Nanton country/ roots band Tin and the Toad made a long awaited return to Lethbridge Saturday, Oct. 9.
I missed Badlands, but got to the Owl just in time for Tin and the Toad.
As always Justin “Tin” Smith, Cody “Toad” Shearer, steel Guitarist / Lead Guitarist Steve Loree and bassist Pete Loughlin had stunning multi-part vocal harmonies, and a lot of twang. Everybody got to sing lead on one song except the drummer.
I was excited to hear bassist Pete Loughlin sing my favourite “Keeping this Bar Alive.”
They also played a lot of new songs.
Justin (Tin) Smith switched between guitar and mandolin while belting out lyrics in a big resonant baritone.
Steve Loree was amazing, singing lead, harmony and playing steel guitar, sometimes doing all of them in the same song, while changing guitar strings.
When Smith broke a string on his Gretsch, he switched to mandolin, and left it to Loree to change the string.
Loree didn’t miss a harmony or a note on his Telecaster or steel guitar and passed the Gretsch back to Smith in time for the next song.
They sang a lot of uptempo, catchy songs about living in Southern Alberta, farming and rural issues which had a few people two stepping.
A couple of the highlights were “Beautiful Girl” and “Don’t Borrow Trouble,” which had more of a vintage country feel. and featured Tin on harp.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
