MEDIA

MEDIA

Always, around the corner lies another storm, twisting and churning.  Blue Rodeo's tour for Nowhere to Here draws to a close. The new album waits for life.  Fans cozying up to the main stage Saturday at folkfest will get a prime look at one of this country's finest bands -- ever -- on the verge of yet another transition.  "I think our audience in Canada expects us to be wandering down a few new roads with each album and taking a few new chances," says bassist Bazil Donovan.  "That's the way we've always been. We like to cross genre boundaries."  Still Canada's little secret, hasn't compromised its work to make inroads in the U.S. In fact, after 10 years of recording, the band appears to be just hitting its artistic stride.  "We could have put out another 5 Days in July and I think that would have made a lot of people happy," Donovan says.  "Especially those people in the U.S. who got introduced to us by 5 Days. This record caught them off guard. They were thinking we were some kind of Crosby, Stills and Nash thing."

 But fans expect more.

 Donovan says singer-writer-all-purpose-creative-maniac Greg Keelor helps steer the group away from the ditch.  "Greg tends to think ahead to the next record a lot.  "If he thinks we're doing things one way too much, playing too mellow or too raucous, he'll pull in the other direction."  Donovan says Keelor is messing around with some stuff for a solo project that may hit tape before the band returns to make a new record in October.  But he doesn't foresee the band going the way of Uncle Tupelo just yet.  "You will see the odd solo project pop up. Over the years you become more realistic about these things.  "But Blue Rodeo is what it is regardless of its members."