Album Review: Colter Wall - Self Titled

On this episode of The Sonic Collective, we head to the wide-open prairies of Saskatchewan to explore the self-titled debut album from one of Canada's most distinctive modern voices: Colter Wall.

When this album was released, many listeners couldn't believe the deep, weathered voice coming from someone so young. Drawing heavily from the traditions of classic country, folk, and western music, Colter Wall arrived sounding less like a modern country artist and more like a forgotten legend from another era. His music evokes the spirit of artists such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Johnny Cash, and The Highwaymen, while telling stories rooted in the people, places, and culture of Western Canada.

Our panel was impressed by Wall's authenticity, his unapologetically Canadian perspective, and his willingness to embrace imperfections in a musical era often dominated by polished production, pitch correction, and manufactured perfection. There is a rawness to these recordings that makes you feel as though Colter is sitting just a few feet away, playing these songs live for you.

But does the album lean too heavily on the artists who inspired it? Do the slower tempos and similar song structures begin to blend together over the course of a full listen? And can an artist sound timeless while still bringing something new to the genre?

Join Darren, Scott, Scott and Alain of the Sonic Collective crew as we discuss one of the most unique debut albums of the past decade, debate its strengths and weaknesses, and explore why Colter Wall has become one of Canada's most respected voices in modern roots music.

This is Colter Wall. The album. The artist. And the legacy he may be building one song at a time.

Darren Scott and The Sonic Collective

Album Scores (Out of 5)

Combined Score
Recommend: 3.5
Influence: 3.5
Overall: 3.6

Darren's Score
Recommend:4
Influence: 3
Overall: 4

Scott C's Score
Recommend: 3
Influence: 3
Overall: 3

Scott G's Score
Recommend: 4
Influence: 5
Overall: 4.5

Alain's Score
Recommend: 3
Influence: 3
Overall: 3

Transcript

0:02

Welcome to the Sonic Collective, a music podcast that explores a different album or musical concept each month, diving deep into its history, context, and impact on the music industry. Join our hosts, Alan, Scott Scott, and Darren Scott. That's way too many Scott's as they share their thoughts, insights, and personal connections to the music, inviting you, the listener, to discover new perspectives and appreciation for some of the greatest albums in music of all time. Help to where you go. Hello and welcome back to the Sonic Collective. I am Darren Scott, and I am joined with my co-host today, Scott Coates, way over across the pond in Thailand. Uh and here in Alberta, Canada, with me, right next door to Saskatchewan that will come up very shortly, are Scott Gregory and Alan Dupuy. This month was my pick, and as you know by the name of the podcast, I picked Coulter Wall. I picked his first full-length album. Now he did have an EP that came out in 2015, uh Imaginary Appalachia. Hopefully I said that correct. I but that was a short seven-song EP uh he released in 2015 as kind of independent to try and launch his career. But this was his first uh full-length album debut, uh self-titled. So um Coulterwall, I found out about him from seeing him at uh Village Brewery, which is a local brewery here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Uh they threw a stampede party uh and they had a musician that they worked with that he liked to bring other local and kind of nearby musicians to uh play in the stampede parties that Village would have. And in I think it was 2015 or 16, I think it was 16, I saw I went to the party, and sure enough, this young he looked like a scrawny little kid, and I didn't know who he was, but it was Coulter Wall. Uh, and he got up and played, and right away, and anybody knows me, I love my live music, so I always pay attention to the bands, but he played, and of course, right away I'm like, where is this voice coming from? And we're gonna get into that a little more, but like this young guy that just like the scrawny kid get up there. I knew he was from Saskatchewan, I didn't know any more, got up and played, and like it kind of blew my mind. I'm like, this guy's got a cool voice. Uh, he played kind of his hits from that EP. And actually, he gave me a I have a CD copy was handing them out at this event, and I still have it, it's probably worth something now. I don't know. I gotta go find it. But um, you know, I just thought he was pretty neat. So uh, you know, that now 11 years ago, but over time I realized I started hearing the name Coulter Walmore. So um as mentioned, he's from Saskatchewan, I won't get into too much because I'll throw it over, but like uh, you know, this young Saskatchewan trying to start his career, but he all of a sudden started to get noticed, and a lot of uh uh people I knew would talk about him. Of course, you know, we're right next to Saskatchewan here in Alberta, so he kind of spread. But then sure enough, this guy's gotten really, really big, and you know, and I just started to pay more attention. So I thought, you know, hey, I always like to try and give Canadians an up when I can. So this kid deserved it. He's not a kid anymore, he's now 30, but uh he released this album, very unique. But as always, before I ramble on too much, we always like to throw it to the other guys in the group and then come back to the he who picked it last, which would be me. So uh for now I'm gonna throw it over across to the guy I know probably doesn't know much about it because he's been living in Thailand so long. But Scott Coates, I want to hear what you thought of Coulter Wall. Give me your opinion. Yeah, thanks, Darren. Really interesting one. I I don't encounter a whole lot of country and western music over here. Not sure if this is country or western, or a little bit of both of them. But yeah, I mean, incredible voices, you said. I mean, as soon as the first bit of singing starts, I thought to myself, wow, this is a cross between Johnny Cash, Whelan Jennings, Chris Christofferson, Willie Nelson. Like, this is the highwayman. Like, I immediately thought of the highwayman and those four guys. So it just took me back. I've listened to a couple of those albums and I like some of them. But it's got that that deep, rich, a little bit sad sort of sound, and and classic country and western, both in the sound but in the lyrics. And I thought to myself, wow, this could have been recorded 50 years ago as well as when it actually was recorded. I mean, I would, if you put this on for a casual or even a pretty fine-tuned, you know, Western country and Western music fan, I bet you they'd be pretty hard-pressed to pick when this came out. Did this come out in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 10s? Like this, this is kind of timeless in its sound, right? And he seems to have really carved out a niche and a sound in a time. Like he he is deliberately. I I I think any of these country singers, like he hasn't gotten Nashville accent, but he I doubt if he sounds like that naturally, but he's made a deliberate effort, I assume, to choose that sound. This I kept thinking when I listened to it here, and maybe because it's it's hot as balls here and it's not really, you know, Western Plains, but like, well, when would I listen to this? So I couldn't really listen to it working or cooking, although I did, but I'm like, when would this fit into my life? Um, I think I got through it four times, which is more than some of them. So I I did like it, but I thought, man, I gotta be trying to get over something or putting something bad behind me or nursing some sort of anger and heartbreak for it. Um you know, one thing that I thought was funny in here, we've talked about it with a few rap albums, is WB's talking, like the interlude. Like you listen to an interlude once and then it's just wasted space and annoying on an album. I think the third time I listened to it, I kind of was like, How long is this? I pulled it out, it was two minutes, so I hit skip. So I'm not, I always wonder why artists do that. I guess they're excited when they're starting to get some traction. First real album you throw it on there, but I I mean I think those quickly become a waste of space. Motorcycle. Thank God I'm a Country Boy by John Denver. I don't know about you guys, but like first time I heard it, I thought, well, I've heard this song, or there's something familiar. And then it clicked in. This is almost the same as Thank God I'm a Country Boy. So, I mean, I like the sound, the vibe, the feeling. I found it got a tad repetitive. I'm glad the album wasn't longer. I know I'm always going on about that. So it was a good length. I enjoyed it when I listened, but I didn't really find any, let's say, bangers or hits popping out to me. So I had a bit of a difficult time distinguishing between songs. I just kind of felt like at the end it was, I'd just listen to kind of one long track. Um, I actually might go check out another album or two of his just to see what else he got up to beyond that. I'd say the first the favorite two tracks, if I have to pick a couple, would be the first two: 13 Silver Dollars and Cody and Dream. Uh they sort of stuck out to me a bit more, and I did find myself enjoying them a bit. But I would say, again, overall, it it just kind of became one song, the whole album on its own, and his voice a little repetitive. I would have liked maybe a bit more inflection or a little, you know, variance here and there throughout the album. But man, pretty cool to be exposed to some Canadian music. Never, never, never would have discovered this on my own. And with the name Coulter Wall, I mean you can only be a country singer, a golfer, a NASCAR driver, or maybe a jockey. But uh that would be about it. So you gotta focus on one of those four. So uh yeah, anyway, interesting pick, Darren. And I'll hand it back uh to let's hand it over to Alan. Thanks, Scott. Yeah, uh the first time I heard a motorcycle song, I immediately thought of John Denver as well. So um I had actually heard of Coulter Wall in the past. Uh I have his EP, Imaginary Appalachia, on vinyl, and I discovered him probably the way most people did, because he actually did have a banger of a single, which is called Sleeping on the Blacktop. That's definitely the song that drew me into uh Coulter Wall and this style of stripped-down production, like a minimal instrumentation focus on storytelling, uh, and of course his trademark gravelly, world-weary voice delivering it all. Um yeah, so that all kind of hooked me in, and uh yeah, there's there's a romanticized version of country and western that feels baked into his music. Um so yeah, that was that was kind of what I was expecting with the self-titled album, and sure enough, I was not disappointed because uh Coulter Wall, the album, absolutely leans into that same sense of Western world building, mostly through storytelling. Um, instrumentation is very sparse by design, and that of course puts his vocal performance right at the center of the mix, so you don't really have a choice but to focus on it, and even if you're not super inclined to listen to the lyrics, it's kind of hard not to. Um, and lyrically, this is completely steeped in like classic country and western tropes, you know, train hopping, rambling and gambling, prison narratives, and it's kind of sung through this autobiographical lens, but none of that actually truly reflects his real life. Um he was in his early 20s when this record was made. Uh, by all accounts, he comes from a pretty stable background, he's got a solid relationship with his family, and if I don't mention it, someone else probably will. His dad was the premier of Saskatchewan for a pretty solid run. Um, yeah, so Cole Torwal is not some outlaw drifting through the American frontier, but he manages to sell it pretty freaking well. Uh, and I think that's where the strength of this album really lies. Uh the songs aren't rooted in hardship, but they are rooted in tradition. And you can hear the influences like Johnny Cash and Woody Guthrie and Towns Van Zant, and sure enough, John Denver as well, both in the writing and the delivery of the the storytelling. And to his credit, he commits to that lineage fully enough that at least for the duration of the record, you want to believe every word. Um Joe Rogan invited Coulter Wall on his podcast years ago, and Coulter Wall turned him down because he said he was too busy being a ranch hand and he would get back to him. So, like, he is legit in a sense. Like, who turns down an invitation on the biggest podcast in the world to promote yourself? Well, sorry, I'm busy wrangling steers. Like, that's that's true, cowboy shit. So um, yeah. Sonically, the album doesn't really it's kind of a weird album in the sense that it doesn't rely on like your standard pop song structure. Um, there's absolutely no big budget studio magic. There are certainly no trendy effects or auto-tuned vocals or pitch perfect electric guitars. Like, I don't even know that there's a full drum kit on any of the songs. Most of the timekeeping and percussion are produced by guitar strums or tapping on an acoustic guitar. There may be a kick drum in one or two of the tracks, but uh it was so buried in the mix I couldn't really tell. And you do get a picture in your head of this traveling man with nothing but a guitar on his back uh and a song in his heart. The instrumentation is absolutely part of this storytelling. Um, you could hear it on some songs, he would build tension by you know strumming the guitar faster, and there would be this crescendo. Um, and sometimes he would dial it back and give it space, and so it was really stripped down and quiet. Um one challenge, I suppose, in having such a sparse instrumental arrangement is that even with some of that uh occasional you know dynamic instrumentation, it still kind of fell flat. Um one of my biggest criticisms, I think, is that the album feels too singularly paced. So I'm gonna kind of echo your your thoughts here for a minute, Scott Coates, because uh yeah, I mean, all the songs kind of mostly exist in the same tempo range, they've got the same kind of dusty, forlorn mood palette, and even the more upbeat songs, like you mentioned 13 Silver Dollars, which is the album opener. Thematically, that's a song about a guy who's down on his luck with nothing but a hat and a dream, you know? So that old trope of like country music being about the wife leaving you and the truck breaking down and the dog running away, which when you're in Saskatchewan, you can see for days just in the distance there, because it's so flat. Like those tropes are super true in this case. The album is so full of depressing songs that it made me want to give old Coulter there a fucking hug and ask him if he was okay. Um, storytelling is the backbone of this album, but every song tells a sad story. So, again, Scott, to your point, like it's only a 40-minute long experience, but I kept finding myself feeling a bit bummed out at the end and needing to reach for a palette cleanser every time I finished a playthrough. Uh, you guys probably know this about me pretty well by now, but I am not the biggest fan of country music. And the kind of country music that I tend to gravitate towards is you know what what most people would call bro country. It's the kind of stuff they play at Nashville North in the Calgary Stampede or whatever. So for me, Coulter Wall's music does kind of fall outside of the realm of what I would normally vibe to and have a good time to. You know, but that being said, there is a time and a place for this type of music in my life. Um, again, Scott, I kind of had a hard time figuring out when and where that exactly was, but you know, usually it's a safe bet when you're chilling in the evening, you got a glass of whiskey, and you just feel like vibing. Um, but yeah, I did find listening to the full album in a single sitting left me a little bit low energetically. Uh and you know, I do appreciate cultur style for what it is. It's a celebration of tradition, uh of Western music, and even the way it's made is sort of this direct challenge to the poshed, polished, packaged pop country music that dominates the airwaves. So um it's definitely worth a listen. Uh that's pretty much it for me. I'm gonna throw it over to Scott Gregory. Thank you. So hello everybody. I too am from Saskatchewan, born and semi-raised there. Uh I have been to Swift Current. In fact, the last speeding ticket I got was just outside of Swift Current. Be careful. They like to camp out the east compound side of the highway number one, and they catch you. And that maybe is my sad cowboy story to share with you when the government took $180 of my money and gave me nothing in return. Um you know what? I really like this album. Uh, within like the first 30 seconds, you know exactly what kind of world you're you're stepping into. Uh, and it's about 50 years older than the guy that's singing it. Um it is hard to believe that Coulter was in his early 20s when he made this, but you know, when I was like 15, I was listening to Marty Robbins sings country ballads on an eight-track in a gas station, and my mom was uh country music director at the local radio station and brought her work home with her, you know. So I can understand how a young man, especially a young Saskatchewan man, uh could fall into this, right? What struck me right away was just how intentional this whole thing is. Uh, you've mentioned production, uh Dave Cobb. Uh, if you look at the list of people that he's worked with, it's very impressive. This isn't, you know, like uh his first dance. Uh he gives you that trip-down room mic kind of honesty that you uh you called out earlier. Nothing's overplayed. Uh, it is the guitar that's driving most of the instrumentation, nothing is polished to death. It's just the kind of record that you can hear air around, right? Like everything. There's room around all of this. Uh and it creates a mood. He's got that voice, it's deep, it's grainy, it's unhurried, um, and it does half the storytelling before he even gets to the lyrics. His voice is definitely part of the story. And even though he's like a 20-year-old, it does give that feel uh of authenticity to it. And Scott, I'm glad in fact I think both of you, after listening it, you know, I kept thinking about Chris Christofferson. Uh he's one of my favorite country music singers. Uh, and it's not because they sound alike, because they definitely don't, their voices are completely different, but uh they do have this authenticity and this feeling of you know, like the songs they feel inevitable. Um Christofferson's more of like a philosopher, though. He writes like he's trying to figure out, you know, what it means to be human and stuff, uh, and often admits he doesn't know the answer. Uh they're like very emotional. And Coulter Wall, on the other hand, you know, it's like he's like an archivist, he's pulling from cowboy ballads, frontier stories, like he's going way deep down into even like murder ballads and old folk traditional. Uh, it's more of like oral history, the oral history side uh of country as opposed to like the human stories. So it's like Christopherson's documenting the human heart, and Wall is sharing the human experience, is how I would differ the two, and that's kind of the the the canvas that I'm painting them against. Uh Christofferson is like looking inwards and Wall is looking outward mostly. But but they have this plain spoken truthfulness to them. There's no theatrics, there's no gloss, it's just the story delivered straight, and that really appeals to me. Uh, you know, right down in you mentioned that outlaw uh period, you know, like with the Willie and the Wayland and stuff like that, and and it's there, and you can see that he does have a lot of of reverence, like Towns Van Zant, the cover snake mount blues. You know, he treats that with real reverence. He he didn't try and reinvent the song, um, but his baritone does give it this darker, earthier texture than the original, and you can really understand how he deeply, you know, just feels the lineage that he's stepping into, and he's working to be a bridge between those generations. Um and you know, like towns, he's melancholy as well. But you know, now it's got this like frontier ballady sensibility to it. Um the album itself is tight, it's 11 tracks. We like that. There's no filler. Uh, even though you know we feel it's repetitive in some ways, strip-down albums, I think, are doomed to to that. Sometimes there's not a lot of room for instrumental variants. So unless you're like really keyed in on the different stories uh being told across all the songs, it it can't, and eventually after a while, you do lose that, right? Uh it's uh it does tend to blend a little bit. Um yeah, I already talked about Snake Mountain blues. Uh 13 silver dollars, you mentioned that. I thought it was a great opener. Uh I think it's it's a little dry, but it's a little, it's got some mischievous humor to it, right? He's telling a story, getting stopped by a mounty. Who hasn't been stopped by a mounty and potentially given a ticket in Swift Current? Uh, you know, I had no silver dollars on me, but what do you do? You know, it's light, it's charming, it's probably one of the lightest songs on the album. It sets the tone uh that it's a storyteller's album. And then, you know, Kate McCannon. I like that. It was a bit of an emotional centerpiece for the album. Uh, murder ballads, who who can't get enough of murder ballads, right? But uh it's great, it's like one of those old Appalachian uh tragedy songs, right? Like you can smell the whiskey burning down Copperhead Road, kind of feeling where where just bad things happen to people on the plains and the mountains, and and that's life. Um, but you know, it it hits hard in its way. Uh we talked about uh Towns of Ans. I really enjoyed that, but what really called out to me country wise on this as well was that there was a duet for all line at the end, and uh it's one of the song uh album's warmest moments, this song. And I appreciate it because it feels like duets have gone a little bit out of fashion in a lot of musical genres. You know, you get people featured, you get samples and stuff like that, but there's not as many collaborations, and maybe I'm just listening in the wrong circles, and that's still out there. But when I think of like top 40 and I think of uh uh a lot of the music that winds up on my playlist, it definitely happens that way. But it's good to see that country is still holding on because there is a long heritage of really strong duets that that come out and and even rare. So, you know, when you when you have two men doing duets these days, because it was a lot of times it was uh a man and a woman that would do it. So I enjoy that. Um yeah, when you step back and look at the whole album, um it just it feels ancient but fresh at the same time. It's got some 70s outlawed DNA in there, uh it's got some minimalism, you know, like like early Christopherson, it's got that grid of towns on there. Um I think Alan, did you mention Guy Clark? I think you mentioned Guy Clark. No? Okay. I did not. Well, Guy Clark came to me. Who you mentioned someone. I was trying to remember who as well to. Uh I think I said Towns Van Zant, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, maybe that's the one. Woody Guthrie is who you said, and I totally agree on that as well, too. But I think you also get a a little bit of a feel, and this is maybe because you grew up listening to it, some 80s neo-traditional uh as well, too, right? So Randy Travis, George Strait, you know, imaginary friend of the collective Dwight Yoakum. Like we they brought country back to its roots after a really strong pop-leaning era. Uh, and I could see a line through directly to him on this, but I don't think he was copying any of them. I think he's just tapped into the same well. Um, this is album, it's proof that traditional country and folk, you know, they don't belong in a museum. I think they're still living forms that can be appreciated for what they are in the right hands, uh, and still hit with some some real force. So, yeah, back to you, Darren. This was your pick. Uh, how do you feel? Do you think we kind of all aligned or yeah, yeah. I feel great. I feel great. No, I I mean Colter Wall, very interesting artist. And yeah, I mean, I'll get into a few things. And I mean, I mentioned I'd seen him at Village Brewery, but uh I said it in the last month's pick that uh I think what also sparked this, and believe it or not, I've lived in Alberta since 1990, and I just went to Saskatchewan for the first time a month ago. Yeah, and yeah, isn't that crazy? And I mean, for those that geographically, I mean Alberta, uh Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are kind of the prairie provinces, you know, you're right above your kind of your your Montana, your Idaho, and you know, and those uh states uh there, but it really is all that same kind of farming, ranch land, and you know, oil. Uh I'd be remiss to not say oil, but I mean, really, uh it is very similar to the states. I mean, I think we get compared to Texas and Saskatchewan would be Oklahoma. It would be a good way to say it. But uh anyway, um, very interesting artist. I mean, he was, as mentioned, born in Swift Currents. Uh he spent a lot of his time in Regina, because Alan said it. His father was the premier of Saskatchewan, Brad Wall, from uh 2007 to 2018. Uh interesting though, uh Coulterwall credits uh that experience of his dad being there for actually being able to have a really thick skin about being criticized. And he he is a shy guy. He is not outgoing at all. He shuns uh the attention, he's very humble. Uh and but he he learned early because of all the, you know, as you know, as a politician, very divisive, and there's always somebody that hates you. So I think that gave him a thick skin or at least exposure to it. So that's an interesting credit to his dad. Um, but yeah, you mentioned too, he wasn't actually really a cowboy or anything being raised. He was kind of a city kid. I mean, obviously his dad probably made pretty good money, but uh he just felt this, you know, akin to this lifestyle. Um he did go to university right out of high school, but dropped out. He wasn't he said it was not his thing. But right after that, I think I couldn't remember, I think it was his cousin or a friend, got him a job uh at like a a feed, I think it was a feed supplier. So he uh worked there uh and got to know um all these ranchers and farmers and just really embraced again that that culture and loved it. And he really he makes his songs for for that. He is unapologetically Canadian and from Saskatchewan. And even though, you know, he does mention yeah yeah a lot of US things and obviously copying that style of country, but uh he has made it his own and I and I really, really appreciated that. You know, very un you know, he's kind of unpolished but authentic at the same time. And you know, and you know, being from the province next door here, uh really appreciate that he just kind of stands up for Canada. If you think of like the Canadian band is a tragically hip uh that was unapologetically Canadian, I think Culture Wall in the country sphere is following very much in those footsteps. Uh and I think I forget which one of you said like that he was oh Alan, you mentioned he didn't go on the podcast because he was uh practicing ranching, but he literally has tried to teach himself. He learned to ride a horse, he he constantly pr practices roping. He's really embraced that culture. He doesn't pretend he was raised in it, but he he is really trying to embrace it. So uh very interesting, very interesting. Uh one one unique thing, you know, besides his voice, and if you haven't heard him, you haven't heard his voice, almost stop right now. Just go put on any song and you'll find uh it's so unique, so deep. And like I said, it's that when I first saw him, he was 20, and coming out of a 20-year-old that looked like he was 17 was just like shocking. Uh very interesting. He he developed that style, and honestly, he says because he didn't think he could sing. And so it just he said it just kind of came out, and he he he wasn't very comfortable like really trying to sing. He's just like, it's kind of actually more talking. So I guess since, and then on his newer albums, if you do listen to his newer stuff, his vocals are a bit more melodic because he's been training uh how to sing because he never really learned properly. Similar to the guitar, uh, and again, it's a very stripped-down music, but uh his style is very interesting as well, and it's you know very featured, but he doesn't use a pick. And the reason was he tried to. Uh he took piano, I guess, as a kid, but then switched about 13 to guitar. But when he did, he just he couldn't get the pick. He just like he struggled, he got so mad, he's like, screw it, I'm just gonna pluck it with my fingers. So, I mean, there's a lot of uh uh guitarists that will use that method, but he kind of developed his own and he says he he got calluses skin and he grows his thumbnail and his fingernails a bit on that strumming hand. Uh, but he will pick like the bass line with his thumb and the top and then kind of play the melodic stuff with his bottom finger. So it's not like a straight strum like a lot of guitaring. So that plays into that again. He has this voice, he has this kind of unique uh picking style, it just gives him a very unique sound. So uh I haven't got there yet, but like uh also Rick Rubin was a massive fan. He heard of him early. I guess funny enough, I guess what really brought some fame to him was Brock Lesnar, and I mean, politics aside, and that guy, but um the wrestler uh credited him in 2015 as one of his favorite artists, and then all of a sudden all these people started to try and figure out who Coulter Wall was. And I guess Rick Rubin got exposed to him as well. And if you know Rick Rubin, he loves very unique artists, so he signed him to this label. This is on Rick Rubin's label. Um, and it's an American recordings album, is what it's called. And also Steve Earl uh discovered this guy and just thought, like, hey, this, you know, I think uh he said he's one of the best modern country songwriters and voices. And yes, it's obviously a nod to the past, and you've covered all those artists. Uh I just listened to a podcast, and to finish the podcast, he actually played a Guy Clark song, uh Cold Dog Soup, which was a later Guy Clark album. Uh I listened to it, it's actually very unique. And I mean, again, it's all in this style. And I do agree, and I will say a slight as well, it does keep that, you know, very a slower tempo throughout a lot, and it can sound slightly repetitive if you listen to a lot of it back to back. Like Alan, I'm I was never a huge country fan. I've since learned to embrace it more. I mean, we live in Alberta here in Canada, it's very country influenced, it's hard to avoid it. But um, but I always did love your Johnny Cash, your Wayland Jennings, that outlaw cowboys. So if you like that, uh, you're definitely gonna love this guy. I mean, I think he's just got that. And again, it's unpolished. And here we are in this, and I mean, we just, and I it's not a slight, but we just I picked Taylor Swift as my last pick, and obviously very produced, and an amazing artist, amazing writer, and nothing uh against Taylor Swift, but if you listen to all the pop music and even the call it country pop, it is all over the top produced now. Everything is perfect for the node, it's all auto-tuned, it's all perfect. This is not Coulter Wall, and I think it's seriously refreshing. I think he's just shunned this digital perfection bullshit that dominates our music, and he's just kind of doing his own thing. And he and as mentioned, Alan, like he doesn't really care what other people think. He just actually released an uh an album not too long ago. I think it's called Songs from the Plains, and he literally just did, he's like, I just wanted to make an album that I think that my friends and the ranchers I know in Saskatchewan would appreciate. He's like, I literally wrote it for them. I didn't care if it ever had a hit. And I think you gotta give an artist credit for that. Like, he is not trying to be something he's not. And he hasn't let a label, and thank God probably Rick Rubin got him young because he might have been corrupted otherwise. But he just decided, like, no, this is who I am. Uh, and you know, I think I really appreciate that. So, I mean, even though it's not my exact style of country, and and again, I think I could only, you know, I'd probably listen to it a few songs at a time more than the full album, but uh, you know, I I did really grow to like it. And I mean, I also like his influences besides all we mentioned. He also cites uh that he freaking loved ACDC, Sabbath, Zeppelin, like he loved that hard rock and some metal too. So I think he's kind of bringing in some of that and you know uh rock style to what he's doing, even though it is a slower tempo. But anyway, obviously, very interesting artist. I I think it's cool that he's so pro-Canadian, but with that, let's go back and get some scores. So, Scott, gonna go back to you. Give me your scores for this album. Yeah, uh, scoring's easy. It's threes across the board. I'd recommend it to someone, but I'll give it a three. And influence, I'll give it a three. Liked it. It's not gonna change, you know, my musical taste. I might seek out another album by him, and I think I might go listen to the highwayman again. I just noticed Willie Nelson is just putting out a new album at 93. I think this is like his 130th album. So we're gonna go down country. And overall, yeah, I'll give it a three. Again, liked it, didn't love it, um, no particular songs, but yeah, it was it was an enjoyable month of listening. Yeah, likewise Scott I'm uh I'm threes across the board as well. Uh, and I actually changed one of my uh scores as as we were having this conversation. So it influenced my taste specifically. You know, I I think I came to expect a certain musical quality from Culture Wall. And like I mentioned before, I can't say that I'm particularly drawn to this style of music, either from him or from other artists, but I'm curious now to dive into his more recent stuff because I want to see how you know his voice and his tone has evolved and matured over the years, so that's interesting. So I up to my score from a two to a to a three there. I recommend if you're a big fan of storytelling, singer-songwriter type stuff, and or you're into the old classic country music, this might be the album for you. And overall, yeah, I think Coulter Wall is a solid album. It's you know a bit one-dimensional, and I think I probably might have enjoyed it a little more if you know there was like a banjo or two on the album, something a little more upbeat, but you know, at the end of the day, I I just appreciate Coulter Wall's approach to music, right? He's he's not trying to reinvent anything, he's trying to preserve a very specific version of country music, and in that sense, it really succeeds. It's immersive, it's committed, it builds a world that has this like very cinematic sensibility to it. Like it could be the soundtrack to a country um or like a cowboy movie or something like that. Um not an album I would reach for every day, but you know, one I respect nonetheless, as long as you're in the certain mood or a certain headspace, and when you meet it there, I think it delivers. Scott Gregory. Yeah, uh I think it's funny, Darren, when you mention Steve Earl, I did not know about that link, so it tickles me that I made uh a Copperhead Road reference. Uh yeah, you know that. I I caught that. Yeah, yeah. So it's like when the second you said that I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm like psychic here or something. But uh I mean I really liked it. Um this type of country music influenced me. Like I said, I grew up on a radio station and my mom would listen to more of this type of music at home, and then I had to because I had to get dragged along because I couldn't be alone, so I had to sit in the radio station and listen to this stuff, like all the pop country stuff of like the 80s, right? Like first it pushed me away. You know, my first real album was Stone Temple Pilots Core, uh, which I played so loud that my mom bought me my first set of studio headphones as well, too. Uh, but then it brought me back to it as well. It was a gateway for me back into country, the uh singer, songwriter, uh old school storytelling side of things. So this was really nice for me, and it has influenced me to go back again. Like I I I turn to Chris Christofferson every once in a while, and this has brought me back into there, and I'm pulling on that thread and going down a bit of a journey again. So I really like that. Um recommend uh I mean if you're not a country fan, I'll say four, but if you like country, uh up that by one for for yourselves out there, because I really think you need to to listen to this guy uh both as a gateway into the past and then he obviously exists now, and so you can see what this new new uh resurgence of classic storytelling country can be like, and I think he does a really good job on it. So overall, I guess that puts me at like a 4.5. Uh, and I'm really glad we listen to this. There is uh a prairie boy inside of me that I think needs an album like this every once in a while. To uh I'm just one generation off the farm, so you know it brings back something personally for me when when I go down a road like this. So thank you very much, Darren. Yeah, and no worries. Yeah, I'm glad uh I'm glad we all got to experience it. And I like I said, I'd known him, I'd listened to some stuff, but this is the first deep dive I did as well. Um, you know, a couple things before I get in there, and uh, you mentioned that one interlude, Scott Coates, and I will say, and I mean, those are kind of annoying, and I do find them annoying, but that was actually designed for an album, so a vinyl album, and that's at the end. If you think of the uh Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty, it's like, now is the point when you get up and turn the album over. That's exactly what that was put in there. So I think they literally probably just had like, hey, we got two minutes left on this album, uh, let's throw it in there. Like, yeah, it can be disruptive, but um, that's I guess when you get up and flip the album in digital format, it kind of loses that context a bit, but anyway. Uh also Kate uh McCannon or McCarron, sorry, that was the big hit or the most popular song off this album. Uh, that is not a real person, and I guess it gets asked all the time. He's like, Is this about Kate McKinnon from Saturday Night Live? And he he's just like, No, it's a fictional character. He said he just like liked the name, and he's like, ah, in the prairies, there's a lot of like Irish, Scottish. So he's like, I just wanted something that would resonate with uh people, Canadian people that would sound uh Irish or Scottish or something like that. So uh interesting song, but not real. Um and you mentioned the lack of percussion too, and uh, I jotted this down. And um one thing, uh, if you don't know this, the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, uh famous for uh launching so many artists and having the best artists in the world play there. I had the pleasure of going there myself, but up until fairly recently, I don't know what year, but it was like probably in the 90s or maybe even the 2000s, they had a rule that no drums were allowed. You could not go up and play uh uh drums in the in the Grand Ole Opry. So that's why so many country artists uh of those times and of this kind of sound that he's living in uh had lack of percussion because they developed songs that uh that were meant to be kind of like ballads. If you think of Bob Dylan when he played the folk festival and used the electric guitar and just like everybody was freaking out, that was the end of the world. He's like, you know, like he's no longer a folk musician, but it was just really he was modernizing it. So I think he's it's a bit of a nod to that. I think he's living in that style of this remnant of this grand old Opry rule. Um uh with that, you know, for me, I think um, you know, influence, I think it's obviously a lot of influence by other artists, but I think he's influencing a new generation. But I'm coming in three there. Uh, I do think it's it's pretty cool. Um, I recommend I'm coming in a solved four there. And I I'm I'm Scott Greg, I always like that too. Like, hey, if you obviously if you're a country fan, especially of that style, I think it's probably a five. But um, you know, I think it's a four. I think it's so unique. And again, like think of how unpolished it is and just raw. And I think there's something to be said about that. I think your grandparents would like this. And if you're a country fan and this is something modern, you realize this kid's like just turning 30, like, very unique. And overall, that's gonna put me in at a four. I think this is an album definitely worth checking out, again, especially if you're in that country area. But even if not, just to see, you know, hey, there's that, you know, kind of pop country that Taylor Swift comes from. There's, you know, some modern country, like you got your Zach Bryans and uh um God, who's the guy that just played Edmonton? Luke Bryan, or not Luke Bryan, no. God damn, this is uh anyway it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, but all those modern countries combs? Luke Combs, thank you. I said I got Zach Bryan in my head and I couldn't get it out. But yeah, Luke Combs. I mean, hey, those guys are great, or Noah Kahn. Like it's fine. They're they're great artists. That's my daughter is in love with Zach Bryan, she listens to him nonstop. I get it, I hear it all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's pretty dreamy. I mean, yeah, I mean, it's very cool. Like, very cool. So anyway, again, I'd recommend. I'm glad you guys, you know, experienced it with us. And it was different. I don't think any of us are like super deep into country, but that's why we pick these things. But anyway, hey, that was a great episode, guys. Thanks so much. Uh so uh coming up next, we got Scott Coates. So uh we always end with uh telling you what our next pick's gonna be. So, Scott Coates, tell us about what you're gonna pick next month. I'm struggling, man. Uh the last couple of days I have changed picks so much. Let me tell you some of them. Uh uh an electronic band called King Kuba, uh their album Newfound Funk. I I almost picked that. And then it was like, you know, the Stones have a couple new singles out and they're a new album. I mean, you know, let's go back and listen to Sticky Fingers. But then I thought, you know what? I remembered you picked Taylor Swift. I thought I've never listened to a Beyonce album ever. So then I thought maybe we should listen to Lemonade. And then I heard a single from an album I loved when I first moved to Thailand, uh, Who is Jill Scott by Jill Scott. Uh, don't know if you've listened to her, love that one, but I'm like, ah, I know that one really well. And then a band I discovered kind of stoner rock called Fu Man Choo, who have been around since the late 90s. I'm like, oh, maybe that one. And then I was watching The Final of the Boys, and they have a lot of Billy Joel in there. And I thought, oh, maybe we should listen to The Stranger, his breakthrough album. And then just uh yesterday morning I thought, you know what, though, it's gonna be Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass, whipped cream and other delights. It's one of their big breakthroughs. And then I started this morning thinking about David Byrne. I'm going to see him in concert in August. I bought tickets, and I'm like, what are the David Byrne albums? Like, I don't even know any of his music. And I looked up uh the number two David Byrne album of all time, including Talk Dean Heads, is David Byrne and Brian Eno, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts from '81. It was uh it came out right before Remainin' Light came out. So I'm like, hmm, do I pick that one? So I'm a little reluctant. Um, I was gonna pick David Byrne and Brian Eno. Do any of you have a desire to do one of those other albums? Because I'm kind of on the fence. Oh no, go with your gut, man. Go with your gut. Yeah, yeah. Although I've almost picked Beyonce in the past several times. I've I yeah, that's that's funny. Like, yeah, because I've always liked listened to her, but like it, but never super got into it. But I don't know, it's up to you, man. I don't know. They're all good. Anyone else have an opinion? No, I like being surprised. So me too. And honestly, I hadn't really heard of half of the albums that you you mentioned there, right? So yeah, and some of them I know so well, I'm like, it's kind of dumb to pick it because I know it super well. The one thing is I do like to know a few songs to know if it's a steaming turd or not, and I have not listened to one track on this David Byrne and Brian Eno album. But let's roll with it. Then it's gonna be David Byrne and Brian Eno, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts from 1981. Says that it's kind of credited with being one of the first albums to have sampling, like before sampling was a thing. Although we do know from the late 70s there was lots of, you know, the emerging hip-hop scene was doing sampling, but apparently a lot of this the vocals are sampled, and and it's based on kind of an African Middle Eastern electronic dream or something. So I'll send the links out. Um, I hope it's okay. I mean, we've actually had a Talking Heads album and we've had a Brian Eno album before. So the two of them together. My life in the Bush of Ghosts is the pick for June. Thanks, Scott. Yeah, that's uh how can you go wrong with those guys, really? I'm sure it's gonna be great. Yeah, Burns amazing. I'm jealous you're gonna get to see him. I've never seen him. He was just in Calgary like a year and a half ago, and I just couldn't, I don't know why I didn't, I should have just gone. But um hopefully I get to see him someday. But anyway, with that, uh let's uh let's get out of here and let these people get back to their day. But uh thanks for listening, The Sonic Collective. Don't forget to uh follow us, smash do whatever you do, like yeah, and we appreciate your listening. And once again, from the Sonic Collective, that's Scott Coatescot, Gregory Allen Dupuy and myself, Darren Scott. Thanks and listen to good music. Hey, thanks for joining us on the Sonic Collective, where we've explored the music, the history, and the impact of some of the greatest albums of all time. We hope you've enjoyed our discussions and gained new insights and appreciation for the music you and we love. Join us next month for another exciting album, and until then, keep listening to great music.