L.A. Beat

New Mexico based cowboy singer Steve Cormier has seen and done it all.

 He grew up in Minnesota,  has competed in rodeos as a bareback rider, played hockey, has acted in movies and  TV shows like Breaking Bad toured as a musician, retired from that to become a college history professor and is back on the road to play a couple of Lethbridge shows, March 1 at the Lethbridge Folk Club Wolf’s den and a week later for a Home Routes Concert at Valerie McQuaid’s house, March 7.
“ I’ll be playing the Folk club with Peter Paul Van Camp. We’ll each do a set. Then I’ll be back in a week to do a whole show,” Cormier observed from his New Mexico home.

“ People tell me I’ve had an interesting life, but it’s not over yet,” he continued adding he is looking forward to coming back to Canada especially with Peter Van Camp.

“I don”t think there is a better MC than Peter Paul Van Camp. I’m picking him up at the bus station,” he said.
“I’ve got 10 concerts for Home Routes in Edmonton, Evansburg, High River, Lethbridge, Eastend, Saskatchewan, Medicine Hat, Rocky Mountain House, Olds and Okotoks,” he observed.

“ This is the first time I’ll have played Canada since the ’80s, he said adding he used to hit the summer festival circuit including Winnipeg Folk Festival, Edmonton Folk Festival and Toronto Folk Festival.

“ I don’t think I’ve ever played a bad show in Canada. I haven’t toured Canada  since 1987. I took off 22 years to become an academic to be a college history professor,” he said.
 He is excited to play Alberta because of  the cowboy history.
“ I play working cowboy songs, not Hollywood cowboy songs, there is a difference” Cormier said.

“ Alberta has an amazing cowboy history. There was Pete Knight and John Ware a ba lack man who came up to Canada from the United states to become a rancher. I’m a huge Wilf Carter fan, so I sing a song about Pete Knight. he was a saddle bronc rider. He won the big three— Calgary, Cheyenne and Pendleton,” he said.
“ I rodeoed myself, though it wasn’t on a professional level, so I’m interested in  people like Pete Knight,” he said.

 

 He noted  New Mexico doesn’t have folk clubs like in Canada, however  he is part of the chautauqua circuit— travelling variety shows combining  lectures, concerts and plays.
“ There aren’t a lot of folk clubs here but there are a lot of house concerts,” he observed.
 He  also doesn’t perform at cowboy poetry festivals.

“I’m not a poet,” he said adding he is a storyteller.
“ And people come for my amazing guitar playing — that’s a joke,” he quipped.
He is also an actor who has appeared in Wyatt Earp, the Astronaut Farmer, the TV movie Desperado: Avalanche ant Devil’s Ridge and in an episode of Breaking Bad.
“ I was in one episode of Breaking Bad called One Minute. I played  an OPR Officer of Professional Response — a position which actually exists,” he said.
“It’s an episode where Jesse gets beaten up pretty badly,” he said.

“And even though it is only one episode, people still recognize me in the street for it,” he added.
“ I was also in Astronaut Farmer with Billy Bob Thornton,” he said.
Steve Cormier and Peter-Paul Van Camp play the Lethbridge Folk Club Wolf’s Den (MJS Cycle 1502 -2nd Avenue South) , March 1  at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 for members and $30 for invited guests.
 Cormier’s March 7 house concert has been mooved from the McQuaid household to Dawn Grey’s house. Phone or text 403-715-6172 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to reserve ticket. Tickets cost $20. The show begins at 8 p.m.