Fred Eaglesmith is a bit dumbfounded, truth be told.
Everywhere he goes these days, concerts are sold out and his merchandise flies off tables.
"We're crisscrossing the country three or four times (in 2012). It's just crazy. Just crazy," he said last Friday, making his way across Texas and toward Tucson, where he plays a Rhythm & Roots show Saturday night. "It just exploded in the last six or eight months. We have absolutely no reason why."
Longtime followers of the Canadian alt-country roots rocker - they call themselves "Fredheads," a nod to the Grateful Dead's "Deadheads" - would likely boil it down to one reason: Eaglesmith puts on an amazing show.
In between singing songs about farming, ranching, trucks, trains, guns, drinking, loving, losing and life in the sticks, Eaglesmith adds a dry-witted commentary on life around him. (Don't be surprised if he sneaks in a comment or two from last week's Jan Brewer-Barack Obama showdown.)
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Eaglesmith comes to Tucson with his Traveling Steam Show in support of his freshly dropped album, the very lo-fi "6 Volts."
"We recorded it in my studio. One microphone. One track. Really old school, early '60s," he said.
The album references 1960s and '70s roots rock, but is very much grounded in 2012.
As for the stripped-down production values, that's pretty much how Eaglesmith has done it throughout his career. He's never been a fan of digital recording values, he said.
"I can't surprise you with that kind of stuff. But I can surprise you by not using it. I used hardly any digital on this album," he said of "6 Volts," which refers to the battery required to run a transistor radio. "We're now at the point that we can't overwhelm people anymore so I thought that I would underwhelm them. The only thing I could do (more stripped down than this) would be to put it on a wax cylinder."
Eaglesmith can sound like a curmudgeon at times, delivering cynical proclamations on the state of music. Roots rock: "I just feel like with roots, we've uprooted all the roots we're going to uproot. I don't think anybody really cares any more." Country: "We have danced all the dances we are going to do in the cornfield after dark."
But beneath that softly crusty exterior burns an excitement that catches Eaglesmith off-guard at times.
Nearly 40 years after launching his career in his native Canada, Eaglesmith is having a blast. He still lives outside Toronto but is lucky if he spends a month there all told. He lives in his tour bus - he says it looks like a prison bus - and happily parks in RV parks or Walmart parking lots with his entourage that includes The Fabulous Ginn Sisters.
"They were so poor that they had to camp out in their RV and they were playing in an RV park. Sleeping in Walmart parking lots. Somehow we just sort of morphed in with them. And we're like, you know what, this is way more fun than sleeping in fancy motels," said Eaglesmith, who has brought the duo along for his tours the past couple years. "For the last two or three years we've been living on the road more like gypsies and less like rock stars."
As part of his gypsy lifestyle, Eaglesmith cooks most meals and uses used vegetable oil to power his bus. And every once in awhile, when they have a day off, he'll throw a free concert at the RV park then pass the hat for donations.
"It's unbelievable. ... We make almost as much as we do when we play a show," he said.
If you go
• What: Fred Eaglesmith Band in concert, featuring The Fabulous Ginn Sisters.
• When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
• Where: Suite 147 in Plaza Palomino, 2970 N. Swan Road.
• Tickets: $22 in advance online at www.rhythmandroots.org or $25 at the door.
