As you can tell from a  band naming themselves Lee Harvey Osmond, they have a pretty wicked sense of humour, but the music is one thing they take really seriously. You can hear it for yourself, Oct. 18 at the Geomatic Attic.
The band is composed of members of the Cowboy Junkies (who they are currently touring with in the eastern United States), Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings the Cowboy Junkies, the Skydiggers, the Sadies and numerous others.
“People can sense the honesty. We play acid folk which is real folk music about real folk themes but with a lot of space. We’re in no rush to get to the first word of the song. It’s about feeling the groove and putting folk on top of it,” observed vocalist/guitarist Tom Wilson from a small  Maryland town which he can’t name. He also plays in Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and used to play in popular Canadian rock band Junkhouse in the early ’90s.
“When I was in Junkhouse, we used to dress in work boots and shirts. We got them from a  men’s wear store outside of Galt Gardens. People asked us where we got them and we said “we got  them in L.A.” They’d say Los Angeles? We’d say, no, Lethbridge. We were the only band who looked like we were late for a shift with a  jackhammer,” Wilson laughed adding the line up changes depending on the country. On the current tour, Lee Harvey Osmond is Wilson backed by the Cowboy Junkies, whose record label  the band shares.  In Canada he’ll have three members of the band  from the new record, “A Quiet Evil” including Junkhouse drummer Ray Farrugia, Aaron Goldstein, Brent Titcomb  plus Cam Malcolm.
In Europe, Lee Harvey Osmond is Tom Wilson solo.
“I wrote the songs as if I were sitting in the kitchen playing them for you over a cup of coffee or two so they would still translate in different forms,” Wilson continued  adding he had always wanted to work with Cowboy Junkies’ Michael Timmins, so this “artists’ collective” was the perfect opportunity to work together.
“All of the members have a real commitment to the music,” Wilson said adding the band has already benefitted from buzz generated by videos posted on the Internet sites like YouTube not only by the band themselves, but by fans.
“There are videos on YouTube from all of our shows on this tour ,” he observed.
The band has  become a bit of an underground sensation as they were just in Washington D.C  taping a segment for Sirius Satellite Radio, which plays the CD regularly.
““We can make a video  for about $200 and post it and it might not get  a half million views, but it will get  11-12,000 hits so we’ll get people at the shows who don‘t know the name of the band, but will know the songs. That’s pretty exciting,” he said adding he likes how Alberta supports musicians.
“Canada is the most individualistic place in the world for musicians, especially Alberta where people really know how to support their artists thanks to stations like CKUA. And they support their  legends like Ian Tyson,” he said adding thanks to the Internet,  a music  career is completely in the hands of the artists.
“It’s really up to the artist. Nobody really needs a  manager anymore. I have one and he’s great,” Wilson continued adding musicians can easily manage themselves.
 While he is already writing for another Lee Harvey Osmond record, he is also preparing for another Blackie and the Rodeo Kings record once Stephen Fearing returns from his European tour and Colin Linden completes a West coast stint with the Downchild Blues Band.
The show starts at 8 p.m. sharp. Tickets cost $35. Contact Mike Spencer at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more details and tickets.