Corb Lund is a country and western singer-songwriter with an emphasis on the Western. The 57-year-old Canadian sings of gamblers and ramblers, horses and cattle, ranches and cowboys, with the familiarity of someone who has lived the life and heard all the stories. His voice has the resonance of worked-in leather with a drop of whiskey just for kicks. There’s a manliness to it, even when he’s being sensitive (not to be confused with masculinity). He sings of virtues like courage, honor, and restraint over brute strength and risk-taking, and he’s unafraid of humor, quick to spot the absurdity in everyday experience.
Dark Horses is a fan’s dream: Lund revisits 11 of his favorite self‑penned songs from the past three decades, one from each of his previous albums, presented acoustically and in chronological order. The new versions are raw but not rough, direct and authentic. They may not be his best-known tunes, but as the title suggests, they’re “dark horses”—the overlooked ones that reveal their power when given room to run.
The early tracks are blunt tales of trouble and woe. The protagonists of “Untitled Waltz”, “Guitar From the Wall”, and “No Roads Here” are loners not by choice but by circumstance. Life and love have left them isolated, and these intimate renditions emphasize the remoteness of the Western way of life. “There are no signposts to guide a man through this dark land,” he sings, meaning it both literally and metaphorically. Solitude is a given.
Lund loosens up on the next trio. The narrators of “The Rodeo’s Over”, “Especially a Paint”, and “Talkin’ Veterinarian Blues” are connected—to animals, to people, to the messy bonds that make life bearable. Sadness remains, but at least there’s company. The seriousness of the subjects becomes a source of tragicomedy, whether in the way horses cling to one another or in the perils of alfalfa bloat. Here Lund aims to entertain as much as reflect.
The songwriter continues in a mostly humorous vein on “Priceless Antique Pistol Shoots Starlet” and “Counterfeiter’s Blues”. He’s not afraid to be corny and yodel or implicate himself in the delusions he has accepted. Life may not be a joke, but if it is, it is one of our own making, Lund suggests. We only see what we want to see and play peek-a-boo with the rest.
The last three tracks show the more somber side of life. Trying to decide what is right or wrong is not easy in the contemporary world, and looking at history does not show one the answer. “Sadr City”, “Louis L’Amour”, and “Out On a Win” philosophically address what it means to live a good and honest life when everything outside of the self seems dark and confusing. The inhabitants of these songs—a soldier, a cowboy, and a wrestler—may be losers, but they are fighters.
Corb Lund honors the dignity of struggle rather than resignation. His acoustic, sincere delivery across this document of his life’s work reveals what he shares with the characters he’s created. He’s proud, even when he’s not sensible, and his heart is always in the right place.