Friday, Sept. 20
Jasper Legion, 8 p.m.
If Zachary Lucky’s grandfather knew he liked new-age country, he’d be mighty unimpressed.
That’s why Lucky calls Brad Paisley his guilty pleasure, rather than just a pleasure.
“Country music is in my blood,” he said referring to the music career of his grandfather, Smilin Johnny Lucky. “He would be rolling in his grave if he knew I liked new country music.”
Lucky, a Saskatoon native who’s touring on the heels of his sixth album release, has been playing music since he was 10 years old. Although there are undeniable country elements ingrained in his songs, he wouldn’t categorize his own music as country. Rather, he said, he’s doing what feels right.
And right now that’s singing and writing songs that are more personal and mature than anything he’s done in the past.
“This record,” he said referring to The Ballad of Losing You, released Sept. 17, “had the most growth in comparison to everything I’ve put out thus far. It’s the first time I’ve ever really taken something that I was feeling and crafted a whole story around it, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.”
He describes the album as a personal narrative about the uncertainty of loss and transformation.
Since making music his full-time job four or five years ago, Lucky has produced six albums. “I figure as a rule of thumb, busy is good,” he said with a laugh. “I try to make music all that I’m doing. I try to be on the road as much a possible and try to be writing songs and putting out records as often as I can.”
His latest release, as well as being more “mature and concise”, is a little different than previous ones.
“It was really quick,” he said. “I wrote these songs in February and March and then we were in the studio in April.”
That’s not his usual style, either. In fact, once those new songs were written, he shelved all of the material he had intended to record.
“It was weird, I was out on the road in February and it was cold—February is never a fun time to be on the road. I had three or four days off in Ontario and the people I normally stay with were gone, so I just had this apartment to myself and it just sort of created this space to sit and write and it just sort of happened organically.
“I ended up writing a bunch of songs that felt a little more cohesive than the songs I already had.”
That experience was especially unusual because Lucky normally does all of his writing at home, when he’s just come off a tour. “That’s when I go into decompression mode and let everything out,” he said.
The release party for The Ballad of Losing You was in Saskatoon last week, kicking off a Canada-wide tour that will keep Lucky and his band busy until November.
And busy is how Lucky likes to be.
“I’ve never been one to believe that you can have one foot in and one foot out,” he said.
Nicole Veerman
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