FEATURING: Jamie Fox, Corb Lund, Sid Marty with Denise Withnell and David Wilkie, Ian Tyson, Colter Wall.

A border by cartography standards, the 49th parallel north distinguishes Canada from the United States. On maps, anyway. But, try telling these musicians that as they sing themselves from side to side and back again. Jamie Fox’s fiddling heals a formerly fading Métis fiddle tradition. Sid Marty’s poetry, storytelling and songwriting travels like the Albertan wind. Corb Lund’s musical diplomacy bridges the country and the city.
And Colter Wall’s songwriting blends the real and the magical. Making beauty out of coexistence, proving that lines are never quite what they seem, these five bards of the borderlands epitomize the artist as ambassador.

Hosted by Kristin Catherwood

From the 35th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

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PLAYLIST

Sid Marty
"The Fording" (poem by Sid Marty)

Sid Marty with Denise Withnell and David Wilkie
"Down Along the Livingstone" (words and music by Sid Marty)
"Other People's Cattle" (words and music by Sid Marty)
"Time Zero" (words and music by Sid Marty)

Jamie Fox and Philip Aaberg
"Red River Jig" (traditional)
"Louis Riel Reel" (traditional)
"Eagle Island Blues" and "Caribou Reel" (traditional)
A set of reels (traditional)

"The Truth Comes Out" - Corb Lund
"Western Swing and Waltzes" - Colter Wall
"Cottonwood Canyon" - Ian Tyson
"Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier" - Corb Lund
"Wild Bill Hickok" - Colter Wall
"Summer Wages" - Ian Tyson
"The Rodeo's Over" - Corb Lund
"Mr. Toronto Man" - Colter Wall
"I Outgrew the Wagon" - Ian Tyson (words and music by Ian Tyson + Ross Knox)
"September" - Corb Lund
"Plain to See Plainsman" - Colter Wall
"Navajo Rug" - Ian Tyson

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Jamie Fox
Harlem, MT
Jamie Fox is a fiddler of the Métis tradition, which grew out of a mixture of Celtic, French and Native American cultures. The Michif fiddle tradition on the Fort Belknap Reservation was on its last legs just as Jamie fell in love
with the tunes. Through her love of the Michif tunes, she brought new healing to an old discord between cultural sectors of the tribal society. As word got out, others on the reservation and along the Montana Hi-Line were enthusiastic to see her take on music that was in jeopardy of vanishing. While she no longer lives the Montana country life, she grew up in a ranching family and still feels at home with that lifestyle. She represents the continuance of this generation maintaining a style and repertoire dating back to the fur trade era and the first generation of European and Aboriginal mixing in the upper reaches of North America.

Corb Lund
Southern AB, Canada
A rural Albertan hailing from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with a long family lineage of ranchers and rodeo people, Corb Lund is about as authentic as they come. Embracing both his western heritage and his indie rock past through his music, Lund has been known to filter a range of cowboy themes past and present through his unique lens–from rough-and-tumble tales of lawless frontier saloons to the somber realities of running a modern family ranch. Most recently, Lund released Songs My Friends Wrote. The 10-song set features Lund putting his spin on some of his favorite songs written by close friends and world-class songwriters such as Hayes Carll, Todd Snider, Canadian Country Music Legend Ian Tyson, and more. Lund will spend the rest of 2022 doing what he loves best, being on the road, before writing another album of originals for release in 2023.

Sid Marty
Lundbreck, AB, Canada
Sid Marty and his wife live on a small holding in southwestern Alberta, south of Tyson and north of Zarzyski. Sid began composing poems and song lyrics in the saddle while patrolling the mountains of Banff, Yoho and Jasper National Parks as a park ranger. There were no cows in the backcountry except cow elk, so he used his lariat mainly for pulling packhorses out of bogs and skidding firewood. Since 1988, Sid has worked as a singer-songwriter and freelance writer. He has published five nonfiction best-sellers and five books of poetry on western themes. He leavens his words with plenty of humor. Sid plays guitar and describes himself as a western bard and storyteller, sometimes alternating songs, poems and a story or two in the same set. He calls that program “Leaning on the Wind and Falling Off the Mountain.” He is joined by Denise Withnell and David Wilkie.

Ian Tyson
Longview, AB, Canada
Ian Tyson is 89 years old and he doesn’t look backwards at six decades of a career that’s earned him countless awards, the Order of Canada, and a devoted following; he faces the future with a mixture of optimism and resignation. “Your 80s,” Tyson tells people tells people,“is not a time for sissies.”

Colter Wall
Swift Current, SK, Canada
After two years of relentless touring, Colter Wall wanted to make an album about home. Drawing on the stories of Saskatchewan, Canada, the young songwriter’s corner of the world takes shape throughout his second full-length album, Songs of the Plains. Produced by Dave Cobb in Nashville’s Studio A, the project combines striking original folk songs, well-chosen outside cuts, and a couple of traditional songs that reflect his roots growing up in the small city of Swift Current. Wall captures the spaciousness of the
Canadian plains by relying on minimal production and his resonant baritone, which he’s strengthened into a mighty instrument in its own right. It’s a deep and knowing voice you wouldn’t expect of a man who’s not yet 24 years old. As a folk singer, Wall places equal importance on crafting songs as well as carrying older songs into the present day.

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Filmed in front of a live audience at the Elko Convention Center’s Laurena Moren Theater in Elko, NV, on Feb. 2, 2019.

Made possible by Nevada Gold Mines and the multitude of staff, artists, volunteers, and community members working behind the scenes to make this show happen.

Brought to you by the Western Folklife Center, using story and cultural expression to connect the American West to the world.
www.westernfolklife.org.

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