Ian Noe Canyon Falls Trailer Band
There might not be a better time for Ian Noe to introduce his latest album than late September. Coming out of AMERICANAFEST in Nashville, a week of seeing bands hoping to become authentic country music’s next big thing, what better time to consider the fate of a band that never did? The Canyon Falls Trailer Band is wholly a creation of Noe’s, but the concept of a group of musicians performing a Nashville showcase – and knocking it out of the park – then disappearing from history is a compelling tale. Most importantly for us, on Canyon Falls Trailer Band, Noe backs up the conceit with stellar songwriting, fine musical craftsmanship and his own one-of-a-kind Kentucky voice.
The album’s title track leads off the record not just by introducing the band – “Now Marty’s on the banjo/Virginia’s on the torch/Sheila’s got the paint cans/Knockin’ on the porch” – but telling us exactly where that band comes from – “I’m greasing this wagon/For a traveling show/Gonna send it down the mountain/And all across this land.” Noe deepens the small-town imagery on the album’s first single, “The Heidelberg Fisherman’s Ball,” where “I’ve got a VCR, baby/Make my own wine” might just be braggadocious enough to fetch a wife. Both these tracks feature enough standout musicianship (particularly Billy Contreras’ fiddle on “Canyon Falls” and Russ Pahl’s pedal steel on “Heidelberg”) to make us wish the Canyon Falls Trailer Band could take over a couple Lower Broadway honky tonks.
Perhaps most importantly, the songs themselves are not burdened by a tight concept. “Tobacco Moon” is a pitch-dark tune that could be found on Noe’s first LP, Between the Country, this one detailing a murder – “We buried John back in June/They caught him out in the cane/Left him hangin’ in/The Tobacco moon.” “Redneck Mess” is an uptempo twanger, with fantastic backing vocals from Hillary Fretland and Vaughn Walters, that give us a character who can’t get out of his own damn way – “Yeah, I woke up on her back porch/Tied up to the gate again.” And the titular “Leann” feels like she could be slightly toned-down kin to Noe fan favorite “Irene (Ravin’ Bomb)” – moody barroom piano from Jo Schornikow soundtracks the party that never ends – “Now all the bottles we drink/Under our sink/Never catch no dust.”
The mythical Canyon Falls Trailer Band does, eventually, make it to that Music City showcase on the record’s final track, “Kickin’ It in Nashville.” The tune is fun and twangy, but the song itself hints at what might have happened to the band – “I got a long black train/Coming at me/I gotta run before the devil gets here/I gotta finish this song.” The song got written, but the album never gets laid down. Noe can be a bit of an enigma himself – first the pandemic, then a broken wrist slowed his rise – and he doesn’t perform live as often as his peers; at press time, there’s only one date (in Kentucky) listed on his tour schedule. When I have managed to see him live, he’s been spectacular. Here’s hoping we see more of him, even if we never get to see his mythical Canyon Falls Trailer Band.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Jukebox Blues (for Blaze Foley)” – Noe portrays a worn-down music machine, presumably the type that plays old-school 45s – “I pray I go out/On a Merle Haggard song.” Joined only by Pahl on pedal steel and Fretland on vocals, it’s a haunting tribute to a songwriting hero and a bygone era of music.
Canyon Falls Trailer Band was produced by Andrija Tokic. Musicians on the album include Ian Noe (vocals, guitar, piano), Erin Nelson (drums), Russ Pahl (electric guitar, pedal steel), Steve Daly (resonator slide. electric guitar, pedal steel), Billy Contreras (fiddle), Jeff Taylor (keys, piano), Andrija Tokic (percussion, synth bass), Chris Gelb (drums, percussion), Jack Lawrence (bass), Jo Schornikow (piano), Vaughn Walters (background vocals), Dave Racine (drums), Thomas Bryan Eaton (guitar, pedal steel), Jennifer Kummer (French horn), JJ Tourville (pedal steel), Charlie McCoy (harmonica), Alexis Saski (background vocals), Dennis Crouch (bass), Michael Zimmerman (bass), Hillary Fretland (background vocals), Thomas Bryan Eaton (pedal steel), Josephine Foster (background vocal), Richard Bailey (banjo), Thomas Byron Eaton (guitars) and Freddy Angelico (Dobro).
Go here to order/stream Canyon Falls Trailer Band (out September 25):
https://www.merchmountain.com/collections/ian-noe
https://iannoe.ffm.to/canyonfallstrailerband
Check out tour dates here: https://www.iannoe.com/tour
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: REVIEW: Ian Noe “River Fools and Mountain Saints”