Edmonton country rock band the Denim Daddies are excited , not only about releasing their new album “Northern Goods” today, March 20, but about returning to Lethbridge to play Shaela Miller’s “After the Masquerade” album release party, Saturday, March 23 at the Owl Acoustic Lounge with Carter Felker.
“It’s always busy down there when Shaela Miller’s cooking up a new album, I’ll bet,” said Denim Daddies bassist/ vocalist Kurtis Cockerill. The Denim Daddies have played with Shaela Miller a couple of times including fo her Windy City Opry concert series.
“We did the opry a couple years ago and we played a crazy house party in Saskatoon with her in probably 2018. That was really fun. She’s a friend of ours and we’re stoked to be on that bill,” Cockerill continued.
Calgary’s Carter Felker will be opening the show with a solo set with the Denim Daddies on second and Shaela Miller closing off the night.
“He (Carter Felker) is one of our favourite folk artists,” he said.
Cockerill is excited to release the new album ‘Northern Goods” which features more prominent steel guitar.
“Yeah, big time, the steel guitar is on every track except one. Booker (Diduck)’s really becoming a monster . He’s gotten really good over the past couple years. He’s all over it.”
The Denim Daddies also feature guitarist/ singer Andrew Brostrom, pedal steel /guitarist Booker Diduck, drummer/vocalist/ guitarist Matt King and Pianist/ organist Sahil Chugh.
The album comes out Wednesday, March 20. They have released a couple singles from it including “Living on the Road” and “Seems To Me” are out on all streaming services.
“The records have come in so last night we did a fun little record listening party at Bent Stick Brewing in Edmonton last night ( March 13), And they actually brewed a beer of the same title. The album’s called Northern Goods and we were crushing a lager all night of the same title and it was a great time,” he continued.
The album also features a cover of “Grandpa was a Carpenter,” a song by one of the bands idols John Prine.
“He means a lot. I think the first time I heard John Prine was, like, hearing his voice sealed it for me that I thought that could actually sing and write my own songs. He’s a massive inspiration to us . Since we started the band we’ve always done at least one of his songs per set. So usually we’re doing a couple of John Prines a night. That one really came together with our own flavour— up tempo , lots of harmonies. He’s a great guy. We all miss him. I never got to see him live. During Covid I lost my grandpa only a couple of weeks after we lost John Prine and it kind of felt like I lost two grandpas. It was a tough time but I got through it And we’re really excited to have that song on the record,” he said, adding they chose that song because they put their own stamp on it.
“It was more just how it came together. It wasn’t just like we were going through the motions , covering the song . We kind of made it our own with that fancy little pedal steel intro and the tempo and harmonies. We felt like we were putting our own stamp on the tune,” he said.
They also added a song about Cockerill’s grandpa, relating a few of the stories he told Cockerill.
“Grandpa is A Bushman is a song I wrote abut my grandpa. It’s some of the stories I heard. At the end of his life, out of nowhere, he started telling these wild stories of hunting and fishing and trapping game in Roblin, Manitoba in the Parkland region there. He really wanted to write a book, and unfortunately his mind didn’t make it long enough to do that . But I took some of his stories and put them in the song but it doesn’t really even scratch the surface of his life experiences,” he said.
He said advance response to the album has been really positive.
“It’s been really warm. I think people have been really impressed. The songs really turned out well. We recorded them with Scott Franchuk here who is an Albertan legend who did Corb Lund]s new record . And he]s kind of the go to guy for country so working with him was awesome. People seem to be digging it and it seems to be warranting multiple listens from people. So that]s what we want,” he said.
he is looking forward to returning to thew Owl Acoustic lounge.
“it’s going to be a high intensity, super fun Denim Daddies set. We always like to bring a good time and lot of energy to our sets. It’s going to be a really fun time. We like to play,” he said, adding they will be playing most of the new album.
“We’ll play every track. The one track Whiskey Waltz is kind of a slower jam, but we love to play it in a room where the vibe is a listening vibe. So we’ll probably play the whole thing,” he said.
They are touring weekend run instead of a longer tour.
“It‘s not the biggest tour . We’re doing mostly weekends because Andrew, the other main singer in the band has a little one at home now. So. we’re just heading out on weekends and going everywhere. So we just made it a priority to really hit Alberta on this run. But in April we’re doing a couple os Saskatchewan dates. But hopefully in the Fall I think we’ll expand a little bit more I don’t know how far from home we’ll hit. But hopefully out to at least Winnipeg and Vancouver an places like that . But this time it all really come together with Alberta and a lot of our Alberta Friends are playing with us which is really awesome. It’s been an all out good time so far,” he said.
“Right now we're just keeping the wheels on the road and playing these songs. We do have half an album cooked up in our basement studio. But I’m not too sure what we’re going to do with that whether we’re going to put it out or retool it a little bit and head to a studio and redo some stuff. But we’re always working, always writing and always practicing,” he said.
“We look forward to seeing you all and all of the Lethbridge friends on Saturday . It’s going to be a wild party and we can’t wait,” he said.
The Denim Daddies and Carter Felker open for Shaela Miller at the Owl Acoustic lounge, Saturday, March 23. The Owl Acoustic lounge and the March 22 shows are both sold out. There are still tickets available for Shaela Miller’s Saturday matinee at the Owl Acoustic lounge.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
