Canadian cowboy singer Colter Wall has taken time off from ranching to release two new tracks, an original titled “Cypress Hills and the Big Country” and a cover of the Jack Clement penned “Let’s All Help the Cowboys (Sing the Blues)”.
The new songs follow Wall’s 2020 full-length Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs and a rare duet appearance/cowrite with Summer Dean on “You’re Lucky She’s Lonely” from last year’s excellent Bad Romantic.
“Cypress Hills and the Big Country” crafts a pastoral vision of Colter’s native Saskatchewan thumbed along by acoustic guitar and dobro & mandolin courtesy of multi-instrumentalist Patrick Lyons while the tune is hallmarked by the devil-beating gravel of Wall’s cultivated gruff.
On “Let’s All Help the Cowboys (Sing the Blues)”, originally released on Waylon Jennings’s memorable Dreaming My Dreams, Wall swaps Shakespeare for Waddie Mitchell and reaches for the chorus in a surprising but not unpleasant bark that ultimately works and distinguishes the 27-year-old’s version from any other.