The Coal Creek Boys are looking forward to releasing their debut CD “Hard At It in Old Town,” at the Slice, Jan. 14.
The Coal Creek Boys are an amalgamation of two popular Lethbridge bands — lead singer/ guitarist Johnpaul Smith and multi-instrumentalist Dino Scavo from Sleeping with Tuesday and guitarist Devin Gergel and drummer Dustin Gergel from the Necessities along with backup singer Ali Stuart.
They combine pop songwriting hooks with the storytelling of folk music and the twang and gritty storytelling of traditional country music. They explore a variety of Canadian historical themes along the lines of like Tim Hus, Stompin’ Tom Connors and Tanglefoot.
“It sounds like Waylon Jennings having sex with Lynard Skynard with Govt. Mule in the background serving the beer in the background,” Smith described.
The 18 track country/ rock CD explores a variety of subjects including the Elk Valley’s rich and vibrant, colourful coal mining history. Coal Creek/ Fernie/ Sparwood area, the Civil War and, most prominently, coal mining which they can authentically sing about as Smith grew up in a coal mining community and worked in the mine alongside his brother and father.
There are a plethora of stories on the CD about miners, mine disasters and interesting characters like murderer Samuel Hickory Cobb, Irish immigrants fighting in the U.S.. Civil War, war widows, The James Gang and gunfighter and folk hero Calamity Jane.
“ There’s toughness to mining. You need strength and endurance. There are people working in the coal mines who don’t love it, but they do it for their families as much as they hate it. I almost went back to it,” Smith continued.
“Hard at it in Old Town”, (an old Fernie reference meaning when a resident from Coal Creek went to Fernie to have a night on the town), is a hard hitting album embracing the traditional outlaw country sounds of today and yesterday.
The song ‘May 22nd 1902’ tells the story of a father and son who perished in the explosion at Coal Creek and remain as spirits in the town the band adopted their name from.
“We wanted to record it live off the floor, so if there were any mistakes, we left them in if they weren’t too bad,” Smith said.
They have been working on the CD for about two years. The limited edition CD includes a full colour booklet featuring old photos and telling the the stories behind the songs.
“We wanted it to sound like us,” Smith said.
As much as they are enjoying the direction they are taking with country music, Smith noted recording this CD was also an opportunity to share the stories off Elk Valley.
“There are a lot of stories in that area,” he said adding very little remains of the actual town of Coal Creek other than a few skeletal structures of long forgotten buildings.
“ I love sharing these stories. The people of the area are forgetting why they are there,” he said.
While he grew up listening to country and folk music, learning how to actually play country music has been an enjoyable experience.
“It’s been interesting learning how to play country music, ” he said crediting Devin and Dustin Gergel for showing him the basics and Scavo for helping with arrangements. He credited Lethbridge roots/ country acts Treeline and the Shaela Miller Threesome for convincing him to take the leap into country and Taylor Ackerman for his guidance.
“ We wanted to include all kinds of country on the CD,” Smith said noting the 18 tracks on the Cd range from upbeat barn burners to mellow acoustic bluesand tender ballads.
The Gergel brothers grew up on a Southern Alberta farm, but have been playing music with a variety of bands since their early teens. Scavo has also played with numerous bands.
Scavo brings extensive musical composition training and prowess on numerous instruments including bass, mandolin and accordion, just to name a few.
They are already working on the follow-up to “Hard At It In Old Town.”
They have several special guests on the CD including Kelsey Jesperson on fiddle. Prominent Canadian songwriter and Fred Eaglesmith alum Roger Marin is playing pedal steel guitar on several tracks.
They will be having a couple special guests performing at their CD release party including Sleeping With Tuesday’s Ryan Mildenberger and Evan Schaaf along with Ryan Miller, who will be opening. Matt Robinson will be following them and the Coal Creek Boys will close off the night.
The show is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Admission is $10.
