Canadian musician Corb Lund has always marched to the beat of his own drummer—but in so doing, he has become an irreplaceable piece of 21st century cowboy culture.
By Bob Welch and Ginger Elliott
You never know what kind of hat Corb Lund might wear.
No, literally he might show up in a ball cap, a sharp-creased black felt, a beat-up chore hat from his boys steer riding days, ear flaps, or heck, he might not even wear a hat at all (but no pompadour, either).
Artists, it has been observed, are inwardly tortured. Forces move so strongly in these kinds of people, they must release what’s inside to the world. This manifests itself in paintings, novels, compositions and sculpture. And the artist’s inner emotions, thoughts and ideas are laid bare.
Corb Lund’s inner emotions, thoughts and ideas are as various as his hats. Listeners never know what the next new track or song on the set list might be. He’ll open with an irreverent, upbeat duet about buying too many horses, follow that one up with an AC/DC cover, next a somber, heart-wrenching tune about losing the ranch, spoken word, blues, two-step, rock, rockabilly, a dirge, downbeat and up tempo; the next song surely won’t be like the last.
“I’ve always been really bored when I put on a record and it sounds the same from start to finish,” Lund says. “I’ve always been really conscious as a songwriter and a band leader of contrast. I use emotion as a tool to create tension and release and contrast within the show. I just write about whatever I’m feeling, and sometimes I’m feeling lighthearted, and sometimes I’m feeling angry, and sometimes I’m feeling sad. It just reflects the range of human emotions.”
The Backstory
Corb Lund is one of the fortunate few who knows his family’s history. Around 1900, both sides of his family—descended from Scandinavian stock and filtered through the Mormon church—migrated to southern Alberta from Utah. They were ranchers and a wild and woolly bunch at that. According to family legend, Corb’s great-grandfather Deloss Lund rode the first bronc at the Raymond Stampede in 1902 on Main Street.
A generation later, once the town had a proper arena with six bucking chutes, his six sons entered the same rodeo and at one point during the saddle bronc riding, every chute had a bronc with a Lund brother on it— including Corb’s grandfather, Clark. In fact, his grandfather went on to win the Calgary Stampede All-Around title and become one of the early members of the Cowboy’s Protective Association in the 1940s, which later became the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association.
Corb’s grandfather, Clark Lund, scratching a bronc north of the border.
The family ranch sits just north of Glacier National Park, on the Canadian side of the 49th parallel. Corb’s great-grandfather on his mother’s side homesteaded it right around the turn of the century.
“It was only a few sections back then, and it was probably barely enough for him to make a living out of,” Lund says. “So as the generations go, it gets chopped up, and we still have it all, but it’s shared between different pieces of the family. So it’s an old story. I think my grandfather’s was the last generation that only ranched, but both of my grandmothers were one-room country school teachers too, so that probably supplemented things in the lean years.”
Corb in high school with his 4-H project.
Corb’s parents were rodeo hands. His dad, DC, worked all the events as a young man but settled into bull dogging as his specialty as he aged. His mother, Patty, won the Calgary Stampede as a barrel racer and is in that rodeo’s hall of fame. DC was inducted into the Canadian Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2010. They rodeoed across North America, competed in Australia for a season and even put on a show rodeo in Zambia, Africa. When Corb came along, he entered the boys steer riding—a Canadian original—and briefly bull dogged like his dad. Eventually, though, DC settled in to a career as a veterinarian and Corb was conscripted into vet tech service at an early age.
“I grew up chasing cows every day pretty much when I was a kid,” he says. “But like I said, it wasn’t a big operation or anything. But yeah, I spent a lot of my youth horseback.”
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- Corb’s mother, Patty (Ivins) Lund, is a Calgary Stampede Barrel Racing champion.
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- Corb’s father, DC Lund, worked all the rodeo events before going on to become a veterinarian.
When he hit high school, though, he fell in love with music and stopped pursuing rodeo. Upon graduation he attended university to study history and music. There, he met the band members that would form a rock band called The Smalls.
“I left home and went and explored the world that way,” Lund says. “It scared the heck out of my parents. They were Marty Robbins people.”
Hitting the Scene
The rock band phase didn’t last too long before Lund returned to his roots to form the Hurtin’ Albertans. Lund, however, did not approach the roots or Western genres as anyone else had. In the mid- to late-90s, Western/cowboy music was almost exclusively traditional and serious. Lund came to the scene from left field.
The Corb Lund Venn diagram exists at the intersection of Ian Tyson, Weird Al Yankovic, Charlie Russell, Marty Robbins, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Horton and Queen….and probably some selection of other obscure indie bands and songwriters.
His first album, Five Dollar Bill, hits with songs about bronc riders, the apocalypse, drinking and roughnecks.
“Everyone has a different approach, but I’ve never really been too precious about it,” Lund says. “I know some people are traditionalists and they like to sing about the same things and sing the same songs, but I blend my Western background with what it’s like to be alive in the 21st century.”
Each subsequent album has not strayed from the original mix of genres, moods, topics and styles, but each one has become more and more refined.
“Every bit of musical ability I have has just been blood, sweat and tears,” Lund says. “I’m not at all talented when it comes to guitar playing or singing. People hear that and think I’m being modest, but the truth is that I’ve actually just had to learn those skills. I am a little bit more natural with the songwriting part, and I don’t know why that is. I don’t have an explanation for it.”
To some degree he credits his school teacher grandmothers who taught him to read at an early age—a habit he’s maintained—giving him endless fodder for songwriting. Of course, growing up ranching and rodeoing also provides unique and rich material for songwriting. Over time, Lund found a signature way to expose the situations, traditions and characters unique to this present culture.
Getting it all Down
“Sometimes feel like a poser because I know guys that still cowboy for a living every day,” Lund says. “That’s what they do, and I don’t do that anymore. There’s occasionally a time or two where I felt awkward singing about this stuff.”
Insecurity can drive an artist one of two ways: either they avoid the taking a risk altogether or they dig in and figure out how to accurately portray what they find inspirational but don’t completely understand.
Charlie Russell’s classic collection of late 19th Century cowboy tales, Trails Plowed Under is one of the most revered pieces of literary work in the cowboy canon. Lund refers to it as the Bible of his house while growing up. That book, along with Russell’s art, turned him into one of Lund’s heroes.
Russell, originally from St. Louis, went West in 1880 and immersed himself in the culture. He combined his love and passion for the cowboy life with an unsatiable urge to create.
“I don’t think anyone ever accused him of being a top hand,” Lund says. “But he sure did a good job of chronicling the culture and representing the culture.”
Ian Tyson, for his part, sings that Russell’s abilities were bestowed on him by God in his song, “The Gift.” He says God made Montana for the wild man and Russell’s job was to “get ‘er all down before she goes.” And he did.
Lund sees himself carrying on that tradition, though he balks at the idea that he’s been given a gift or that his work is anywhere near Russell’s level.
“I would aspire to do what he did,” Lund says. “I don’t sit around thinking about that, but if you drill down into it, that’s probably what I’m doing. I think my role is to take my familiarity with the culture and make art out of it and canonize the thing.”
But it’s not easy. Try writing a song with a litany of cow breeds that doesn’t include every one of them. You hear about it.
“It’s a tricky proposition to write about this stuff and make it appeal to both people who really know what you’re talking about, but it also make it appealing to people who don’t,” Lund says. “There’s an old expression that art makes the ordinary extraordinary. And that’s what it feels like to me, because I sing a lot about working people and Western stuff and stuff that’s not so much fun when you’re going through it, but when you listen to it back, you identify with it and realize that it’s those kinds of experiences that make us who we are.”
Putting it in Perspective
For 20 some-odd years, Lund has preached his message around the globe. He’s been up and down the Rockies and from sea to shining sea in North America, not to mention Australia and Europe playing for crowds of all kinds.
“It’s funny, because historically cowboys as we know them have only been around since the end of the Civil War,” Lund says. “People from Europe and even people from eastern North America, have a fascination with the West. Everybody deep down has a streak of freedom and independence and just getting out there and doing your own thing and making a new life. And I think it speaks to that maybe. And I mean, the horse is a big part of it, too. There are very few people who don’t like horses on some level.”
He stays on the road almost incessantly, with fall dates throughout Canada, the upper Midwest, Oklahoma and Texas. After the first of the year, he’ll be on tour in support of his forthcoming effort, “El Viejo,” due out at the end of February.
He and his band and engineer Scott Franchuk produced the all-acoustic album in Lund’s living room.
“I’ve been wanting to make a record like this for a long time,” Lund says. “It’s all acoustic, not an electric lick on the album: it’s all banjos and mandos, string basses and stripped-down drums. I put a ton of work into the tunes and I’m pretty proud of this batch. I had a little help from my old co-writing pal Jaida Dreyer on a couple, also wrote a good one with my screenwriter buddy, Brian Koppelman. Lots of gambling songs and lots of minor keys and cowboy stuff. And my band guys killed it.”
With this, his 10th album of original material, he’s firmly established himself as part of the Western music canon. His music helps define cowboy culture in the 21st century, but on its own terms. He’s an insider with an outsider’s soul. He sings authentically enough about cowboys that granddad can tolerate a song about a German motorcycle. At the same time, his love for and understanding of cowboy culture is always on full display—no matter what hat he’s wearing. With each song, he tackles another piece of the human experience.
“For me, music is a real universal balm for the rough patches in life,” Lund says. “You take words and a melody and a drumbeat and mix them together, and you get this magical potion and it just makes you feel good. I’ve read a little poetry in my life, but I find it hard to absorb. Somehow with the music, it just makes the medicine go down. And when I hear someone singing something that I relate to, the music somehow opens you up to the ideas you’re hearing, and it really touches you somewhere. At least that’s how it works for me.” ★
This article appears in the Fall 2023 issue of the Ranch Record. Would you like to read more stories about NRHC and ranching life? When you become a member of the Ranching Heritage Association, you’ll receive the award-winning Ranch Record magazine and more while supporting the legacy and preservation of our ranching heritage. Become a member today.
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On March 22, 2024, Corb Lund will be sharing the Carnegie Hall stage in New York City with our friend Andy Hedges, along with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Dom Flemons, Pipp Gillette, Maggie Rose Hedges, Brenn Hill Waddie Mitchell, Brigid Reedy, Tom Russell, Rod Taylor, and Andy Wilkinson. We’re proud to be the presenting sponsors of this event, which brings some of the finest ambassadors of cowboy culture to the big city.
Tickets can be purchased here.
