Colter Wall: Songs of the Plains (red vinyl) [LA HONDA]

Why you'll love it

This red vinyl pressing comes with a colour fold-out insert of lyrics and photos shot on the Saskatchewan prairies. The album reached No. 7 on Billboard's Top Folk Albums and No. 36 in Canada, and The Independent named it the sixth best album of 2018.

This edition

• Red vinyl
• Fold-out lyric and photo insert
• Stereo mix
• Pressed in the USA

About the album

Colter Wall grew up in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, and his baritone sounds like it has spent a fair few winters there. For his second album he went back to Dave Cobb, who produced his debut, and pointed the whole thing west, toward the open land, the cattle drives and the old cowboy songbook of the Canadian prairies.

"Plain To See Plainsman" opens the record and later turned up in the fourth season of Yellowstone, while "Saskatchewan In 1881" and "Manitoba Man" stay close to home. He covers Wilf Carter's "Calgary Round-Up," Billy Don Burns' "Wild Dogs" and the old cowboy poem "Tying Knots In The Devil's Tail," and AllMusic praised the spooky, skeletal arrangements, steel guitar used for howling accents rather than solos. "Night Herding Song" and "Wild Bill Hickok" lean into the old campfire tradition, while "The Trains Are Gone" slows things right down.

Pitchfork gave it 7.6, and it turned up on year-end lists from The A.V. Club to Rolling Stone's country and Americana roundup. It runs about 34 minutes, roughly the time it takes to drive from one Saskatchewan grain elevator to the next.

Also at Kops: more Colter Wall on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On La Honda / RCA (cat# 19658-83003-1), a reissue of the 2018 album.