Vulcan’s Tin and the Toad played and upbeat set of alt country music at the Slice, March 16 for the second day of the Prairie Folk Tournament.
They had a crack band, though it would be hard not to be when their ranks included Steve Loree adding extra lead guitar and the odd vocal harmony and bassist Pete Loughlin, who often plays with Dave McCann.
The entire band played a lot of Texas style country fried twanging Telecaster fuelled country music along the lines of Hayes Carll with a bit of Fred Eaglesmith. They tackled a cover of Eaglesmith’s “Freight Train,” and pulled it off quite well.
Lead singer Tin ( Justin Smith) and the Toad ( Cody Shearer) traded lead vocals and Smith broke out his mandolin for the last few songs of their set.
In addition to a lot of originals about farming, working in the oil patch and Southern Alberta geography, they tossed in a few covers including “Freight Train,” and The Band’s “Up on Cripple Creek.”
I enjoyed a mandolin powered number “You Remind Me of A Prairie Train.”
Loree sang lead vocals on a song about marijuana “I Wish I Was in Vancouver.”
They were called back for an encore of “Cigarettes, Booze and Weed,” which they described as “the greatest song ever written.”
Shaela 
Miller and Treeline were the main event of the night as they played into the wee hours.
They took turns playing songs from Treeline’s “Prairie Sentimentalist,” Cd as well as several Shaela Miller favourites. But they also introduced a couple brand new collaborations between the two including “Sentimental Cowboy.”
They also threw in some choice covers by Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings and Andrew Neville’s “Brand New Song,” which is on “Prairie Sentimentalist.”
Shaela Miller and Treeline are a perfect match on stage as Taylor Ackerman on lead guitar, Tyler Bird on stand up bass, drummer Clayton Smith and Ryan Dyck alternating between guitar and pedal steel and vocals, gell together very well.
Both Miller and Dyck have a distinctive twang in their voices and Miller’s inimitable warble continues to shine, making her one of the brightest lights on the Lethbridge music scene.
