Fred Eaglesmith brings ‘Standard’ to a non-standard Redcliff show

By Chris Brown on July 11, 2017.

cbrown@medicinehatnews.com @MHNBrown

The only thing standard about alternative country rock ‘n’ roll troubadour Fred Eaglesmith is that there is no standard.

You see, Eaglesmith’s latest album, ironically titled “Standard,” is unlike anything he’s ever done, and that’s the way he’s been doing it for more than 20 albums and more than 40 years on the road.

“It’s a little different album for me, which is not different for me to have a different album,” he explained last week, on the road to his show at the Redcliff Legion Wednesday at 8 p.m.

On his website, Eaglesmith goes into more detail.

“It refers to having things put into place for you — like gears (on a vehicle standard transmission),” he writes. “This is the simplest and least innovative way of learning or teaching. It is my term for staying in the box. The people on this album want to stay in the box but they can’t.”

Listeners seems to like this out-of-the-box album. Its stayed on U.S. charts for 10 weeks and continues to get airplay.

“People have been buying it, people have been liking it, we’ve got great reviews all over,” Eaglesmith said. “When that happens, you feel good.”

He also said there’s also no standard for an Eaglesmith show, explaining the show he does now is much different than it would have been even three years ago.

If there is one constant for the singer-songwriter these days it’s the Royal Canadian Legion. About eight years ago Eaglesmith decided he wanted to get out of the “music business,” having grown disenchanted with its promoter-heavy state. About 50 years ago, he said, there were 500 bands and 30 promoters. Now there’s 500,000 bands and there’s 300 million promoters. Promoters started running the business, and not for the music.

“That just never sat well with me,” he said. “I don’t think art should be dictated by the marketplace or by anything. It should come from the artist.”

With that, Eaglesmith found a kind of kinship with the Legion.

“They had halls, they understood putting a show on,” he said. “We played hundreds and hundreds of Legions and by and large they were easy to deal with. They’re nice people, they get what a show is.”

Both parties benefitted, said Eaglesmith, with Legions that hadn’t seen a show in years now putting them on all the time.

Eaglesmith has also been helping the charity group Operation Smile, which raises money to fix cleft palates in Third World children, by hosting the the Fred Eaglesmith Charity Picnic in Ontario for more than 20 years.

Tickets for the Redcliff show, also featuring Tif Ginn, are available at http://www.fredeaglesmith.com and at the Redcliff Legion. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

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