Canadian Corb Lund, who grew up in Alberta, is cultivating an American audience now.

Fish Griwkowsky

More Photos (1):

Other articles by Gerald M. Gay:

Found sound Mr. K's draws raves Remote Controlled : Head to Phoenix area in July for more shots at reality fame Want DJs' tweets? Here's a sampleDancers? But of courseInfectious young mambo project With daughters away, Lorber in Tucson for weekend Jazz Party Original 1974 menu prices at Tucson's Bum Steer today Tucson (but greener) featured on Fox series Reggae rapper

Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator General
A1 Communications
Cable Techs

After years of winning over country audiences in Canada, Australia and Europe, Alberta crooner Corb Lund has fixed his sights on the United States.

"That's the only piece left in the puzzle," said Lund in a phone interview last week from Edmonton, Alberta. "We are a little more developed in those other places, which keeps us from visiting the States more. We always feel like 'Well, we better get back to Australia so they don't forget us because we've already got something going there. ' "

Lund begins his U.S. invasion in Denver on Sunday on a tour that will take him through Plush Tuesday.

He brings along with him not only a healthy repertoire of original and quirky, traditional- leaning country tunes but the historical lineage to back it up.

Lund grew up in Alberta, an area he calls "the Texas of Canada" because of its mountains, cattle, big oil and cowboy culture. The guitarist comes from a long line of ranchers and cattlemen. Members of his family originally migrated to Alberta from Utah as part of a Mormon migration.

"If you dig deep into the family history, some of them were Mormons and at some point around the 1870s people were sent from Utah to Mexico and Canada to find new places to settle," he said. "They found a couple of towns in southern Alberta, and we've been ranchers and cowboys here ever since."

Lund speaks proudly of his heritage and tries to apply it as much as possible to his music.

Tracks from his latest release, 2005's "Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer," include songs about the family ranch and the preservation of Canadian wildlife. The song "Always Keep an Edge on your Knife," with lyrics like "Never put your hat on the bed/Cause if your hat's on the bed, you might wake up dead," is made up entirely of advice Lund received from his grandfather growing up.

"I pull a lot of material from my family history," Lund said. "Like turns of phrase and manners of speaking. There is not a whole lot of rural content in country music anymore. It's interesting when you can take your own culture and present it to people and they actually like it."

Lund even managed to scrounge up a couple of bona fide country/folk legends to accompany him on the album. Fellow Canadian Ian Tyson provides vocals on "The Rodeo's Over" and Americana folkie Ramblin' Jack Elliott lends both vocals and guitar on the alternate version of "The Truck Got Stuck Talkin' Blues."

"I played a couple of shows with Jack in Edmonton a couple of years ago," Lund said. "We spent a night drinking beer and he took a liking to me for some reason."

Despite his sometimes oddball delivery and unusual lyrics and melodies, Lund has been fully embraced by Canada's country music community. Both "Hair in My Eyes" and Lund's previous album, "Five Dollar Bill," reached gold status in Canada (50,000 units sold).

The Canadian Country Music Association even nominated the musician for no less than nine honors at this year's CCMA Awards to be held next month.

"It still surprises me," Lund said. "Radio stations up here have been playing the crap out of us. We've been embraced by the straight country scene, which is weird because we are the black sheep, the weirdos.

"Some of my stuff is more traditional and in that context, like at cowboy gatherings, people really like it," Lund said. "But we also play a lot of dirty punk clubs. How many punk kids like Johnny Cash? Lots, right? There is a connection between raw country and raw punk. Especially in Alberta where most of the punk kids' dads listened to country music."