums to his credit, filled with his own creative songs.
Just a run through of the titles of his work will attest to
the direction he takes with his music. Albums have been called
Songs of West Canada, Alberta Crude, Huskies & Husqvarnas
and Bush Pilot Buckaroo…all pretty much describing
the Canadiana theme that he subscribes to…and then there’s
individual songs like Slocan Slim & The Kootenay Kid,
Dangerous Dave’s Tractor Show, Great Plains Tour, Huskies
& Husqvarnas, Cattlerack Cadillac, Bush Pilot Buckaroo…and
oh, so many more similar ditties.
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Well…I have traveled
down most every road in Canada, and I have met a lot of
characters, seen a lot of things…so writing these
songs comes pretty natural to me. I’m not too good
yet at writing a love song, but I can sure relate to them
truck drivers, and blue collar types” says Tim,
about his songs.
FISHIN’ FOR A SONG
Music wasn’t exactly the career that Tim Hus started
out on. Born August 30, 1977, in Nelson, BC, of Dutch
and German ancestry; Tim went to college in Nanaimo, BC,
‘mastering’ in Fisheries. His studies eventually
took him to Germany; and while there he subsidized his
stay by hiring on as a truck driver for a beer brewery.
“In Germany, a guy driving a beer truck is looked
upon as some kind of hero” says Tim. He is given
the right-of-way at all stop signs, he gets cheered loudly
when he drives up to a beer hall…it was a pretty
amazing job. |
It also exposed me to the truck driving way of life, and in
Germany the trucker’s there were all heavily into traditional
country music…they only listened to Buck Owens and Dave
Dudley and Haggard. So I started
listening to that music…and then when we had friendly
gatherings, campfire stuff…I got my nerve up and started
singing those same kind of songs and playing guitar…and
I really liked performing. I got hooked, actually.”
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While in Germany Tim Hus was
also invited to perform at the Canadian Pavilion
during an international exhibition. “Yeah, I sang
in a booth right beside a guy who was hyping maple syrup.
It kinda made me homesick”.
Fisheries was no longer on the Tim Hus radar when he returned
to Canada in 2003 and settled in Calgary, Alberta. “I’m
not quite sure why I picked Calgary…I had worked
in many places in Canada – Victoria, BC to Annapolis
Valley in Nova Scotia – but Calgary seemed to be
a boom town; and there was a good music scene happening
there…so I stayed.
STONY PLAIN RECORDS COMES CALLING
In 2004 Tim Hus released his Alberta Crude
album, and that immediately set the ball rolling for his
recording career. The Huskies & Husqvarnas album
came in 2006; and by 2008 he had been signed by Stony
Plain Records, one of the nation’s most respected
independent labels; releasing his Bush Pilot Buckaroo
album with the label.
There’s an interesting side story to the Stony
Plain Records interest in Tim Hus. “Well it
was a stroke of luck” recalls Tim. “A couple
years ago I had been part of a Province Of Alberta
promotion package that traveled to Washington, DC and
the Smithsonian Institute. |
For our accomodations I was paired off with Holger Peterson,
President of Stony Plain Records…and every day
he would come back to the hotel room with a pile of records
he had searched out of local record stores…and he was
just like a giggly kid with his little treasures. The man was
amazing…he had such a wide interst in his music…blues,
jazz, western, country, and he knew so much about every style,
every artist. I just was in awe of him…and although we
never even discussed my music career or aspirations; I guess
Holger made a mental note of some kind, and several years later,
I guess he thought the time was right to sign me on to Stony
Plain. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted…who’d
ever thunk I would someday be on the same label as one of my
heroes – Ian Tyson.
Still, even a
major breakthrough like this, is not about to go to Tim
Hus’ head.
“You Know, I feel
very fortunate with where I am with my music right now”
says Tim. “There’s a real sense of accomplishment
to go into a small town with a population of 300, and
have 150 of them attend your show.
What I really like is that my audience represents such
a broad range of people…I have cattle ranchers and
oil well workers…mixed in with college kids and
acedemics. Everybody has a different request…
the kid on a skateboard wants me to sing |
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something he likes; the punk with the Mohawk wants to hear his
special request…and then the truck driver wants me to
sing some Haggard or the one I wrote about ‘the highway’.
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“WE
DON’T LIKE COUNTRY MUSIC…BUT WE SURE LIKE
YOU GUYS”
It gets even more amazing when I have the young
guy come up after the show and says he wants to buy my
CD to take home to his dad ‘cause it’s
the kind of music his dad likes…and the very next
guy, an older man, says he wants to bring a copy of the
CD home so that his son can hear what country
music really sounds like.
The guys in my band – Spider Bishop ( he has worked
over 1000 shows with Tim Hus), and Peterbilt Pete |
Christian, (The Rocky Mountain Two) get a big kick
out of something that they hear every night from our audience…without
fail, somebody comes up to the stage and says: “we
don’t like country music but we sure like you guys”.
Tim Hus remains realistic and optimistic about his music, although
he has trouble understanding the ‘business’ part
of his profession. When asked if he has any videos to support
his recorded material he jokingly says “I usually
get turned down 4 times each year when I apply for a video”.
Tim also wonders why his music doesn’t get played much
on country radio.
“You know, I don’t need to be on the hit parade,
but I wonder why it is that I have this huge interest in my
songs from such a varied audience, and yet the radio station
in my hometown doesn’t find time or space to play it.
Every show I do I have somebody ask “…how come
I haven’t heard that song on radio, it’s something
that everybody should get to hear…” I have
to shrug my shoulders and tell ‘em “I dunno”
I believe it was 2002 when I first met Tim Hus. John Lindsay,
who was the organizer of the Stony Plain Cowboy Poetry Gathering,
had met Tim at the Kamloops Cowboy Festival earlier that year
and was so impressed with Tim that he invited him to appear
and showcase at theStony Plain Gathering. There were several
showcase stages and I missed Tim's first performance, but my
wife Zita saw him. As soon as she saw me she told me I just
had to see this guy named Tim Hus and that I'd love what he
was doing. I caught his next showing and was immediatley taken
in by his personality and his entertaining songwriting skills.
I figured anybody who could write a song about a gravel pit
or an open pit mine, and make it interesting, was somebody special.
At the time Tim had just finished recording his debut album,
Songs of West Canada. Since that first meeting I have seen Tim
perform many times and have watched him grow and mature as an
artist, and have witnessed how his fan base has grown with each
performance.
A sidelight of that weekend, as told to me by John Lindsay,
was that Tim didn't have enough money on him to pay for his
lunch in the teahouse at the Festival, so he ended up entertaining
in the dining room, literally singing for his supper. At the
campfire gathering that first evening, Tim so impressed the
audience and the other artists, that he was invited to perform
on stage at the big wrap-up concert at the end of the festival,
where he was a big hit.
BILL BORGWARDT
Edmonton News Reporter/Photographer
Country Music News
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Tim Hus Music Copyright 2008
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