Spun: Corb Lund

By Brad Halasz

Perhaps scared of being remembered as “that guy who sang that ‘Truck Got Stuck’ song” Corb Lund and his Hurtin’ Albertans have taken the wagon trail less travelled with their latest album Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! as dark themes of war and horses stampede through what could be considered a concept country album.

Staying with his Albertan roots and honouring his cowboy ancestry, Lund starts off the album with the cheerful, patriotic “I Wanna be in the Cavalry.” From there he tells tales of horsemen and the wars they fought. Careful to stay away from the political side of battle, Corb relies on emotion with songs like “The Horse I Rode In On,” a tune from his days in The Smalls. The title track is the high point of the disc and will make your heart skip a beat when you realize a portion of the song deals with the RCMP tragedy in Mayerthorpe.

The album is not all doom and gloom though. Not one to shy away from a good joke, Lund includes “Family Reunion”–which states that kissing cousins is the norm in Alberta–and “Hard on Equipment,” which will be blasting from every construction worker’s radio this summer. Mixing his dark side with his Canadian cowboy humour results in Lund’s best work to date.