Gig - Fred Eaglesmith Band

It is unlikely that The Fred Eaglesmith band will show up at the Anchor tonight without something of an entourage. The band has a group of followers dubbed 'Fredheads' (in reference to the devoted fan base of the Grateful Dead), who faithfully trek thousands of miles to hear the band's alt-country sound. But then the Canadian farmer Fred J Eaglesmith, who fronts the band, knows how to give a good gig, according to Barn D'or promotor Mike Lance. “You come out of his shows liking people”, he tells me. It seems they come out liking him, too. As a group, The Fred Eaglesmith Band have picked up The Juno Award for Best Roots and Traditional Album, and playing solo Fred J Eaglesmith has won the Canadian Independent Music Award. His most recent CD, Milly's Cafe, reached the Americana top 10 in 2006.

A “spiky, hardnosed country boy”, Eaglesmith has a passion for trains, tractors, cars and engines and has a yard full of cheap cars. “I would rather have a hundred one dollar cars”, he has said, “than one, hundred dollar car.” His love of technology extends to renewable power supplies and his farm is powered by wind turbines and solar panels. His songs are filled with locomotives, beautiful women and tired cowboys and like his comments on stage represent his typically quirky views. As to where his philosophy comes from, he has said “I think the bottom of the barrel is where the answers are”. ER