Edmonton country band the Dungarees bring their new EP Twenty -Something to the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Feb. 14.
Anybody who has elderly parents or grand parents will identify with their latest single “ Don’t Make Em Like They Used To,” the second single off the EP, which was released six months ago on Road Angel Records with Warner and Sony distributing it, though it was just released digitally on Jan. 18.
“I think a lot of people identify with that song,” said bassist / vocalist James Murdoch, who is joined by guitarist/vocalist Robb Angus, guitarist/vocalist Kiron Jhass, steel player Darrek Anderson and drummer Ben Shillabeer.
“The three of us in the band all had different ideas about the song. We started thinking about things like a sweater or guitar that are like an anchor in our lives. It could be a car, a guitar or an old sweater or a person. For me , I was thinking about my grandfather who passed away a year ago, who always said ‘do it right the first time and it will last a lifetime. Which means don’t start changing yourself. Have pride in yourself and your work,” Murdoch continued, adding this Cd is a little more serious than their previous work.
“ We’ve been playing for 10 years. And it was all about having a good time. We wanted to write about more serious things,” he said.
The band has done things right the first time They had a top 50 single in Canada in 2014 with “I Ain’t Through Being Happy yet,” and followed it up with “ “I’m Down,” which broke the Top 40.
In 2017, they had another hit with ‘Anywhere With You,” which earned them three ACMA awards for Group of the Year, Video of the Year and the Rising Star Award.
This year, they are nominated for six Alberta Country Music Association awards and played the ceremonies in Red Deer, Jan 24 and 25.
“ We’ve been nominated for best album of the year, best single of the year for ‘Twenty-Something, group of the year and community spirit award which is really special, because we played the 24 hour gig challenge, where we played for 24 hours to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society,” he said adding he has also been nominated for ‘Just Drive,’ a song he co-wrote with Justin Hogg, plus video of the year for ‘Twenty Something.’ They release the video for “ Don’t Make Em Like They Used to” on Feb. 4.
“ It’s great to get support from radio, but there are other ways to get your music out there,” he said.
“ It’s nice to get a little bit of recognition for our work,” he said.
“ The last few years have been very busy,” he said.
Over the past few years, they have charted several singles including the previous single “Twenty-Something” and have earned a dedicated audience in Australia.
“Their music scene is very similar to ours. There are a lot of similarities between the two countries. And our winter is their summer, so we can double our tour schedule,” he continued.
“We’ve had five other hits in Australia,” he observed.
“We’ve had a great career,” he continued, adding they worked with Paul Worley who produced albums by the Dixie Chicks, Alabama and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
Murdoch is looking forward to returning to Lethbridge. The Dungarees played Casino Lethbridge a couple years ago, and Murdoch went to LCI for a couple years.
“My mom lives in Lethbridge, so I’ve been back and forth for 17-18 years. It’s been too long since we’ve played it. We’re playing with Shaela Miller, so we’re excited about that,” he enthused.
“We’ll be playing a full set including the new album. It will be like a high energy rock show. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” he promised.
The Dungarees and Shaela Miller play the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Feb. 14. Admission is by donation.
