Yukon based songwriter Gordie Tentrees is excited about life. As as well he should be. After 14 years living in the 
Yukon, he has a new record deal with European record label Continental Records, a new publishing deal with Blue Note Records.
He has also assembled a new band including nephew Aiden Tentrees on stand-up bass, drummer Pat Phillips and Roger Marin playing pedal steel guitar.
They are just beginning an extensive tour including 120 shows in 128 days, spanning eight countries which will be stopping in Lethbridge at the Slice, Aug. 5.
“ We’re excited,” tentree said just before driving to Dawson City to kick off his extensive tour.
“ I have an all-star band playing. And we’re excited to be starting in in Dawson City,” he said.
“It’s crazy. We’re going to eight different countries and we only have eight days off,” he said.
He is excited to be playing with Fed Eaglesmith Band alumni Roger Marin.
“ He’s a really good friend. He’s playing in my band and he’s opening every night. When I was looking for lead guitarists, he jumped at it because we’re going to a lot of places he hasn’t been to before and wanted to get his foot in the door,” Tentrees enthused.
“We’ve toured together before, but neither one of us have toured this extensively together,” he said.
Tentrees is also excited about another Fred Eaglesmith connection.
“In September we]re going to be part of the Tin Can Tour with Fred Eaglesmith and mary Gauthier. We’re travelling along the original Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles. So we’ll have a lot of new experiences. We’ll see the Grand Canyon and old grain elevators,” he said.
He noted after 14 years living in the Yukon, he feels qualified to actually write an album about his experiences. North Country Heart will be released July 31.
“I moved up here for a job with a girl and for a job. I still have the job, but the girl is gone. But girls are easy to get here if you have all of your teeth,” he laughed.
“ It’s my fifth album, and I hadn’t planned on writing a concept album about it. If I’d only been living here for a year I’d feel guilty about it,” he said adding he wrote about some of the characters he met up there, his experiences living there and incorporating local expressions and in-jokes.
“ There’s a lot of humour in it. I figured if I’m telling stories in between my songs about these characters, I might as well be writing songs about them,” he said.
“ I’d written a few songs before, but once I started writing them, I found I just couldn’t stop,” he said adding he road tested a lot of them.
“ I road tested about half of them. The other half, nobody has heard before.”
he is exciting about bringing the new band, the new CD and the new songs to Lethbridge.
“I love that town. I’m excited about playing the new songs and showing off the new band.
It’s like a warm blanket that you want to treat it with care,” he said.
Roger Marin and Gordie Tentrees play the Slice, Aug. 5 at 8 p.m. There will be a $10 cover for the show.
