Roger Marin bringing real country to Lethbridge

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Anybody who has toured and survived Fred Eaglesmith’s relentless touring schedule, will end up a better performer and Roger Marin plays the Slice, Sunday. Photo submittedsongwriter for the experience.
 Such is the case of ‘country’  singer Roger Marin, who spent years touring with Eaglesmith and Willie P Bennet, but has just begun touring on his third solo Cd ‘Silvertown.’
“This is more of a band CD,” said Marin who is is bringing his band, drummer Matt Keighan, bassist Phil Bosley and lead guitarist Mike Tuyp to the Slice, June 27. While he wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on the new CD, the band members also contributed a couple of the tracks.
While  the first couple tracks off the new CD sound a little  more mainstream country, Marin said that wasn’t his intention.
“When people  call me a country musician, they’re thinking Tim McGraw. To me that’s not really country, to me country is Buck Owens. I’m influenced by more outlaw country. I think we just wanted to to play what  we play as a band plays on stage,” he said.
“ But if people think it’s more radio friendly, maybe that will help as far as getting radio airplay,” he continued adding it is more important to write an honest song than think about radio airplay.
“The subject matter really reflects my experiences. I’ve never really been political, I usually write about everyday experiences, ” he said adding very few of the songs had been performed live before this tour.
“Silvertown is about a town outside of Niagara Falls where we live, that had a factory that was pretty toxic. A lot of people died and it got shut down by a lawsuit. People don’t even call it Silvertown anymore because of it,” he said, adding the band took some time off , trimming their touring schedule down from 250 dates to 150.

“It was a nice break to stay home and  and do nothing but reflect. You have to leave yourself open.  But my music is  definitely all about just being honest. I sort of see things happing around me touring all over North America. And its great to have influences like Fred Eaglesmith and Townes Van Zandt, Slaid Cleaves and Hayes Carll,” he said.


“I’m really excited and the band is really motivated to get back on the road. I’m just feeling really good about it,” Marin continued  from a tour stop in Olds en route to the North Country Fair. His tour will then take him back down south. He has already toured the northeast, in Vermont as part of Fred Eaglesmith’s  Roots on the River Tour.
“We’re at the point where we are really comfortable with what we are doing,” he said adding
“I’m just going to see what happens with it. I’m going to shop the album for a record deal. If I get one, I get one, if not, I have solid support from the fans and we can sustain ourselves on the road,” he said.
While he wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on the new CD, the band members also contributed a couple of the tracks.
While  the first couple tracks off the new CD sound a little  more mainstream country, Marin  said that wasn’t his intention.
“When people talk call me a country musician, they’re thinking Tim McGraw. To me that’s not really country, to me country is Buck Owens. I’m influenced by more outlaw country. I think we just wanted to to play what  we play as a band plays on stage,” he said.
“ But if people think it’s more radio friendly, maybe that will help as far as getting radio airplay,” he continued adding it is more important to write an honest song than think about radio airplay.
“The subject matter really reflects my experiences. I’ve never really been political, I usually write about everyday experiences, ” he said.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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