Calgary Herald
CALGARY HERALD, JUNE 3, 2008
BUCKAROO HUS BRINGS LIFE TO HIS STORIES
TIM HUS RELEASES HIS NEW CD BUSH PILOT BUCKAROO SATURDAY AT IRONWOOD
By Heath McCoy
BUCKAROO HUS BRINGS LIFE TO HIS STORIES
TIM HUS RELEASES HIS NEW CD BUSH PILOT BUCKAROO SATURDAY AT IRONWOOD
By Heath McCoy
Listening to Bush Pilot Buckaroo, the latest offering from cowboy troubadour Tim Hus, two things become wonderfully apparent in short haste.
One, this Calgary-based singer-songwriter is a fine storyteller, chronicling the rural Canadian experience in the authentic rootsy tradition we've heard from the likes of Ian Tyson, Stompin' Tom Connors and Corb Lund. Secondly, his stories are richly informed by a lifetime spent on the road and that's going back much further than the 30-year-old's actual career as a musician.
Hus, who grew up in the Kootenays, was raised to be a road dog.
Some of his fondest childhood memories are of hitchhiking and riding freight trains with his father, making their way across Europe and North America together.
"It was his feeling that I needed to do that with him," says Hus, who will be releasing his new CD on Saturday at the Ironwood. "That was part of my education. We did it quite a bit when I was between nine and about 15. . . . He said, 'That's the way you open yourself up to meeting people.' . . . . Once, we went right across Canada. I guess our destination was just makin' it to the other side.
"Tim's father was a seasoned storyteller as well.
Born in Hamburg, Germany, Helmut Hus was primarily a sailor and a railway worker, visiting 101 countries in his day, before Tim was born. An avid photographer, Helmut would put on slide presentations in various countries where he would fascinate the locals with stories of his travels.
Tim feels he does the same thing today essentially, wielding a guitar instead of a slide show, singing his "rolling and driving songs," as he describes them, for the people he meets.
It can be a hard lifestyle. In the past five years, Hus says he's played over a thousand gigs, mostly in the "barrooms of the west," and much of the money he earned went into gasoline.
But it's a path Hus has dedicated himself to, like his father and his own country music heroes, from Stompin' Tom, (whom he covers with the song Hockey Mom) to Gary Fjellgaard, whom he sings a duet with on Bush Pilot Buckaroo. Then there's the outlaws like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.
"I feel like they were sort of blue-collar working class people that just happened to be musicians," Hus says. "Of course, somebody like Willie is a super star . . . but you can't help but think that if he never became that he'd still be in a bus or a van with all his guys, playing in honky tonks around Texas. . . .
"I'm really drawn to that. I feel I have the same values."
CALGARY HERALD DISC PICKS
Tim Hus, Bush Pilot Buckaroo - Cowboy Tim Hus sets out to capture the spirit of rural Canadiana with his latest album Bush Pilot Buckaroo and he pulls it off wonderfully. From Dawson City and Fort McMurray to Maritimers longing for home in northern Alberta bars and a guy getting the blues on the corner of Hastings and Main in Vancouver, this disc has its roots thoroughly planted on the road. These tuneful portraits are the most charming of Hus's career.
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One, this Calgary-based singer-songwriter is a fine storyteller, chronicling the rural Canadian experience in the authentic rootsy tradition we've heard from the likes of Ian Tyson, Stompin' Tom Connors and Corb Lund. Secondly, his stories are richly informed by a lifetime spent on the road and that's going back much further than the 30-year-old's actual career as a musician.
Hus, who grew up in the Kootenays, was raised to be a road dog.
Some of his fondest childhood memories are of hitchhiking and riding freight trains with his father, making their way across Europe and North America together.
"It was his feeling that I needed to do that with him," says Hus, who will be releasing his new CD on Saturday at the Ironwood. "That was part of my education. We did it quite a bit when I was between nine and about 15. . . . He said, 'That's the way you open yourself up to meeting people.' . . . . Once, we went right across Canada. I guess our destination was just makin' it to the other side.
"Tim's father was a seasoned storyteller as well.
Born in Hamburg, Germany, Helmut Hus was primarily a sailor and a railway worker, visiting 101 countries in his day, before Tim was born. An avid photographer, Helmut would put on slide presentations in various countries where he would fascinate the locals with stories of his travels.
Tim feels he does the same thing today essentially, wielding a guitar instead of a slide show, singing his "rolling and driving songs," as he describes them, for the people he meets.
It can be a hard lifestyle. In the past five years, Hus says he's played over a thousand gigs, mostly in the "barrooms of the west," and much of the money he earned went into gasoline.
But it's a path Hus has dedicated himself to, like his father and his own country music heroes, from Stompin' Tom, (whom he covers with the song Hockey Mom) to Gary Fjellgaard, whom he sings a duet with on Bush Pilot Buckaroo. Then there's the outlaws like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.
"I feel like they were sort of blue-collar working class people that just happened to be musicians," Hus says. "Of course, somebody like Willie is a super star . . . but you can't help but think that if he never became that he'd still be in a bus or a van with all his guys, playing in honky tonks around Texas. . . .
"I'm really drawn to that. I feel I have the same values."
CALGARY HERALD DISC PICKS
Tim Hus, Bush Pilot Buckaroo - Cowboy Tim Hus sets out to capture the spirit of rural Canadiana with his latest album Bush Pilot Buckaroo and he pulls it off wonderfully. From Dawson City and Fort McMurray to Maritimers longing for home in northern Alberta bars and a guy getting the blues on the corner of Hastings and Main in Vancouver, this disc has its roots thoroughly planted on the road. These tuneful portraits are the most charming of Hus's career.
Back To Reviews