FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 2000. All Rights Reserved

Music by Mary-Lynn McEwen Prairie Oyster Nashville North July 13 Their authentic country sound has been part of our collective Stampede psyches for 15 years, and they have a new album, String of Pearls, that collects all their hits and puts a new spin on some of them. When you ask Keith Glass, guitarist and vocalist for the Perth, Ontario quintet, about whether putting out a greatest hits compilation signals the end of the band’s creative career, he’s all fire. "I think this is a necessary thing to clear the decks, clear the air kind of thing," he says. "The more I look at it, this is just a transitional thing, and now we move ahead. The band’s just full of music. It’s always been a musical band. It’s not just a style thing or a fad thing, we are what we are: a band that plays good music. It’s kind of rejuvenating in a way. I look back now and hold this record up to the light and I say ‘Yeah, we’ve kicked ass and we’ve had a really interesting career.’ It might be a retrospective, but it’s introspective, too." And the band, which formed in the early ’80s and stayed within Ontario for the first five years, developed their songs until they could ride throughout Canada on the success of their debut album, which featured the hit single "Man in the Moon." So it was only natural that when the group compiled String of Pearls, they chose that first hit to put a fresh spin on. "Our record company said you don’t re-record your old hits, you just put them out. Well, I beg to differ. A lot of people love it done the new way." Proof of that statement is the fact that "Man in the Moon (2000)" is at Number 7 on the Americana charts, where the album entered the Top 20 this week. "It’s on Americana and not the country charts because country radio in the States won’t play us because we have a weird name and we’re not formula." But whether or not they’ve been played on country radio, the band and their music have continued to appeal, possibly because their songs have looked at everything from spousal abuse ("Black-Eyed Susan") to bittersweet breakups. Glass claims that the various dalliances and divorces naturally present in band members’ lives provided the emotional honesty present in the songs. "It’s the stuff of life. It’s no secret that being in a band isn’t easy. You’re responsible for X number of people and the nature of being in a band and the lifestyle you have to live produces weirdness – that’s just the way it is. "You might as well strap on a good attitude and go for it."

| Back To This Issue Table of Contents | Back To Main Index |