Corb Lund releases "El Viejo" and adds extra European tour dates
23-01-2024Corb Lund will return with "El Viejo" via New West Records. This 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, which was named an album of the year by the readers of No Depression.
Gathering around his living room, Lund & Co. tapped into his most cherished musical influences of acoustic tone and lyrical aptitude of Marty Robbins, Kris Kristofferson, Bobbie Gentry and Jerry Reed. 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.
“It’s a lot of minor keys and gambling songs, is what it is,” Lund says in a matter-of-fact tone. “It was just a few of us in my house. No studio. No outside producer. No adults in the room. No stress.” He continues, “There’s not a single electric instrument on the whole thing, just acoustic sounds and singing. In terms of having a vision, this is a record I’ve had in my sights for a while and it came out exactly how I’d hoped. We cut all the songs live in the same room with lots of bleed. A bunch of the songs we captured in one take, first time through.”
El Viejo pays tribute to Lund’s late friend and mentor, the famed Canadian singer-songwriter Ian Tyson, who passed away December 29, 2022. With the album, he
has also 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.
With El Viejo under his belt Corb Lund and his band are touring as main support for the Dead South in June. A few headline dates and a few solo shows have been added:
28/05: Amsterdam, NL - Tolhuistuin Zonzij
29/05: Groningen, NL - Der Aa- Theater
30/05: Hamburg, DE - Freilichtbühne im Stadtpark^
01/06: Berlin, DE - Zitadelle Spandau^
02/06: Leipzig, DE - Clara-Zetkin-Park^
04/06: Prague, CZ - Zlute Lazne ^
05/06: Bratislava, SK - Stars Auditorium^
06/06: Budapest, HU - Budapest Park^
07/06: Kalsdorf, AT - Kulturkeller
08/06: Linz, AT - Posthof^
09/06: Stuttgart, DE - Wagenhallen^
11/06: Cologne, DE - Palladium^
12/06: Wiesbaden, DE - Schlachthof^
13/06: Munich, DE - Zenith^
15/06: Saarbrücken, DE - Garage^
16/06: Tilburg, NL - 013^
17/06: Brussels, BE - Ancienne Belgique^
18/06: Paris, FR - Salle Pleyel^
19/06: London, UK - Lower Third
20/06: Manchester, UK - Gullivers*
21/06: Birkenhead, UK - Future Yard*
23/06: Kilkenny, IRL - Cleere's Bar & Theatre*
^ with The Dead South
* solo shows