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Lund and Lim channel small-town roots for special performance
Posted on May 18, 2023 by Taber TimesPoll
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By Heather Cameron
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Canadian music performer Corb Lund and Acting Principal Percussion for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and CEO of Rhythm Mastery, Malcolm Lim, shared the stages of the Bella Concert Hall and the Jack Singer Concert Hall when they performed together on April 27 and April 29.
“It was kind of a unique event because it combined my Western songs with the orchestra music. It was pretty cool,” Lund said. “It was kind of neat because I think I’m two or three years older than Malcolm and I remember when I was playing music in high school in Taber with my friends, I remember hearing his name cause he was a young up and coming drummer that everyone was talking about. And I never met him when we were kids, but it was kind of cool that we got to play together all these years later.”
Lund says that of the songs he and Lim performed, with himself on guitar and voice and Lin on drums, some belonged to Lund’s late friend, famous cowboy singer Ian Tyson, who recently passed away at the age of 88. Lund added that other songs he and Lim performed included The Truth Comes Out, Never Not Had Horses, and No Roads Here. Never Not Had Horses, Lund says, was a song that he made for his Taber-based mom because she had to put down her horses in the last couple of years and No Roads Here is about his family’s history from Denmark to Utah to Alberta.
“My mom’s side, who are Ivans and my dad’s side who are Lunds, were both living in Utah and they came up to Alberta during the turn of the last century,” Lund said. “My mom’s side of the family was from American Fork, Utah. And my dad’s side was from Spring City, Utah. And there was a big migration of people from Utah up to Alberta around the turn of the century because they came up to help teach the people here how to irrigate, as the people in Utah had successfully developed irrigation there. And so they came up to southern Alberta to sort of help develop it in southern Alberta. And they did. They were ranchers down there on both sides. My mom’s side of the family settled near Cardston and were ranching there, and my dad’s side of the family settled near Raymond. Both sides of the family were not only cattle ranchers, but rodeo people.”
Lund says he used all that information about his family history in his songs, as he finds that he has an interesting background to draw on from for storytelling. Lund says that he himself had been a rodeo kid, but that career ended early, and he ended up playing rock and roll music in his teens and 20’s, ultimately writing his first song when he was about 19 years old. Around that time, Lund says, he also started writing western cowboy songs.
“My upbringing and my family history are big inspirations for my songwriting,” Lund said. “I read a lot about the cowboy history of the family and my ancestors and that kind of thing. So a lot of that is wrapped up in my music and it’s been an interesting way to see the world playing music.”
Lund says that those who are interested in exploring how music can be a living should simply just start writing songs, putting a band together like he did, playing shows as much as possible, and the rest will take care of itself. The band he is currently involved with, Lund says, is called Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans and he either performs with them or solo.
For more information about Corb Lund and his entertaining legacy, visit https://www.corblund.com/.
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