Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor first released a solo record in 1997 with Gone, an album he wrote while searching for his birth mother in Cape Breton, NS. In 2005, Greg released Seven Songs For Jim, an intimate collection of songs he wrote in tribute to his father. With the completion of Aphrodite Rose, Greg has created the perfect trilogy. An album of psychedelic country and retro pop, this is a record that soars with jangly guitars and draws the listener in with intimate lyrics and nuanced performances. A record that can break your heart one moment and lift it the next, Aphrodite Rose is quintessential Greg Keelor.

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Biography

“Armed with his grief and his talent, Keelor spends 40 minutes reminiscing about his childhood and ruminating on life, love, time and loss. And as he quietly plucks pretty melodies from acoustic and electric guitars and sings in hushed Beckish tones, he lovingly sends his dad off into that good night to the sounds of laid-back roots and gentle folk… just one listen to this somberly beautiful set is to understand how essential it was for Keelor to complete.”
~Winnipeg Sun

Press

The Sun Media Group - 2010-05-10

GREG KEELOR

Gunless
Soundtrack
***
Who better to score a Canadian cowboy movie than someone from Blue Rodeo?  But Keelor doesn't play along without he comedic aspect of Paul Gross' gunslinger satire.  Instead, he shoots straight, crafting a moody, orchestrated soundtrack inspired by the sweeping spaghetti western twang of Ennio Morricone.  Bandmade Jim Cuddy plays Sundance to his Butch on a few cuts.

Greg Keelor's soundtrack helps ground Gunless
Blue Rodeo vet scores comedy
 
By Eric Volmers

When Greg Keelor sat down to compose the soundtrack to the comedy-western Gunless, he had some specific inspiration in mind.

There was Leonard Cohen's melancholy songs that accompanied Robert Altman's revisionist western McCabe and Mrs. Miller, for instance, or Bob Dylan's work for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Of course, those westerns weren't quite as goofy as Gunless, a comedy that pokes fun at Americans, Canadians and the dusty hallmarks of the genre with a gentle nudge rather than sharpened point.

"In my head, it would have been easier without the comedy," admits Keelor, in an interview from his home in Ontario. "I would have liked a few more existential moments."

Keelor is best known as half the brain trust for Canadian institution Blue Rodeo, a band not generally known for its musical goofiness. Gunless producer Niv Fichman approached both Keelor and musical partner Jim Cuddy to write the score to his comedy, which stars Paul Gross and opened on Friday.

But Cuddy, concerned that the act was too busy with recording and touring the band's sprawling double album The Things We Left Behind, ended up taking a back seat on the project.

So while the movie poster may boast new music by Blue Rodeo, the majority of the score was written by Keelor at home, where he sat with guitar in hand watching the film for three days straight.

Having viewed Gunless "a thousand times," it's perhaps understandable that the veteran musician's enthusiasm for it is a touch more measured than your average actor immersed in that giddy ritual of opening weekend publicity.
"I think it's pretty good. Gentle comedy. Gentle romance. No sex. I could have gone with a ruder comedy and a little more sex."

The film, written and directed by William Phillips, is not without its moments of drama. But Keelor's score -- particularly the moody, trumpet blasting opener, the haunting and slightly nihilistic Montana Kid theme and closing ballad Don't Let the Darkness In Your Head -- gives the production a gravity that it might not have otherwise.

Keelor wrote the latter track about Blue Rodeo bassist Bazil Donovan's recent health troubles and it opens Disc 2 of The Things We Left Behind. Despite the claims on the poster, it's the only song that is played by Blue Rodeo proper and it isn't particularly new. For the most part, Keelor's soundtrack alternates between haunting, piano-centred mood music, brightly orchestrated numbers that recall Ennio Morricone's classic spaghetti western sounds and only the occasional interruption by his recognizable harmonizing with Cuddy.

"It's pretty committed to the style," Keelor says. "I don't like those movies that use modern music for old pieces. I hated that Knight's Tale, using (Queen's) We Will Rock You. I don't like that stuff. So I wanted to avoid using pop-rock song and that sort of thing."

While admitting the process was perhaps more time-consuming than he had initially planned, Keelor hasn't ruled out doing another soundtrack. But he will be choosy.

"I couldn't just do movies," he says. "I wouldn't mind doing some kind of heist caper. I'd be good for that, too. A heist caper or a western. But I don't think I could anything too happy or comical."

RE:  Gunless

Gunless does have its heady moments. They include a sublime soundtrack by Blue Rodeo stalwart Greg Keelor and evocative lensing by cinematographer Gregory Middleton, who makes mountainous Osoyoos, B.C. (where the movie was filmed) look like a scene from a John Ford movie.

"Keelor has managed to perfectly marry dreamy Byrds-era psych-rock with a brilliant pop hook.  It's more than a single - it's a trip"
- Rob Bolton (Standard Interactive) on the track “No Man’s Land”

"It’s a definite extension of his work with Blue Rodeo.  The harmonies are top notch and it has a very recognizable start from the very first listen. "
- Brian Ellis (The Wolf, Peterborough) on the track “No Man’s Land”
 

 "psychedelic nuggets... No Man's Land would be a classic by now if it had been written in the paisley-coloured decade...  ragged in all the right ways."
- * * * * MONTREAL GAZETTE

 “Aphrodite Rose really nails the jingle-jangle late-60s vibe… such a blast.”
- * * * * NOW MAGAZINE

“Aphrodite Rose is extroverted and accessible.  California country-rock, folk and paisley psychedelia… rustic overtones of The Band”
- WINNIPEG SUN

“By channeling heroes like Neil Young, Tom Petty and Gram Parsons, Keelor can practically count himself one of the greats…  Definitely a career high point.”
- WHAT’S ON WINNIPEG

“Aphrodite Rose takes risks in terms of songwriting and production.  Gordon Lightfoot meets The Byrds and The Beatles.  An elegant and creative treat.”
- * * * * EDMONTON JOURNAL

“Plenty of guitar-heavy folk-rock with Keelor's emotive, slightly rough voice singing about life and love… there aren't really any low moments on this.”
- MONCTON TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

“A bittersweet affair, with pretty ballads like Miss You and ominous numbers like Prisoner.  Keelor's moody songs run deep."
- ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Greg Keelor
Aphrodite Rose (Warner)

”I am a prisoner of endless sorrow,” confesses Greg Keelor on his third solo CD.  Tell us something we don’t know, dude.  OK, that might be overstating it.  But the truth is the Blue Rodeo co-founder’s previous discs were dark, introspective works that dealt with some serious personal baggage (including the death of his father). By comparison, Aphrodite Rose - even with a few lyrics like those above - is extroverted and accessible.  Backed by co-conspirators The Sadies (with guest vocals by Sarah McLachlan), Keelor plays it loose and keeps it real on these earthy and unvarnished tracks, letting the tape roll, cranking the reverb and leaving the occasional flub in the mix.  Musically, the disc takes most of its cues from California country-rock, folk and paisley psychedelia, ambling along to lazy gaits and gently grooving to twangy arpeggios.  The politicized No Man’s Land and Steal Your Mind lightly crunch like they were penned in Neil Young’s Laurel Canyon pad in the early ‘70s; Glory Oh has rustic overtones of The Band; Colour and Rhyme wear its jangly hippie overtones like a fringe vest; and the bipolar prisoner toggles between a bluesy dirge and a garage-rock bash.  Which goes to show:  Keelor may be a captive, but he still knows how to bust out and enjoys himself now and then.

***1/2

GREG KEELOR Aphrodite Rose (Warner)
Rating: NNNN

A new Greg Keelor record usually means plenty of Canadian landscape. The Blue Rodeo co-frontman never had an issue with showing his rural side; he lives (and records) on a farm. His chores include listening to his extensive Byrds collection daily. Aphrodite Rose really nails the jingle-jangle late-60s vibe. Backing, of course, is provided by the chameleon-like Sadies, who are always able to recreate certain musical eras  flawlessly. Nevertheless, it's Keelor's Roger McGuinn-style pop vocals on No Man's Land and Colour And Rhyme and his garage rock stomp and howl on Prisoner that make this such a blast. He does veer off onto the gravel road occasionally, especially on High Meadow, where he gets misty about an old barn, but closes the album in full psychedelic mode on drugged-out Doors jam In The Reflections. It burns out a little at the end, but this is a 60s record.

JASON KELLER
 

Discography

Contacts

Management

Worldwide
Starfish Entertainment
Susan de Cartier / Judith Coombe
416-588-3329
susan@starfishentertainment.com
jude@starfishentertainment.com

Record Company

Canada
Warner Music Canada
Steve Blair - A&R
416-491-5005
steve.blair@warnermusic.com

Agent

North America
Trick or Treat Agency
Kay White
705-527-1900
kaywhite7@aol.com

Publicist

Canada
Warner Music Canada
Steve Waxman - Dir. of Publicity
416-491-5005
steve.waxman@warnermusic.com

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