Jan. 18, 2012 - Issue #848: City of champions

Live from the cold

Gordie Tentrees and the recording of Naked in Scandinavia

Gordie Tentrees
Sat, Jan 21
Black Dog (4 pm)
Northern Lights Folk Club (8 pm)

Hailing from the Yukon, Gordie Tentrees has always had to go far and wide to perform his music. Recently, however, he released his first live album, recorded in a place that was particularly far from home. Entitled Naked in Scandinavia, the album was recorded in Finland. Tentrees opened up to Vue Weekly about the making of the album.

Vue Weekly: How do you prepare differently for a performance you know will be recorded for an album?
Gordie Tentrees: I put more thought into song selection, live sounds and also visualize what I wanted to come across in my show that day. Trying to think of it as just another show is the hardest part. Finding a balance in my mind between recording and performing live was definitely in my head, but with an audience I was gone immediately in that [performing live] direction.

VW: Tell me about how you chose the songs that would be on the live album.
GT: Songs were selected based on their strength lining up against each other. I wanted to also include some new songs mixed with older ones combined with stories about them, as I knew some people often enjoy the stories more than the song. I was also performing solo, so I wanted tunes I felt comfortable with [on] the instruments I was using: acoustic guitar, dobro, harmonica and porchboard bass.

VW: How much higher are the stakes for a performance you know will be recorded for posterity—was there a backup plan if things didn't go well?
GT: There was a bit of pressure on myself to play well and connect well live with the audience, but I figured if it did not turn out well I would not use it. I had a songwriter/producer/engineer friend (Sarah Macdougall) with me on tour at the time and after much talk of getting some gear to record live shows we finally found it in Finland, built right in. I trusted her opinion with the end result and was lucky to be on tour with her then at the time for that reason. Sarah sings and plays melodica with me on a tune as well. My backup plan was to not put it out if it stunk. I mean once you do, it's out there. Having a tourmate who is also a producer/engineer was helpful.

VW: Were there any songs you performed that were left off the album? How did you make those decisions?
GT: There was one song, "No Integrity Man," that I really wanted on there but I left out. It requires some intensity and commitment but that day I just did not have it. I actually forgot a line in the tune—not that the audience noticed but I thought after hearing it back that it would bother me more to keep it on there than not.

VW: You perform all over the world, what made you want to record a live album in Finland?
GT: To be honest it happened that day and could have been in Texas or Italy. The original plan was to record some live tracks from several shows during the tour I was on. I was on a three-month, eight-country, 80-plus-concert tour at the time, I figured it would be neat to get clips of all the shows and put them together. I hit Finland near the end of the tour so after that many nights in a row I was feeling very comfortable. When I got to Helsinki I met Juha Ruenanen at Livegraphy Studio where this album was recorded. He had recorded live albums with Martha Scanlan and the Foghorn String Band previously in his room with his gear and he made me feel like an opportunity was in the making. I definitely have Juha and Sarah to thank for helping me to capitalize on it. I feel in love with Scandinavia, it reminds me of all the best parts of Ontario were I grew up, so I feel pretty good that it happened there. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus