Article by: Jason MacNeil

Allmusic.com

For Bob Egan, it's a case of being good in order to be lucky. As a child living in the Allmusic.com Chicago area, Egan performed in country-rock bands throughout high school and university as a way of paying tuition. In 1988, he began performing with Souled American, an odd roots rock outfit. After releasing its debut album, Fe, the band toured across the U.S. and particularly in the Chicago area. In 1994, Egan parted with his former group to join another roots rock group, Freakwater. The band's popularity spread into Europe, where Freakwater also toured in support of Old Paint. In 1996, Egan left the group and returned to Chicago where he ran his own guitar shop.

After receiving a call from Jeff Tweedy to support him at a solo performance in Chicago, Egan became the pedal steel guitarist for Wilco. In 1996, the group released Being There and toured for two years. Egan saw that the band was moving from a pedal steel direction into a more keyboard-oriented style, and parted with the group in 1998. In 1998, he also began recording material for his debut album. But the exercise left Egan financially drained. A call from Oh Susanna enabled him to perform on her album in exchange for 1,000 compact discs of his album to be manufactured. In 1999, he produced some alternative country bands in Norway, including Madrugaga. But again, he seemed to be fighting an uphill battle commercially and artistically.

After opening up for Jim Cuddy, he was asked to join Blue Rodeo, the Canadian equivalent to Wilco. He toured with the group in 1999 and 2000 and continues to perform with the group. He has also worked with Neko Case, the Sadies, Northern Pikes, and John Stirratt. In 2002, Egan released his second solo album, The Promise, which was recorded at Greg Keelor's home studio

OCTOBER 2003

Bob Egan Rocks Stratford – October 25, 2003 – by Kristine Tumm

 Bob Egan played his own material and delighted the crowd in Stratford as part of the Intimate Autumn concert series.  This amazing show also launched a new season of house parties, in which Bob brings his talents to our living rooms.   It was an evening of great music, featuring a mix of songs from his first two CDs and from his new EP, Lonesome Destiny.

For a first-time mom of a brand-new baby, a night out is a rare treat, and I was eagerly looking forward to the evening.  My friend and I made the one-hour drive to Stratford in time to hang out with some buddies from the bluerodeo.com discussion board before the show.  The venue was the Masonic Lodge, a small hall that provided an intimate setting.

Bob's backup for the evening consisted of Reid Jamieson on guitar, John Borra on bass, and Mike Belitsky (of the Sadies) on drums.  This was Mike's first time performing in Bob's band, and he did a terrific job.  Bob played a variety of guitars, including one dating back to 1929 that looked as though it had experienced many past lives.  During several numbers, he displayed his talents by switching instruments mid-song, an old showbiz trick he claimed to have learned from his mom.

As with all of Bob's shows, the stories and banter are as entertaining as the songs.  He broke the ice by describing his recent mishap with a floor sander while renovating his house.   The men in the audience must have been cringing as Bob joked that he might be singing a little higher than usual because of the incident!

Bob opened solo with Mystery of Love, followed by Sarah's Song from his new EP.  Then the rest of the band joined him for the remainder of the evening, launching into Liloette, Comin' Down Hard, and Take Me Back Again.  For My Maker And Me, Bob started with electric guitar and harmonica, later switching to the lap steel.  Mr. Moonlight, When I'm Gone, a new song called My Home Town, and I Could Be Wrong ensued.   Next came Cold Wind, a song he said he wrote near Stratford four years ago on his first tour with Blue Rodeo.

Bob and his band mates then paid tribute to the legendary Johnny Cash.  Bob described how opening for Johnny Cash nine years ago made him decide to enter the music business and accept Wilco's offer to join their band.  John Borra treated us to a terrific rendition of the Johnny Cash classic Ring of Fire.  He then sang one of his own compositions, Angola, which he had once considered sending to Johnny Cash.  Written in New Orleans, the song is about a boy who wants to go to prison someday because his father, brother, and uncles are there. Afterward, Reid Jamieson, alone on stage with his guitar, performed one of his songs, Last Day of the Year. 

Throughout the show, Bob mused about moving out of Toronto, maybe to Stratford.  He inquired about the local Latin music scene and treated us to a little Latin dancing!  Then he pulled out a Cuban tres guitar and sang an absolutely beautiful song he wrote for it, My Perfect Stranger.  The set ended with Forgiveness and Country Girl, and the band left the stage.  Not surprisingly, the crowd quickly rose to its feet, clapping for Bob's return.  Bob obliged with an encore consisting of Satellite (my personal favourite) and Everytime.  During Satellite, Bob started with the electric guitar and then switched to the lap steel and harmonica – that old showbiz trick again.

With the cold weather approaching, Bob talked about winter in Canada, the season when we call our exes looking for someone to snuggle with – all the better if they have a big screen TV for watching hockey!  He also spoke of going home for the holidays.  Bob’s stepfather may be a little jealous of Bob’s ’79-year-old mom in her new red sports car, getting the eye around town! Apparently Bob managed to talk them out of separating last holiday season.  He also mentioned his little sister, a major in the US army, who had just had a baby and will be leaving shortly for Iraq.  Bob will try using his powers of persuasion to convince her to stay near her family.

 Reid and John had their CDs for sale after the show, along with Bob's CDs.  The guys mingled with the crowd, and we enjoyed the chance to chat with them, especially Bob, who is always personable, friendly, and fun to talk to.  If he does indeed decide to move to Stratford, that city would be lucky to have him.  Let's just hope that for his sake, he leaves the floor sander back in Toronto!

FEBRUARY 2003

Bob will be making a television appearance on TVO's Studio 2 on Thursday February 13 at 8 p.m. ET. He will play two songs with his band consisting of Blue Rodeo band mate Glenn Milchem on guitar, John Borra on bass and Jason Tait (The Weakerthans) on drums and vibraphones. There will also be an in-depth interview. The show will be re-broadcast on February 13 at 11:30 p.m. and February 14 at 2:00 p.m.

JANUARY 2003

Bob will be playing at the Readers Cafe in Dunnville on Saturday Jan 11 at 9:00 p.m.
Tickets are $12.00 advance and $15.00 at the door.

DECEMBER 2002

Bob’s team of volunteers and assistants will spend the remainder of 2002 focusing on publicity in the United States, Norway, Australia, Japan, England and Germany.

NOVEMBER 2002

Bob will leave on the first of this month to start the “Palace of Gold” Tour with Blue Rodeo. This will occupy him until a Christmas break on December 8th during which he will be doing in-stores to promote “The Promise” and perhaps record release gigs in Halifax and Chicago. Dates will be posted here as soon as they come available.

Earlier this year Bob took on a challenging role as "National Goodwill Ambassador for the Canadian Paraplegic Association" and as Blue Rodeo hits the road for their national tour this month, Bob will meet with CPA representatives from coast to coast during layovers. On their first stop in Kelowna B.C., Bob had a chance to play solo at Evangel Tabernacle Church for some amazing people he met with spinal cord injuries who had overcome such challenges as giving birth, getting married, and establishing careers in today's job market. For now this is a two year commitment for Bob which he describes as "giving back something to Canada"

OCTOBER 2002

Bob has completed his three-week tour from Montreal to Victoria with Glenn Milchem (Blue Rodeo). Bob and Glenn learned each other’s songs and fronted the band using Pigeon-Hole’s (Montreal) rhythm section. Fans overwhelmingly enjoyed this rare opportunity to hear the best of two very different individual styles of music that came together for an incredibly blended sound. Bob and Glenn thoroughly enjoyed the experience and had a blast doing it.

When all was done the pair teamed back up with their Blue Rodeo band mates for a mini USA tour, hitting Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and NYC where they played in Times Square at B.B. King’s Blues Club.

In Mid-October, Bob will tour with The Sadies to support their new release “Stories Often Told.” The tour will take them to Hamilton, Toronto, Waterloo, Ottawa, Peterborough and Montreal.

Also this month, Bob has re-entered the studio with Jason Tait (drummer for the Weakerthans from Winnipeg) to begin his next album. The tracks cut so far sound like “Z.Z. Top meets the Who on a holiday in India with chanting Gregorian monks serving drinks.”

SEPTEMBER 2002

Bob has won a CCMA (Canadian Country Music Association) Award. The awards were held in Calgary, Alberta Sept 6 - 9. Bob was nominated under the All-Star Band category for "Special Instrument" for the Dobro.

Bob's been doing a lot of interviews for CBC on national shows. He was Interviewed by Sook-Yin Lee for Definitely Not The Opera on Saturday September 14th and they played "Country Girl" He also did a song set-up for Richardson's Roundup that hasn't aired yet (TBA). Bob will be on "folk oasis", a show on CITR in Vancouver at 9:30 PM on the 18th and listen for Bob on CBC's "This Morning" on the 19th at 11:30 A.M. This should be a fairly in-depth interview.

Before nationwide touring with Blue Rodeo in support of the new CD gets underway, Bob will team up with his Blue Rodeo Bandmate Glenn Milchelm and the group Pigeon-Hole (Montreal) for a coast to coast tour across Canada from Montreal to Victoria from Sept 7 to Sept 27. Check the Tour Page for details.

For fans in the Edmonton area, Bob and Glenn will play a couple of songs on "Wired" (A-Channel TV) to be aired on the 20th. Also, Bob will be in the CBC studios for an interview with the drive-home show "Radio Active" at 5:40 PM (EDM) on the 19th.

AUGUST 2002

As summer draws to an end, Bob will wrap up his house concert series with two final shows, the 10th in Sarnia and the 24th in Georgetown.

With the release date for Palace of Gold quickly nearing, extensive touring with Blue Rodeo in support of the CD will consume of the majority of Bob's time this late fall and winter. Video shoots have begun for the CD as well as a CMT television special with guest appearances by Alan Doyle (Great Big Sea), Ron Sexsmith, Rick White, Sarah Harmer and the Sadies. This special was shot at a farm near Kendal, Ontario.

JULY 2002

Summer festivals dominated July. Blue Rodeo played the Ottawa Bluesfest, Timmons Fan Fair, Wawa Summerfest and the Montreal Canada Day Celebrations. Photo shoots were also done this month for the release of Palace of Gold.

Bob returned to the studio with the Sadies and wrote and recorded a few new songs with Travis Good from the Sadies at his farm studio. He also did some recording with Damhnait Doyle for her new record.

Free Times Cafe in Toronto was the setting for an intimate "acoustic" show on July 30. Fans were treated to old and new songs as well as a few forgotten lyrics.

The Promise was released in the U.S. on the 30th.

JUNE 2002

The highlight of June were the celebrations for the release of “The Promise.” CD Release parties were held at Le Carbaret in Montreal and The Rivoli in Toronto with Montreal’s Pigeon-Hole opening. There was a great mix of media, colleagues, Blue Rodeo bandmates and fans in attendance. Accompanying Bob onstage were Travis Good (The Sadies), Richard Bell (The Band), Jason Tait (The Weakerthans), Basil Donovan (Blue Rodeo) and Reid Jamieson (solo artist).

The release shows were followed by a couple of intimate band shows in Fenelon Falls and Hamilton with Jason Tait on drums and John Borra (Change of Heart) on bass guitar.

The Annual NXNE Festival showcasing the best in Indie talent was also held this month in Toronto and saw Bob do a packed out show at the Victory Cafe.

Bob joined his Blue Rodeo bandmates for a couple of events this month. They traveled two days to Norman Wells, B.C. to play the Summer Solstice and Bob celebrated the event by staying up until 6am to verify that the sun never went down. Blue Rodeo also made their familiar appearance at Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre giving the audience a chance to hear some songs from their much anticipated new album Palace of Gold to be released soon. Toronto’s own Molly Johnson opened the show. Molly’s amazing voice can be heard on background vocals on the Palace of Gold CD.

MAY 2002

May found Bob continuing his very popular house concert series with shows in Edmonton, Red Deer, Winnipeg and Ottawa. He managed to squeeze in a couple of club gigs and radio show appearances too. Most amazingly he got up at 6am (that’s right, am) to play on the “Big Breakfast TV Show” in both Winnipeg and Edmonton. This popular morning news and variety program is the West Coast version of Toronto’s Breakfast Television and airs weekdays from 5 - 9 a.m.

Returning home Bob ducked into the Rouge studio to record with Ember Swift (Toronto) for her new record. He also played a session with Bluebird in Toronto for their new record. At the Gram Parsons Tribute show at the Rivoli in Toronto Bob honored his hero by playing Sin City and Luxury Liner with Jay Clarke and The Jones.

The Promise was shipped to Canadian retailers on May 31st.

APRIL 2002

The Reviews across Canada for The Promise are in. Dan Rubinstein of Vue Weekly writes “Bob Egan is the most Promis-ing Musician of 2002!” Check out all of the reviews and interviews in the Press Section.

While Bob was busy this month with press interviews, he found time to travel overseas to London, Manchester and Paris for a European “mini-tour” with Richard Buckner.
The crowds were good and in Manchester Bob found he was a bit of a cult figure courtesy of a local record store owner who sold alot of Bob’s debut record back in ’98.

Once back home Bob played a local show at Toronto’s C’est What with Reid Jamieson and also met with producers at Umbrella Music to discuss a video for “Mr. Moonlight” from the Promise. Meanwhile the Sadies began working on a new album and called upon Bob to record with them at Blue Rodeo’s new recording studio in Toronto.

BobEgan.Com is now Bloggerized!

MARCH 2002

The highlight of March was the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. Bob was a busy man playing a total of nine shows with six bands in four days. He logged in the most time with Canada's beloved Sadies playing showcases at the Yard Dog (for Schuba's Tavern and Bloodshot Records), the NXNE showcase at J.P. Reilly's and a special party organized by Alejandro Escovedo at the Continental Club. By all accounts the Sadies were on fire.

Bob also played shows with Linda McLean presenting her new songs at the Hideout and Jenny Whitely showing them how country should be done at the Broken Spoke. Jon Langford (the Mekons and the Waco Brothers) tore it up at the Yard Dog showcase. Bob also played a rally/fundraiser to support the moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois. This show at Mother Egan's (no relation) was graced by such wonderful singers as Kelly Hogan, Sally Timms, Lonesome Bob and Paul Burch.

A surprise showcase at Stubbs with Kevin Salem saw Bob re-united with his old bandmate from Wilco, the drummer Ken Coomer. It was a surprise because Bob had met Kevin for the first time just the day before.

Earlier in the month Bob and his band (Stephen McGrath on drums, John Borra on bass and new member Reid Jamieson on guitar and vocals) opened for Blue Rodeo drummer Glen Milchem with his band the Swallows at the Rancho Relaxo in Toronto.

A European mini-tour has been confirmed. Bob will play 3 shows : April 17th in London (the Borderline), April 18th in Manchester and April 19th in Paris. He will be opening for Richard Buckner, then playing with him on National and pedal steel guitar.

Bob will return to the Rogue Studio in Toronto in late March. He will be recording what he describes as "a new batch of folk songs" with just his acoustic guitar. In addition, he will spend a day with samples and drum loops recording instrumental music. "Both of these sessions will probably be released as limited-edition EP's" according to Bob.

FEBRUARY 2002

Bob did a mini tour with Richard Buckner (Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax) both opening for him and playing with him. They are scheduled to take this show to Europe sometime in the spring.

Studio time in February was reserved for working on new records by Jon Langford and by the Sadies in the Blue Rodeo Studio. Bob will join the Sadies for their appearance on the Mike Bullard show February 6th. Also scheduled are politician Joe Clark and porn star Ron Jeremy.

Blue Rodeo played a weekend in Stratford, Ontario at the Stratford Festival Theatre then later traveled to the east coast to play shows in Sydney, Halifax and the new Mile One Stadium in St. Johns.

JANUARY 2002

Most of January was spent in recording studios both with Blue Rodeo at their studio in Toronto and in Morin Heights at the famed Le' Studio with Pigeon Hole. Pigeon Hole is a Montreal based band with two female singers that sound like a cross between Joni Mitchell and the Indigo Girls. Le' Studio is where the Police, Rush and Sting recorded records. The guest house where everyone stayed mysteriously burnt to the ground in the middle of the sessions leaving everyone with only the clothes on their backs. Thankfully no one was hurt.

A Canadian distribution deal for the Promise, Bob's much anticipated sophmore release was finalized clearing the way to set a release date and book a tour. Festival Distribution from Vancouver will release the record.

DECEMBER 2001

Blue Rodeo conducted their final U.S. tour of the year in early December. Bob vacationed the rest of the month in Chicago and Mississippi.

NOVEMBER 2001

Bob played several house parties (Kingston, Sarnia and Port Perry) as well as opening for the Sadies at the Horseshoe in Toronto. In addition to his regular rhythm section for the Shoe show (Stephen McGrath and John Borra) he was joined by Darrell O'Dea (ex-Staggered Crossing) on keys and half of Blue Rodeo's Bushwacked Horns (Bryden Baird on trumpet and Chris Gale on sax). He also sat in with his friends the Be Good Tanyas when they opened for Sarah Harmer at Convocation Hall in Toronto.

Blue Rodeo played their re-scheduled U.S. tour and headed down to Austin, Texas to tape the long running PBS music show Austin City Limits. Upon returning, the Rodeo played a lunch time show at BCE Place where they were presented the keys to the city.

OCTOBER 2001

Blue Rodeo's Greatest Hits record was released and the band toured for three weeks from Victoria, B.C. to Halifax N.S. to support it.

DECEMBER 2000

One Year Anniversary - Bob has just celebrated 1 full year of playing with Blue Rodeo. November 3rd, 1999 was Bob's first Rodeo show and it happened at the Rosebud in Pittsburgh, PA. November 3rd, 2000 found the Rodeo back stateside at th Tralf in Buffalo where the celebration was fairly muted. Baked good and assorted beverages were served.

158 Shows - It was a very busy year for Blue Rodeo who played 158 shows between November 1999 and December 2000. This included an 80 date coast to coast tour of Canadian theaters and hockey arenas, a month in Australia, a fly tour of summer festivals, a return trup to Australia during the Olympics, and a wrap up tour of northern U.S. cities. Great fun was had by all.

NOVEMBER 2000

Into the Studio for Solo Record - Bob will return to the studio in December to begin work on the follow up to his highly overlooked debut record. He will be joined by some fine Canadians including a few of the Rodeos, Travis from the Sadies, Cam from Luther Wright and the Wrongs, and Maury from Starling.