Fred Eaglesmith McGonigel's Mucky Duck January 27, 2015

Nothing renews the faith in rock and roll like a Fred Eaglesmith show or a visit with the man himself. Just the sight of his beat-up Woodstock-ish, school-bus tour ride parked in front of the Mucky Duck is like seeing a big middle finger raised at the music business as it exists in 2015.

Eaglesmith is blissfully oblivious to industry trends. Mention Sturgill Simpson and he gives you that "Who?" look.

Shinyribs?

"Who's that?"

With 40 years of constant touring behind him, Eaglesmith has built a franchise, a medicine show, a self-sustaining traveling circus.

"You should talk to so-and-so about such-and-such festival."

"Nah, I think we're mostly done with festivals," says Eaglesmith from the bunk in the Woodstock bus. "My fans don't want to see me on some side stage at four in the afternoon. It's usually tough to load in and out, you've got to deal with all these volunteers, the festival experience has just never really been what it is cracked up to be, for us anyway. I've kinda built a fan base that wants to see us, not us and eight other bands. It's kind of an intimate thing in a way, and I like that."

Eaglesmith informs us that of the 220 dates he worked in 2014, "about 80" were gigs at Canadian legion halls in the hinterland.

"In Canada, the legion halls are a little nicer than they tend to be in the States," he explains. "So we'll rent one, put out signs along the highway that say 'Fred Eaglesmith Thursday night,' we put out the chairs ourselves, take the ticket money ourselves, and we just have a show. No security, and sometimes we don't even have alcohol, so it's like back in the Fifties where people go out to the parking lot to their cars to have a snort if they want one."

"We did 80 of these last year on our own, promoted them ourselves, ran them ourselves, no trouble, no fights, no cops -- it's just great," continues Eaglesmith. "It takes on this old time rock and roll atmosphere."

In fact, rock and roll is a term that pops up in conversation with Eaglesmith again and again.

"I played this festival last year and this big guy with dreads, he's directing all the traffic. So these big tour buses, he's waving them in to the band area, but when I pull up there in my dirty little bus with the mud on it, he waves me to the camp-ground," he recounts. "I literally had to show this guy that we were one of the bands. Hell, I'm the one who's about rock and roll. The way we travel and do this, this is rock and roll. A lot of that stuff, it's not rock and roll."

"I'm not a huge fan of Bob Lefsetz [author of a widely read industry newsletter], but he nailed it when he says music and the music business isn't going to get any better until musicians start doing it because they want to and doing it for the crowd rather than for the money and for other musicians again."

"You ever notice in YouTube videos of bands playing at festivals how they're always looking offstage to see who's watching them?", he asks. "They're playing for other musicians, you know, not playing for the crowd. It's like, 'Is that Jack White watching us?' rather than "Are we having fun and is the crowd into it.' That's not rock and roll."

Eaglesmith recalls being on a cruise with Delbert McClinton.

"Delbert tells me he's somewhat disillusioned with the whole business," says Eaglesmith. "That's terribly sad to me. So I have to tell you, I'm not disillusioned, I like what I do and I like how we do it. I signed on over 40 years ago to be a rock and roller, and today that's where I see us, we're doing rock and roll and doing it the right way. In fact, the way we're doing it is very liberating and self-sustaining because we really are a grass roots thing, not some act manufactured to fit in say the Americana genre."

"This isn't some hobby with us," says Eaglesmith as his band members floss their teeth, adjust their costumes, apply lipstick and eyeliner in the rear of the crowded bus. "My drummer has been with me 14 years now, only one member of my band has been with us less than five years. We've built a family thing, we look after each other, we've built a community with our fans, we actually genuinely like our fans. This is rock and roll."

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