Every now and then, you have these spontaneous reminders that tap you on the shoulder to let you know that indeed, “maybe we ain’t that young anymore.”  Like the other day, when I realized that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Casino, the 1990 album that introduced me to Canadian alt-country imports Blue Rodeo.   Which means officially that I’ve been buying Blue Rodeo albums religiously for 20 years now – there’s never a question or any waiting around to read a review – as soon as I know the release date, it’s on my purchase list.

And in those 20 years, they’ve never let me down with any of the albums that they’ve released.  There have been a couple (Palace of Gold, Small Miracles) that have taken a couple of extra listens, but overall, the consistency has been admirable and it always interests me that these guys don’t have more of a fanbase here in the U.S., particularly with Wilco fans.

They’ve certainly done okay for themselves, and with the release of The Things We Left Behind, which is studio album #12 for the band, they show no signs of running out of steam anytime soon.  Featuring a total of 16 new tracks, it really is an interesting listen that breaks the traditional rotation between Keelor and Cuddy numbers in favor of an overall flow, tracked specifically with four sides of vinyl in mind.  That’s right – this sucker is a double album, and the vinyl has the full gatefold sleeve treatment and a nice bonus inclusion of CDs for on-the-go listening.  It’s worth a few extra bucks to import the vinyl from Canada, but if you’re not a vinyl person, you can buy the CDs or digital download too.

Blue Rodeo are currently in the midst of a 15 date U.S. tour that will bring them to St. Louis tonight (for the first time in a loooong time), and Chicago on Saturday night, where they’re booked at their traditional Chicago home away from home, Martyrs’.  I spoke with Jim Cuddy about the band’s long overdue return to St. Louis, the new album, and quite a few other topics.  Although the chat had Chris Farley fanboy overload potential, I kept it professional.

Check out the interview here (via the Riverfront Times) and also some additional “outtakes” from the interview.

Enjoy!

P.S. – for those that are heading out to a show, you’ll enjoy this review of the recent Atlanta show.  It’s nice to see that they’re apparently changing up the set a bit from night to night.  “It Could Happen To You” has been a recent opener, and for Atlanta, it was “Cynthia” from Five Days in July that kicked things off!  And in even better news, they’ve got longtime BR associate Anne Lindsay out on the road with them, playing fiddle!