Blue Rodeo is Riding High

Vancouver Province (01.27.00)

The past year has been a productive one for Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor.

First there was the release of his well-received solo album, All In Time, and subsequent tour, then the recording of Blue Rodeo's just released, The Days In Between, the group's most focused album since 1990's Casino.

If there were evidence of a band that had renewed itself, the public proof was Blue Rodeo's show at the reopening of the Commodore Ballroom in November.

With new member Bob Egan replacing Kim Deschamps on pedal steel, the band's older material bristled with energy and the songs from the yet-to-be-released album not only had the freshness of the new but they fit into the setlist smoothly.

Cuddy and Greg Keelor, Bazil Donovan, Glenn Milchem and James Gray played with a vitality that belied a band that had been around 15 years and had amassed 10 band and solo albums.

"We're on a high," Cuddy says a few months later, prior to Blue Rodeo's return to the Commodore, Saturday through Monday, and its Queen Elizabeth Theatre date, Feb 6. "We're definitely on a high. It's probably the result of making this album. It has more detail, it has more energy.

"And it's having new songs to play and having Bob in the band. Bob is not as skilled as Kim is but he's a more rhythmic player and brings a different sound to the band.

"That chair in the band needed to be changed, needed to be energized" Cuddy continues, "Bob plays steel with a guitar player's sensibility."

Deschamps is out of the band, but his lyrical, atmospheric playing can be heard on The Days In Between. This was recorded at Dan Lanois' Kingsway Studio in New Orleans and co-produced with Trina Shoemaker, Sheryl Crow's producer.

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