Photograph by Noah Fallis
Corb Lund returns with El Viejo via New West Records. The 11-track set was produced by Lund and recorded entirely in his living room in Lethbridge, AB with his band The Hurtin’ Albertans. El Viejo is Lund’s first album of original material since 2020’s critically acclaimed Agricultural Tragic. Gathering around his living room, Lund & Co. tapped into his most cherished musical influences of acoustic tone and lyrical aptitude. There is a common theme — possibly even a character thread — of the gambler, the outlaw who roams from place-to-place with no direction home. Met with critical acclaim, Uncut Magazine awarded El Viejo an 8/10 rating as their “Americana Album of the Month” while Holler awarded it an 8.5/10 rating, saying “Wise, honest and fun, it’s a collection for the good times and the bad, resonating whether you come out swinging or come up short.” Glide Magazine said “El Viejo is a stunning character study of gamblers and loners moving from card game to card game, perfectly bridging modern Americana with the likes of Jerry Reed, Del McCoury and Marty Robbins with a Springsteen-like sense of storytelling in three-minute bursts” while No Depression said “Listening to El Viejo is like cracking open a dusty, leather-bound book about the Old West, populated by rough-around-the-edges characters at the end of their ropes.”
Lund says, “It was just a few of us in my house. No studio. No outside producer. No adults in the room. No stress.” He continues, “This is my favourite album we’ve made in years and I’ve been planning it for a long while. It’s all acoustic instruments; banjos, mandos, acoustic guitars, resonators, not an electric lick on it, and it kinda kicks ass. I LOVE those kinds of sounds and they’re my favourite to sing over. We cut it all live sitting in a circle like a campfire and it’s the real deal. Honest mistakes and all, live vocals, live guitar solos, live harmonica licks.” With the album, Lund has created an ode to the notion of stripping everything down and letting the tape roll — simply capturing a moment of pure vulnerability and organic inspiration in real time.
El Viejo pays tribute to Lund’s late friend and mentor, the famed Canadian singer-songwriter Ian Tyson, who passed away December 29, 2022. Today, The Bluegrass Situation premiered the video for the album’s title track. Lund says, “We dedicated the record to our late friend, Ian Tyson, and the title track is a tribute to him. ‘El Viejo’ was our friendly nickname for him and it means ‘the old man.’ I’m pretty proud of the song, and the video, which uses a lot of cool old stock footage of him. Hope the record is as satisfying to listen to as it was for us to make. I left it all on the field for this one.”
Lund will launch his Canadian tour in support of El Viejo, with New West labelmates 49 Winchester as support, on March 5th in Vancouver. Additionally, Lund will also make his Carnegie Hall debut in New York City on March 22 alongside Ramblin’ Jack Elliott & more as a part of “Roll On, Cowboys with Andy Hedges & Friends” presented by the National Ranching Heritage Center. He has also announced his initial US headline dates as well as European tour dates supporting the Dead South. Please see tour dates (with more to be announced) below.
Much like his music, Lund is decidedly hard to define. The western Canadian singer-songwriter is an elusive artist — onstage, offstage, and in the studio — seamlessly weaving between the outlaw country, Western, and indie-folk realms with an honest curiosity and rowdy devotion to each. He was raised with the tried and true DIY sentiment of “if you want something done, you gotta do it yourself” launching his career recording in his basement, printing his own shirts, booking his own tours, being his own manager and publicist… whatever it took to get it done. He toured for years with the indie-metal band the smalls, and later turned his sights to writing Western songs, creating a unique and quirky hybrid writing style along the way. He has received multiple CCMA, JUNO, and international award nominations and wins. In 2022, Lund won his 14th career Canadian Country Music Award and made his debut at the historic Grand Ole Opry earlier in the year as well. A rural Albertan hailing from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with a long family lineage of ranchers and rodeo people, Lund is about as authentic as they come.
Corb Lund’s El Viejo is available across digital retailers, on compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A limited Black & White Splatter Vinyl edition including a Corb Lund autographed postcard, as well as an autographed compact disc edition, is available at Independent Retailers and directly from NEW WEST RECORDS.
