T. Buckley’s travelling Country revue: Coming soon to a city near you

Tim is back! Not that he’s ever been really gone, but Tim Buckley and his crew are setting up a little tour in western Canada this December, starting here in Calgary. He and co-Tim.buck.two’er Derek Pulliam recorded one of the tracks off of their upcoming album in The Lantern, a church in Inglewood, and that experience suggested more of the same. The sound is spectacularly simple: “A Thousand Times”, the only cover Tim’s got on the new album, is a Billy Cowsill harmonious duet with bass, guitar, and a high note that makes me ask, “Do you always hit that note?”

Bearded man looking left
The new album cover (“every traveller needs a diner”) for Roll On, available in November. Image by Melanie Molloy of InTune Images.

The track is remarkable for the simplicity of the recording: a mike in front of Tim and Derek, and a couple up in the ceiling to catch the ambience. They recorded it live, after a few takes.

Cowboy Junkies-like?

“Yeah. It was about five cuts to get it right: ‘move back a bit’, that kind of thing.” He laughs. I’m assuming there was a fair bit of ‘that kind of thing’, but the result is strikingly beautiful, and fits perfectly with the other material that Tim wrote. Clearly, he shares some of his muses with Cowsill.

Tim asks, “If you can mention that this project was recorded at SymPul Studios in Calgary that would be great” Not only does Derek Pulliam play upright bass, electric bass and sing backing vocals, he is also the album’s recording engineer. Between he and Tim, and Tim Leacock, who’s got production, more stringed instruments and more vocals in his kit bag, Tim.buck.two was a force to contend with.

Now, with an official name change to T.Buckley, they’ve gone right over the top, requiring a four to five-piece band to flesh out the songs that are being released in November. At the Lantern performance, Tim hopes to include as many of the ten performers that appear on the CD as possible. “This won’t just be a CD release piss-up,” he says, denying that it’s a release party at all. “More of a concert-like performance. We’re going to have the doors at 7:00, Joe Nolan will open up at 7:30, and we’ll come on sometime after 8:00.”

Following that, they’re taking their roots-revue to Kelowna, Salmon Arm, Nelson, Vancouver and Victoria, before he comes home again to Calgary.

The disc, named “Roll On” for one of its tracks about travelling between Alberta and B.C. (“where the fruit falls from the vine”), will be ready for the masses in early November. Your first chance to find it will likely be at the “Live at the Lantern” show, Saturday, November 27. The Lantern Community Church is located at 1401-10 Ave., SE, and though it is NOT a CD release party, they’ll sell you one if you ask nicely.

It’s definitely worth it.

Posted by Paul Verhaegh

Author: Carey Rutherford

Swallowed by the mutual loves of words and music (but far too chicken-shit to perform them with a band), Carey’s writing career started slowly as a freelance writer in 2003, starved him nearly to personal bankruptcy until 2008, and changed directions while writing for FastForward, Beacon Calgary, GayCalgary, and Examiner magazines. With the death of many old-school periodicals, and the explosion of musical diversity in Calgary, the modern approach to writing about live music performance in the Calgary region presented uncluttered landscapes for the focussed passion that Carey’s conversations with musicians, drag queens, festival producers and small animals has uncapped. He was moulded by the brilliance of paper-based periodicals old and new (Life, rolling Stone, Swerve! and Adbusters etc.), and sees the info-verse as needing creative, empathetic, but clear-eyed Agents to communicate these performances.