Luke Doucet and the White Falcon
w/ James Blunt. Nov. 19 (7:30pm). Rexall Place.
“I actually left Nashville a little bit disappointed,” admits Halifax-born singer-songwriter Luke Doucet, still sounding a little surprised. As far as he’s concerned, Canadians have been making music as well as anyone from Nashville for some time: “The Band and Crazy Horse are arguably the two most significant southern rock bands in history,” he claims. And it was Doucet’s appreciation for homegrown music that seems to have been the impetus for his return to Canada. “The players up here are world class. I think the standards of musicianship and the standards of songwriting in particular are the highest in the world.” It’s hard to argue with him, especially when you can hear the influence of a wide range of rock bands from the ‘70s onward on his latest solo album, Too Rich, an album largely steeped in the alt-country, southern rock tradition.
And following that tradition, Doucet’s music invokes an undeniable sense of isolation — complete with songs about lonesome truck drivers and moving to strange new cities. He confesses this was spurred on by the amount of time he spends away from home. “I do tour sort of a ridiculous amount and it comes to a point where you can’t really deny the influence that has on your life. Sometimes people say, ‘Wow, you tour a lot, what’s that like?’ And I feel like what do you mean, ‘What’s it like?’ I don’t know. It’s all I know, it’s all I’ve done for 20 years. I don’t really know anything else.”
Unfortunately, the toils of singing every night are starting to catch up with the 35-year-old Doucet, who’s dealt with two cases of laryngitis in the past year. When asked if he sees the wear and tear on his vocal chords as proof of how hard he is working, Doucet seems to enjoy the idea for a moment.
“I romanticize the life of a musician enough that I would be the kind of person who would find that battle scar appealing,” but he’s quick to acknowledge the reality of his dependence on his voice. “To be honest, it’s so terrifying, the notion that I can’t do my gig.”
It’s refreshing when reputation takes a backseat to the simple act of playing music, and it’s an attitude Doucet has clearly attained. When High Fidelity author Nick Hornby picked the song “The Commandante” from Too Rich to be on his 2008 playlist, and Doucet only conceded: “If that makes the cool kids think that I’m cooler, well, I guess that can’t be a bad thing. I try and make the best music that I can and there have been different parts of my life when I lived in abject poverty as a result, so I like to think that my music has credibility,” he concludes. “I’m doing it for one reason only.”
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