Under Review

Tim Hus

Alberta Crude (Saved By Radio)

Review By sweetcheyanne

It is in the tradition of story-telling, of story as history already passed, as the myths that spring from living — it is from this place that Tim Hus comes to us. As a commemoration of the centinnial of Alberta’s provincial status, Hus has created a love letter to the province whose history he has appropriated.

His country croonings and guitar/stand-up bass/fiddle line-up convey a certain sadness of that in-between place where one can see the inevitability of the future as it meets the fading memory of the past. Hus’ appeals to an ideal, simple mindset that only familiar bedtime stories can evoke.

As one whose history is the prairies, Hus casts me into a nostalgia that previously lay dormant. I realize how universal my history is by how keenly I feel the Canadiana in the banjo callings, remembering a childhood where CBC was the only television station, and hockey the only sport save for the rodeo. And then I realize that these peculiar recognitions differentiate my history from others, a history that Hus and I share.