Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles "The Grand Bounce"

There are those of you who will recognize the name Gord Downie as the leader of the Tragically Hip, the legendary Canadian band with a twenty-year history and a dozen albums in tow.  They were quite popular in the early 90's, especially on the college circuit, and in bigger metropolitan areas of the northern US.  The further south you went, the less they were known.  I remember going to Niagara Falls for a Music 4 Less opening and my buddy Steve D. had every Hip record available for sale.  I was astounded by the numbers sold when I could hardly move one unit in Florida, unless it was to a Canadian, of course.  Got to see the Hip play in my favorite small venue of 300 where my guest and I, along with the club staff, were the only Americans in the house.  I had never seen so many hockey jerseys and Canadian flags in my life...in Orlando, for crying out loud.  "Hip, Hip, Hip, Hip" was the chant of the night.  We sold tickets for the show at my store and I ran into several of the purchasers at the venue.  They could not believe they were seeing The Hip in a club setting.  One of the band's merchandisers told me they had played for 30000 the week before in Canada.  Another M4L/Sound Shop manager, Tracy O. posted on his Facebook recently about Tragically Hip just as I found out this new solo album was dropping.  So to end this brief history lesson, I give you the Hip on SNL circa 1995.

The Country of Miracles is Gord's other band who has backed him on his previous solo releases but only now receiving billing.  This gives him the option of other musical styles besides the rock of the Hip, even though "Grand Bounce" contains two tracks that rock just as hard.  Here is a live video from just ten days ago for the new single as an example of what the record is like.  The harmony vocals of the young lass in the band meld perfectly with Downie's throughout the album.  If I had to offer a band name for comparison, it would be the Wallflowers, but this is far better than anything the fruit of papa Bob's loins has been involved with.  Actually, "Grand Bounce" is a much more cohesive and entertaining record than the Hip's 2009 release, "We Are the Same."   Unfortunately, this is another album unavailable to the US in the traditional sense, but if I have it, you can find it, too.  It will be worth your effort to find what I consider to be Canada's version of Michael Stipe.