The Wheat Pool - Township
Published by Woody September 24th, 2007.
I stumbled upon this recent release on emusic in the new releases under Alt-County. The reason I downloaded it was twofold: 1) I remember at some point in my life, probably a college Econ class, learning about The Wheat Pool that was started in Alberta amongst wheat farmers. 2) They had a song named Neil Young. Combining economics and classic rock icons always leads to success, doesn’t it?
I am happy to report that, in this instance, it does indeed. The Wheat Pool are a four-piece out of Edmonton that joined forces “to give voice to their rural obsessions and fierce penchant for dark country rock.” They are led by brothers Mike and Robb Angus who share the vocal duties. Judging by Robb’s Q&A sessions on their website, I am hazarding a guess that he is Alberta’s answer to Dr. Phil.
Having never been to Alberta, you’ll have to take this next statement with a grain of salt, but I would imagine this album to be the perfect soundtrack for a road trip through the cold, winter stretches of Albertan farmland. The Wheat Pool’s lyrics are full of hope, despair, pain, and love. These guys aren’t just throwing some words together with a catchy hook either. They are trying to paint a picture of the rural life up in Alberta.
A couple of my favorite tracks on the disc are the aforementioned “Neil Young,” that fittingly features some harmonica, “Emily Carr” and “Peniel, SK.”
If you dig bands like Lucero, Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown, then I would suggest checking these guys out.
it’s sweet to hear that people all over are discovering the wheat pool. i know this guys well and can tell you they’re going to be around for a while.