The Corb Lund Band, Five Dollar Bill

By Russ Dyck

There was no doubt in my mind that Five Dollar Bill would be my pick for the best album of the year since it has stayed in my stereo since the day I bought it. The album is not the regular pop/country you hear on the radio but real country music, written and played by a person that knows all about the real Southern Alberta country lifestyle.

The title track starts off with Corb Lund recounting tales of bootlegging alcohol into the States during the prohibition. What really makes this a first-rate tune, is the twang from the steel guitar and an upbeat which makes you, at the very least, start bobbing your head to the beat. With songs about buckin’ horses roaming the prairie grass, whiskey in the bars and roughnecks on the rigs, this CD exhibits Southern Alberta pride, from a true Southern Albertan band.

2- Bad Religion, The Process of Belief (Epitaph)

3- Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)