Formed by high school friends Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, Blue Rodeo came together after a few attempts by Cuddy and Keelor to achieve rock and roll stardom. After their first single as Hi-Fi’s went nowhere in 1980, the Toronto natives relocated to New York City in search of contacts and potential bandmates. It was there that they met keyboardist Bob Wiseman with whom, along with drummer Cleave Anderson and bassist Bazil Donovan, they’d form the first incarnation of Blue Rodeo back in Toronto, debuting live in early 1985 at the Rivoli club. With years of performing experience between everyone in the band, they were an unmissable live act right out the gate, and after a few short months of playing live they signed with John Caton’s label Risque Disque.
Their debut effort “Outskirts” was released in 1987 and they became sensations almost straight away in their home country, selling 200’000 copies of “Outskirts” and touring with the iconic k.d. lang only a year after its release. Ever since then, the band have remained icons in their native Canada, able to sell out pretty much any venue available to them as arguably the most beloved Canadian acoustic act since Neil Young. While they might not have encountered the same level of success anywhere else in the world, they also remain cult heroes in the United States and Europe. They’re truly unbeatable both live and in the studio, and in an age where their brand of rocked up country music is hot in a way it’s never been before, Blue Rodeo come highly recommended.
I think most would forgive you for being suspicious of the phrase “Canadian country band”. Never mind the fact that both Neil Young and Joni Mitchell come from the land of maple syrup, hockey and being incredibly polite, It’s just not anything that makes an awful lot of sense to those out of the loop. Like a French reggae band, it just sounds like a weird notion. Welp, turns out there’s a vast and thriving French reggae scene and Toronto’s very own Blue Rodeo are one of the best and most successful country bands of the last thirty years. Life is far weirder than our preconceptions could ever prepare us for it seems. However, rarely has there ever been a more apt time to get into Blue Rodeo, at a time when Mumford and Sons are one of the world’s biggest bands and the likes of The Lumineers or Bon Iver aren’t that far behind them. Their live show especially puts them on a level playing field as all of those bands, since Blue Rodeo have been doing the whole “playing bluegrass instruments like rock band” thing since before Marcus Mumford was born. That kind of chemistry can only come from hard work and a lot of experience, something that the founding members of Blue Rodeo Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor (both on vocals and guitar) and Bazil Donovan (bass) have in spades. It’s the kind of performance that anyone can watch and know that they are witnessing the masters of what they do hard at work, a level that it’s difficult to reach and even more difficult to stay at. However Blue Rodeo continues to up themselves night after night after night, and you should see it for yourself as soon as possible!
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