Growing up, one of my only music influences was my father. When driving me to school in the morning he would put his music on loud enough to make me plug my ears, drum his fingers to the beat on the steering wheel, or pump the break peddle to the beat of my song when we would come to a stop light. At night I would watching him sing and play air guitar while washing the dishes and I loved when he would pick me up and dance around the kitchen with me. It was not long before I knew all the words in every song and I could tell you the order of the songs on all of his favorite CD’s. I also began to realize that this music was not at all what children my age would listen to. My friends would show me their music (Britney Spears, N’Sync, Backstreet Boys, etc.) but I never shared the music I listened to, thinking nobody would know it.
In grade 8 I had a new friend over to my house to do a class project. While we were working on it my dad started the dishes and put on the Blue Rodeo greatest hits CD. As I sang along, I realized my friend Carolyn was also singing along. It turns out Carolyn also grew up listening to Blue Rodeo because of her family. Since then, we have always listened to and talked about the band, waited for their new CD's and went to our first Blue Rodeo concert together.
Blue Rodeo is a Canadian band that was formed in the early 1980’s. I would describe Blue Rodeo’s genre as folk country rock. Their sound is definitely not for everyone, since almost none of my friends even now listen to them but they are one of my top favorite bands. Their music is generally slower but the songs cover almost every emotion one can think of and lots of them have very important and deep meanings to me.
Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor are the band’s creators. They met in high school and after trying out different sounds for their music they eventually formed Blue Rodeo. Jim Cuddy serves as the band’s vocals and guitar but I have also seen his play the harmonica and piano. Jim Cuddy has a beautiful, softer voice and he is very talented with instruments. For some songs he plays the harmonica and the guitar at the same time. Greg Keelor also serves as the band’s vocals and guitar. His voice sounds more rough to me but both him and Jim Cuddy’s voices compliment each other well in their music. The only other original member of the band is Bazil Donovan who plays bass. Glenn Milchem plays drums and Bob Egan plays many instruments such as guitars, pedal steel, and banjo.
Here is a link to the Blue Rodeo website:
My favorite song by Blue Rodeo usually changes depending on how I feel but one of my favorite’s is always their song “Try.” This song came out in October of 1987 and was a top hit.
My friend Carolyn and I went to our first Blue Rodeo concert when we were 17 and if it was possible we fell more deeply in love with the band and their music. The next time the band came to Calgary was July 2009 at Flames Central and we were quick to buy our tickets. Since the venue was a stand-up area in front of the stage we pushed our way to the very front and happened to be standing at the feet of Greg Keelor. We were belting out all the words to every song when I thought I saw Greg look at Carolyn in the eyes. I was going blind with excitement but Carolyn said that he probably could not even see us because of the lighting. Not long after Greg Keelor looked directly at me and smiled! The rest of the concert we kept seeing him look at us. At one point he walked right to the edge of the stage and Carolyn grabbed his leg. I thought that we were going to be kicked out but thankfully nothing happened. At the end of the concert a security guard called us over and I thought we were going to be banned from all Blue Rodeo concerts from Carolyn grabbing Greg’s leg but to our amazement he handed us two backstage passes and said Greg Keelor had personally invited us backstage for the after party. I think we both nearly fainted but we pulled it together and spent the evening with one of our favorite bands. It was a dream and an experience I will never forget.
For anyone looking to listen to anymore Blue Rodeo songs, I would specifically recommend “5 Days in May,” “Lost Together,” “Bad Timing,” or any other song on their greatest hits!
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