Damn. The simplicity is stunning. Melodic guitar licks. Vintage chorus harmonies. A thumping bass and drum kicking it all along.
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Meet The Sheepdogs, a five-piece band formed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - that's 1500 kilometres east of Vancouver, 3000 kilometres west of Toronto, and 700 kilometres north of the US border - that sounds like it's lost in time. And their fans love it.
If your entire musical memory was of rock 'n' roll and country rock from 1960 to 1980, you would think you found nirvana with The Sheepdogs. With a Canadian accent.
The Guess Who. BTO. Creedence Clearwater Revival. Allman Brothers.
Play it again.
The single So Far Gone off their 2022 album Outta Sight feels like it should have been the flip side to JJ Cale's classic They Call Me The Breeze (released in 1974).
On some songs, lead vocalist Ewan Currie's voice is a dead-set copy of Burton Cummings, singer of legendary Canadian rockers The Guess Who (remember American Woman, from 1970).
And perhaps it's not really a coincidence.
"The Guess Who had a comeback when I was in high school," Currie says. "I had a burned CD of their greatest hits when I was 16 driving around with girls, impressing them."
I compare music to food. We are comfort food, like home-cooking. It sticks to your ribs. It's not fussy, not overcomplicated.
- Ewan Currie, founder of The Sheepdogs
Randy Bachman, lead guitarist from The Guess Who, left the band to create his own power rock trio, Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO). They lay claim to Takin' Care of Business, Let It Ride and You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.
When BTO was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2014, The Sheepdogs were invited to do the honours. "We did a medley of their songs and played with them," Currie says. "We had to learn Let It Ride, Takin' Care of Business."
Currie, who was born in Australia and moved to Canada with his family when he was 11, is proud of the band's heritage.
"It's kind of similar to midwestern US values," he says. "Humble, simple, regular folk. Big country-music -loving-audience heartland rock.
"I compare music to food. We are comfort food, like home-cooking. It sticks to your ribs. It's not fussy, not overcomplicated."
The Sheepdogs are Ewan Currie (lead vocals, guitars, keys), Ryan Gullen (bass), Sam Corbett (drums), Shamus Currie (keys, trombone, guitars) and Ricky Paquette (guitars). They all sing.
While Currie calls Toronto home now, the lessons the members taught themselves from their humble beginnings in Saskatoon in 2004 have not been lost on them.
"When I quit my job, in 2011, the goal was like, when I started picking up a guitar, how do I play this? How do I write a song?," Currie says.
"I thought about my heroes - it sure would be cool to make awesome records and play for people who like that.
"We've done it for a lot of years. We haven't had to do any other jobs. That's the sweetest thing."
They've made eight albums. In 2022 they released Live at Lee's and Outta Sight.
Most of their songs are short and sweet, with tasty hooks.
"We're really into immediacy," Currie says of his songwriting.
"I take it back to food again: As soon as you put it in your mouth, you know it tastes good."
