Corb Lund

Corb Lund

Corb Lund is a Canadian country singer-songwriter from Taber, Alberta. Born in 1969, he works in western and country music and performs with Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans; he is also associated with The Smalls.

Career

Lund releases albums under his own name and has issued nine albums in total, three of which are certified gold. He tours regularly in Canada, the United States and Australia, and receives awards in Canada and abroad.

Songwriting and influences

His songs draw heavily on real-life characters, family history and western imagery. He writes about ranchers, miners, gamblers, rodeo life and figures from western folklore, often using stories rooted in the Canadian West. He has said that his family has long connections to ranching and rodeo, with ancestors who worked as ranchers and cattle people in Canada, Utah and Nevada. He also describes his own experience as a steer rider and horseman as part of the background to his writing.

Lund’s musical interests are shaped by Marty Robbins and Johnny Horton, and he also cites Kris Kristofferson and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott as influences. He grew up hearing traditional cowboy ballads from his grandfathers, including “The Strawberry Roan,” which he identifies as the first song he learns.

Writing themes

Among the characters and situations that appear in his songs are a hard-luck gambler, a rodeo rider, a veterinarian, a deadly female gunslinger, an out-of-luck rancher and a farmer displaced by oil drilling. His writing combines specific western subjects with broader storytelling.