Head Tale

Colter Wall is a Saskatchewan musician who is getting a lot of attention lately, at least in part due to a positive mention by WWE/UFC superstar, Brock Lesnar who used a Wall song in a recent promo video as well as some of his music being included on the “Dog the Bounty Hunter” show.

Wall’s first album is a mix of Americana blues with hints of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash among others and it’s *very* good.

When you first hear Colter Wall’s music, it sounds like the spirit of another time reaching through the ether of our own to project its ghosts back into you. The video of the Saskatchewan native alone on stage playing the lead single off his new album Imaginary Appalachia, “Sleeping On The Blacktop,” to an empty room captures the aesthetic pretty well.    – Full article.

In a way, it’s not fair to bring this up as it’s irrelevant to the quality of his music.  But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Colter also happens to be the son of Saskatchewan Premier, Brad Wall.

“My goal is to just keep what I do and what my dad does entirely separate because they are,” he said. “People have been for the most part pretty decent about the whole thing and just accepting my music and deciding whether they like it or don’t like it entirely on the music and not on who my dad happens to be.”

That connection is interesting for a couple reasons – Brock Lesnar is a Minnesota farm boy whose brother lives in Saskatchewan and Lesnar has even indicated that he could see himself moving here someday.  Lesnar and Premier Wall have interacted and you wonder if Mr. Wall put a bug in the wrestler’s ear about his son’s music?

The other interesting connection is that Colter is turning into a musical sensation which includes production, touring, performing and filming clips like the one below, shot at Regina’s Creative City Centre.  Yet, Premier Wall is also notorious in some circles for his attacks on the creative industries, especially the cutting of funding to the film industry.

My post on those cuts from three years ago is still, to this day, the most viewed post ever on this blog by a factor of 10.  It’s interesting that, although it’s mainly about the film industry in Saskatchewan, I tie it into the idea of family as well as the thought that my own son might be a future rock star with the right support and guidance.

Although he rightly wants to be judged on his own merits, let’s hope Colter can also help convince his dad of the importance of supporting art and artists which can be thought of as a renewable resource for the province.

“Sleeping on the Blacktop” – Colter Wall (The lyrics I excerpted in the title of this post are my best attempt to decipher Colter’s marbly delivery.)