Captain Tractor is a
Canadian folk rock band, based in
Edmonton,
Alberta. They play a
punk-influenced variant of
Celtic folk music, similar to such bands as
Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea was a Canadian folk rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year Irish, Scot ...
,
The Pogues or
Spirit of the West. Their songs are often rich in local, cultural, and geographical references.
The band's most famous songs have been renditions of the
folk music classics "
The Log Driver's Waltz" and "
Drunken Sailor", as well as a cover of the
Arrogant Worms' "
The Last Saskatchewan Pirate". They have also developed a following for their brand of Canadian rock, with singles such as "Up the Hill", "Frozen Puck to the Head", "This Is Not a Sad Song", "Another Drinking Song", and "The Bastard of Strathcona County".
In celebration of the release of the band's sixth album, ''North of the Yellowhead'' (2005
Six Shooter Records), Edmonton's Alley Kat Brewing Company released Captain Tractor's Yellowhead Wheat Ale.
Their seventh studio album, ''Famous Last Words'', was released on May 3, 2011. A live record, ''Live at the Roxy'', was released in 2015.
To celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2018, the band released ''25 Years On'', a re-mastered retrospective with four new tracks recorded in February 2018 with Nik Kozub at The Audio Department in Edmonton, two unreleased tracks from the vaults, and seventeen previous tracks. In addition, they partnered with Hansen Distillery to create the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Limited Edition Captain Tractor Spiced Rye Whiskey.
Band members
The band consists of five men, one woman, and their mascot, a
deer named Bucky. The band members
are:
* Chris Wynters - vocals,
guitar, songwriter
* Scott Peters - vocals,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, guitar,
bodhran, songwriter, driver
* Jules Mounteer -
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
s, percussion, driver
* Jon Nordstrom -
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
, trumpet, guitar, vocals, songwriter. Joined before ''Hat Trick''.
* Jason Kodie - keyboards, vocals, musical restraint. Joined before ''North of the Yellowhead''.
* Shannon Johnson - fiddle, vocals
Former members include:
* Aimee Hill -
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
, vocals. Left after ''East of Edson''.
* Jeff Smook - bass, vocals, songwriter. Left after ''Bought the Farm''.
* Brock Skywalker -
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
,
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
, guitar,
bodhran,
penny whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
, harmonica,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, keyboards, vocals, songwriter. Left just before ''North of the Yellowhead''.
Discography
Captain Tractor has released seven albums:
* ''Land'' (1994)
* ''East of Edson'' (1995)
* ''Bought the Farm'' (1997)
* ''Hat Trick'' (1998)
* ''Celebrity Traffic Jam'' (1999)
* ''Hoserista'' (2000)
* ''North of the Yellowhead'' (2005)
* ''Famous Last Words'' (2011)
* ''Live at the Roxy'' (2015)
* ''25 Years On'' (2018)
They have also released a video entitled ''Inconsequential Things'' in 1998, and an interactive CD-ROM, ''Bus Madness'', in 1995.
Members' solo albums:
* Chris Wynters's ''Skywriting'' (Six Shooter Records, 2005) and ''2010-1982'' (Shameless Records, 2010).
* Jon Nordstrom's ''Brick and Stone'' (Independent, 2003) and Waiting for Summer (Independent 2005).
* Former member Brock Skywalker's ''Cerebral Reruns'' (FrozenPuck, 2004).
References
External links
Official siteCanadianBands.com
{{Authority control
1993 establishments in Alberta
Canadian Celtic music groups
Canadian folk rock groups
Musical groups established in 1993
Musical groups from Edmonton
Six Shooter Records artists