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Dubbed the urban denizens of Canada's country scene, One Hundred Dollars lends a window into what country music might have become had the industry not been overtaken by pop music production and trite subject matter.
HOLD IT TOGETHER
Founders Ian Russell and Simone Schmidt met in 2006, singing George Jones and Tammy Wynette tunes, and were soon joined by pedal steel ace Stew Crookes. 2007 saw great movement and challenge for $100, who, having earned a steady following as a trio in the city, were set back by Russell's diagnosis with Leukemia. The scheduled release of their first EP "Hold It Together" was canceled, though the album leaked slowly, selling locally and over the internet.
FOREST OF TEARS
Forging forth, One Hundred Dollars was determined to gig whenever possible - it was after a show at the Music Gallery (Toronto) that Rick White (RickWhiteAlbum, Elevator, Eric's Trip) offered to record their full length album. The band thickened up with Paul Mortimer (bass / lead guitar), Jonathan Adjemian (organ & whurlitzer) and Dave Clarke (the drums), rehearsing together 6 times before laying down 12 tracks live. July 2008 marked the release of "Forest of Tears," their first full length album on Blue Fog Recordings. Rec …
EXTENDED PLAY BIO
Dubbed the urban denizens of Canada's country scene, One Hundred Dollars lends a window into what country music might have become had the industry not been overtaken by pop music production and trite subject matter.
HOLD IT TOGETHER
Founders Ian Russell and Simone Schmidt met in 2006, singing George Jones and Tammy Wynette tunes, and were soon joined by pedal steel ace Stew Crookes. 2007 saw great movement and challenge for $100, who, having earned a steady following as a trio in the city, were set back by Russell's diagnosis with Leukemia. The scheduled release of their first EP "Hold It Together" was canceled, though the album leaked slowly, selling locally and over the internet.
FOREST OF TEARS
Forging forth, One Hundred Dollars was determined to gig whenever possible - it was after a show at the Music Gallery (Toronto) that Rick White (RickWhiteAlbum, Elevator, Eric's Trip) offered to record their full length album. The band thickened up with Paul Mortimer (bass / lead guitar), Jonathan Adjemian (organ & whurlitzer) and Dave Clarke (the drums), rehearsing together 6 times before laying down 12 tracks live. July 2008 marked the release of "Forest of Tears," their first full length album on Blue Fog Recordings. Recorded in 13 hours at Elder Schoolhouse with Rick White, "Forest of Tears" has garnered critical acclaim for its sophisticated story telling and masterful performances. Toronto Star's Ben Rayner comments, 'Forest of Tears heralds the arrival of Schmidt as a preternaturally gifted singer and lyricist, and of Russell as perhaps the only extant songwriting foil with the talent to make her dense, poetic diction sound effortlessly musical.' Critics have given $100's country the prefixes "alt -", "traditional", "psych-", "real," alike, serving as testament to the band's ability to draw all audiences- even those who think they hate Country - into the genre. In June 2009, Forest of Tears was long listed for the Polaris Prize.
It's been three years since Forest of Tears was released. The band also earned acclaim for its moving live performance and ability to fit on any bill, whether indie, folk, or punk, touring Canada and the US.
SONGS OF MAN
The new LP Songs of Man reflects a change in personnel, approach and instrumentation. Recorded to tape over twelve days at Blue Rodeo's Woodshed studio, Songs of Man contains ten distinct narrative perspectives and the sounds to match them. Schmidt draws from her experience as a speech facilitator. "In that job, I'd go around life with people who don't communicate verbally and assist in verbalizing what they're thinking to the rest of the world. I had a deep friend in one person I worked with, Aaron, and I would communicate for him all over the place - the doctor's office, the strip club, therapy, the bar. I got to know a lot of different people in ways I wouldn't have other wise. Wild insights into the human condition. One of the tunes on the record is Aaron's Song."
Schmidt continues her collaboration with Ian Russell, and welcomes Paul Mortimer as co-writer as well. Most often working in the balladic tradition, Schmidt delves into character sketches of a range of people, some tangential to broader dramas playing themselves out across songs. For instance, "Fires of Regret" is a letter from the man sung about in the title track of the band’s first LP Forest of Tears.
Each song on Songs of Man was treated differently by producer (and pedal steel player) Stew Crookes. "We set out to record one song from start to finish every day, experimenting with sounds while crafting many of the parts in studio as the recording evolved over that day. This allowed us to have different and well considered textures throughout the record."
Crookes has made records with such diverse artists as Doug Paisley, Jill Barber and Hawksely Workman. "The first time we met Stew, we were playing as a duet," guitarist Ian Russell says. "He approached us with an offer to record. Then he started playing with us, and three years later we took him up on the offer. It's lucky because you get all the familiarity and ease of working with an insider who happens to really know what he's doing as a producer."
One Hundred Dollars' instrumentation has changed as well. Jonathan Adjemian has moved on, so Schmidt fills in on keys and plays some guitar too. David Clarke remains on percussion, sometimes stepping outside the kit, and Russell, known for his unique acoustic guitar playing, plugs in the electric. Rookie Kyle Porter has entered the band on bass, shifting Paul Mortimer over to lead guitar. Mortimer's playing has become the signature sound of One Hundred Dollars' live show, as he seamlessly integrates Piedmont country-blues style picking with electric guitar bends and pedals.
With all these changes, Songs of Man moves to reinforce what One Hundred Dollars is best known for: a tight re-imagining of what the contemporary Country Song can be.
SONGS OF MAN COMES OUT ON MAY 10 MAN. IF YOU ARE IN TORONTO COME PARTY AT THE GREAT HALL ON MAY 13. TICKETS AT SOUNDSCAPES AND ROTATE THIS. PEACE.
