|
 |
CALGARY
HERALD, JUNE 19, 2010
TIM
HUS'S BIG BLAST OF COOL CANADIANA
By Eric Volmers
You might think Tim Hus was being ironic on his
rollicking new country song, Saskatchewan Son-of-a-Gun.
In a burst of regional pride, the singer talks up the
prairie province and then proclaims: "There ain't
no doubt just where I'm from."
Actually, there is more than a little doubt.
As proud as the good-natured, 31-year-old singer-songwriter
may be of his country, you would be at a loss to determine
which part of it he is actually from when looking over
his body of work. |
|
The 12 songs on his fifth album, Hockeytown, for instance, cover
all regions of the country. The B.C.-born, Calgary-based, nation-trotting
singer introduces a variety of far-flung narrators to sing the
praises of the North Atlantic trawlers, Saskatoon berries, Ontario
steel and Picture Butte cowboys, wrapping it all in catchy melodies,
sturdy musical backing and a stately Johnny Cash-like gravity
to his phrasing.
But irony doesn't really seem to be a part of Hus's literary
arsenal. Whether they be proudly proclaiming where they're from,
how they make a living or what they do in their spare time,
the heroes of Hockeytown are nothing if not earnest.
"Not that it's a concept album, but the concept being it's
a big blast of Canadiana from everywhere and I wrapped it all
up in the common thread of the hockey town," he says. "That's
the big thing in Canada -- you deal with such a vast nation
and so many different geography and different people. What do
they share in common? It's a long way from the Prairies of Alberta
to Newfoundland. But there are common threads everywhere. And
we get to experience that because we do a couple hundred concerts
a year, all throughout the provinces."
This made him the perfect choice to take his band down to Martinique
earlier this year, a French island in the Caribbean that had
reportedly never sampled Canuck music before.
The island's tourism officials were on the prowl for a band
that best represented Canada. Hus, armed with tales about sasquatches,
Manitoban floods and Hank Snow, seemed to fit the bill.
"Apparently, we were the first Canadian band to ever play
in Martinique," Hus says. "So we got to share stories
and songs from our part of the world. It was nice to have that
role. And then in April, I was touring universities in Korea
under the same guise of sharing our culture.
"The singer first explored the vast wilds of Canada by
hitchhiking and riding the rails as a boy alongside his German
immigrant father, instilling a love of the land and an early
knowledge of the geography. He followed that up by travelling
around the country doing various jobs, whether it be a beer
truck driver, saw hand, salmon farmer or B.C. tree planter.
This accounts for the working-class sympathies his songs have
showcased over the years. But it's his stubborn refusal to replace
his national imagery for more universal references that sets
him apart.
While this may not raise his stock in Nashville or among those
who think Canadian country singers should sound like they're
from Nashville, Hus seems to be aware that he occupies a rare
sphere in the national songbook.
"I don't know how to write a hit song or anything like
that," he says. "I don't know if anybody does, but
I really don't. I started out just writing songs that interested
me personally. So the first song I wrote was in the logging
camp. All I ever really did was write songs about things that
I was familiar with. Strangely enough, that kind of became a
real niche. It actually feels really funny in way, because I
can have these conversations with the press and we can talk
about, 'how did I become the Canadian guy?' And I find that
a really funny conversation to have with a Canadian artist.
Because I would say, how come everybody else isn't?"
If this all sounds like Hus is angling to become the heir apparent
to longtime patriot Stompin' Tom Connors, that's because he
probably is. Connors himself has frequently named Hus as one
of the few young singers coming up the ranks who shares the
old master's talents for celebrating signposts of Canadiana
with unabashed enthusiasm. You won't find the ambiguity or poetic
license of, say, the Tragically Hip's Gord Downie in Hus's unflagging
shout-outs.
Hus, who has crossed the country with Connors before, plans
to tour with the songwriter this year.
Back
To Reviews
|
|
Tim Hus Music Copyright 2008
|
