Indie Folk-Pop? Alt-Country Cowpunk? Barnstorm Bluegrass? Roots & Boots Trad? Back-Alley Dustabilly?
Known for rollicking, genre-busting shows that blend authentic connection, a generous sense of community, and toe-tapping, dance-floor-shaking songs – the heart of the Ottawa-based band The Dustbowl Daddies is the old-time, inclusive spirit of using music to bring people together, lift them up, and get them moving.
Fusing lush alt-country harmonies with infectious indie-pop melodies, steel-string twang with poetic lyrical intensity, roots-rock stomp with swinging trumpet – and seasoned with a dash of catchy ska/punk energy, laughter, and progressive political spirit —The Dustbowl Daddies are what you might get if Mumford & Sons, Cake, Billy Bragg, The Strumbellas, Lucinda Williams, Spirit of the West, Taylor Swift, Eliott Brood, The Specials, Woody Guthrie, Tom Waits, REM, The Pogues and The Clash threw a kitchen party.
That energy and spirit is captured in their two albums, BOOM AND BUST ECONOMIES OF LOVE (2021) and their debut album THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR (2015), as well as their EP MORE HURRICANE THAN RAINBOW (2019) - all of which are the result of years of collaborative writing and performing, plus the special musical alchemy of honorary Dustbowler Dave ‘dB’ Draves and the Little Bullhorn Studio. You can listen to them all on Spotify, Apple Music, or on the streaming players below!
BOOM AND BUST ECONOMIES OF LOVE (2021)
“The clarity in the production is as ever crystal and so it feels like we're there with them and kicking up a storm, a badass ballad with a party to enliven with all manner of traditional forces. The playing is as expected a force of nature…They talk about cannonballs because they hold the reins on the one they've created here. Music for the soul and the pacemaker.” MP3HUGGER (Ireland).
“Kicking up clouds of dust with down-home energy is what these fellows do best, as you can hear in this highly polished track, Broken Pieces. Unlike the title, there’s nothing broken or out of place here. Each note is in its place. Have a listen” ~ Houdini Mansions, Daily Devant (CAN)
“Nice strums. Live show beauty we bet. Will do great out there for sure…it’s a hum-dinger and will entertain like nobody’s business” ~ Come Here Floyd
Enjoy Boom and Bust Economies of Love on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, Napster or Bandcamp
The Daddies’ new EP — MORE HURRICANE THAN RAINBOW (2019) — is composed of 4 very different new tunes. With soaring harmonies and a message straight from the heart, Nothing But Time speaks to the band’s deep sense of gratitude for the people in our lives who help us remember what really matters in our world of distraction. Written for songwriter Paul Tyler’s children, he says “the line -- I've got nothing but time for you -- was the realization that this was the deepest love I'd ever felt.”
In contrast, Mr. Cyclops embodies the more irreverent side of the band. After a hymn-like choral opening, Mr Cyclops quickly morphs into a raucous toe-tapper, complete with trumpets ablazing and tongue-in-cheek references to everything from Odysseus’ epic adventures to Hello Kitty. Songwriter Paul Saurette describes Mr. Cyclops as "a cheerfully rueful song about all those times you thought you were doing everything right, only to discover after the fact that you were more of a hurricane than a rainbow! It’s the musical equivalent of a possibly melodramatic, probably embellished, and certainly self-deprecating story, recounted with much laughter and self-mockery…”
Rounding out the EP are Please Please Please (one of the band’s most traditional offerings - a rollicking, banjo-driven and harmony filled plea to put on your “walking boots”, loose your “soul on the breeze'“, and let the “road set you free”; and You are Talking - an unapologetically shambolic back-alley slow waltz, led by a rambling bluesy trumpet and accompanied by an ‘end-of-the-night-behind-the-pub’ back-alley choir.
“Beautiful” ~ Mr. Foxx Frequency (USA
“This is awesome! This Ottawa-based quintet frequently sounds like a cross between Mumford and Sons and the Pogues on this new EP” ~ Roots Music Canada’s Top 11 Favourite Discoveries of 2019 (CAN
“Bright and upbeat with stacks of energy” ~ Bristol Funk (UK)
“Like a roots version of the Pogues without the messy next day explanations. Good on you all.” ~MP3HUGGER (Ireland)
“I loved the folky feel of the music, great authentic instrumentation choices” ~ Rock the Pigeon (USA)
Enjoy MORE HURRICANE THAN RAINBOW on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, Napster or Bandcamp
LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR (2015) is the Daddies debut album, representing their first venture into the recording studio as a band with the 10 songs on the album capturing the essential ‘live off the floor’ energy and spirit of their early years together.
The album is a diverse mixture of tracks, including powerful, driving dark roots-rock tunes like Home and Someone Says Your Name, upbeat indie folk-pop songs such as Kneeling in the Pews of Love, Moby Dick Came Looking for Me, The Beat that Drives My Rock n Roll, and Look Outside your Window, country rock tracks like Another Word for Lonely alongside lonesome cowboy laments like ‘What’s It Gonna Take’, the reflective and poetic folk of No Pennies in My Dreams, and one truly traditional protest tune, Don’t Want No Millions…many of which are crowd favourites that continue to find their way onto the Daddies’ set lists even today.
Enjoy LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, Napster or Bandcamp