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PRESS REVIEWS 2003
THE TRUCKS
The Edmonton Journal, Peter
North May 2003
The Trucks can be excused for taking a considerable amount of time to complete their self-titled album.
A multitude of commitments simply delayed the process and if any four musicians have outside commitments, they're
Paul and Dave Martineau, Fred LaRose and Gary Bowman.
In any given week you could find one or more of these players onstage with bluesmen like Winnipeg's Brent Parkin
and our own Rusty Reed, country chanteuse Lisa Hewitt or as members of Laura Vinson's band Free Spirit.
For the past 25 years, the members of The Trucks have also stitched together a collective resume that reflects
the growth and high points of our roots music scene. While painist Bowman hung out with the original version of
One Horse Blue — and wrote a great tune for them, Deliver
Me — bassist La Rose edited
and toured with another edition of the successful country rock band.
When Bowman was recording his second solo album, Le
Bicyclette, the Martineaus
and LaRose were backing Jane Hawley under the moniker The Cranky Brats. A few years before that, LaRose was part
of a weekly house band at CFRN studios backing the likes of Guy Clark, Chris Hillman, Emmylou Harris and k.d. lang
on the Ian Tyson-hosted Sun
Country series.
Whenever scheduling allowed, the players focused on honing and performing their own material, songs inspired in
part by the edgy, instrumental jousting of roots-rock outfits like LIttle Feat.
Sonically the band covers a lot of turf as accordion, mando-guitar, pedal steel, congas and dobro find room amongst
the standard lineup of Dave Martineau's lead guitar, Bowman's keyboards and the foundation laid down by LaRose
and drummer Paul Martineau.
"We were actually approaching this as a songwriting demo, LaRose revealed as he prepared for today's industry
release party at the Fiddler's Roost.
"Every Monday for a couple of months we'd each bring a song to the table and hash them over. We had about
40 songs on the go and these 11 made the cut."
Rounding out the disc is Too
Cool, a song from old friend
and musical associate Sharon Anderson. The group adoped the piece after backing Anderson when she came home to
Edmonton from Nashville for a couple of dates last year.
Craig Korth of Jerusalem Ridge fame made the only other ouside construbution to the disc when he added his patently
hot banjo playing to a Bowman original title So
Long Mary.
Taking aim at radio and high-profile talent buyers is the next target and The Trucks plan to hit some bull's-eyes
today when playing two industry shows at the club at 99 Street and 89th Avenue, which once housed the City Media
Club.
After a matinee for radio and press, the band play a second show at 9 p.m.
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