Reflections on Episode 100…
"And so with that, how can one argue Episode 100 was not a significant milestone?"
Reflections on Episode 100…
THE STORY
Well, as I said on the broadcast although it really isn’t that significant of a milestone I still feel it is one worthy of acknowledgement. So in an effort to shine a light on both the program and a small sect of the local music scene we celebrated our 100th episode in style Friday April 10, 2026 live on stage at Park Alleys in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Sean Burns & Lost Country acted as the hosts and the house band inviting a handful of guests up to join us to sing some country & country-adjacent music to a capacity crowd. It was a fantastic and memorable evening and we recorded the whole thing. In the interest of full disclosure, I had planned on making the entire show (which obviously exceeded the one our time slot our program occupies) available to our subscribers here but after listening to the whole thing out of respect for the band and singers, it’s best some of it stays in the vault. Almost all of the highlights from the night made the cut though and you heard ‘em on Episode 100.
It’s a celebration of country music and community and one of recognition to Park Alleys who have been our principal sponsor since I relaunched the program 2 year ago. I couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to make this weekly program for you without the continued support from Tod Hughes and Park Alleys. I am extremely grateful to have this relationship with them and I genuinely love playing music in their room. I also have a great deal of appreciation to the stations who provide me with this platform.Some of you tune in at home base on CKUW 95. 9 FM in Winnipeg, some of you on our partner stations (CKXU 88.3 FM in Lethbridge, CJTM 1280 AM in Toronto, CJAM 99.1 FM in Windsor / Detroit, CKMS 102.7 FM in Waterloo) peppered throughout Canada and in to the United States but I know that the majority of our listeners find us on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. We’ve carved out a decent following on the podcast feeds and while we maintain a great deal of support at home in Manitoba and across western Canada, nearly 40% of our listeners are downstairs, south of the border in the United States. I am proud at how far we’ve reached and of the committed listenership we’ve cultivated over these last 2 years. It’s humbling and quite frankly very flattering. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of you out in the wild and that always makes this whole thing feel even more real and extra special. Thank you for that, friends. We’re an unconventional program for campus & community radio and in addition to Park Alleys are also brought to you in part with support from the Emerald Club Tattoo Company in Selkirk, Manitoba; Nectar Fine Tattooing in Lethbridge, Alberta and Gilmore Guitars in Red Deer Alberta. I value these relationships and sincerely appreciate their work and their support for my efforts.
Over these now 100+ episodes you could argue that The Boots & Saddle Show has morphed in to equal parts radio program and podcast. I’ve ranted, self-promoted, overshared and trauma dumped on you folks every week and as a result, I regularly field emails and messages from loyal listeners who feel comfortable and safe enough to share their stories with me. It’s become personal and we’ve developed a trust amongst each other that I do not take lightly. I sink a lot of time, energy and resources in to crafting the Boots & Saddle Show and I’m thankful to be able to do it. I love making this show. I’ve said it before and will say it again - Boots & Saddle has helped shape and save my life. Hours of prep and recording go in to delivering a tight, carefully curated and well researched 1 hour radio program and as I’m sure you know, I love being able to do this.
In all of the episodes since the relaunch I’ve steered clear of spinning my own music. I talk about myself and my life every week and a big part of that is my music and touring & performance schedule. I’ve been willing to promote but have not abused the platform by playing my own recordings. Episode 100 was a bit different though as an effort was made to present an accurate portrayal of the events of April 10 at Park Alleys which had to include featuring a few songs from Sean Burns & Lost Country. I had a lot of support from my band for this undertaking and thank Joanna, Chris, Dan and Blaine for a job well done. Our guests were generous with their time and talents as well and I appreciate Ridley Bent, Keri Latimer, Jess Reimer & Jeremy Hamm, Erika Fowler and, Andrew Neville being a part of Episode 100. Thanks to Tod, Cary and everyone at Park Alleys. And to everyone who bought a ticket to attend the show. Thank you for tuning in. I hope that over the course of the episode you got a sense and a feel for what it was like to be in the audience at Park Alleys that night. That was the goal.
THE SHOW
Cary Bilkowski, the sound tech and booker at the alleys pressed play on the familiar Boots & Saddle intro track by Boots Graham & Catherine Robertson before a live reading of the Park Alleys ad. The Buckaroos played Chaparral as I introduced the show, the way I always do
and as the last D chord from Don Rich’s telecaster rang out my pedal steel picker, Dan Russell counted us; “2, 3, 4, 1” as we shuffled it to the saddle with one of our “hits”, My Old Self from my 2018 record, ‘Music for Taverns, Bars and Honky-Tonks’.
I’m compelled to share this here as well. The official video (see: art film) starring Mayor Matt Allen for the song is one of my favourite things that I’ve ever released.
RIDLEY BENT
Following a couple more from Lost Country, we welcomed our first guest to the stage, Ridley Bent. For you folks out there unfamiliar, I’ll point to a quote from Lynn Saxberg at The Ottawa Citizen describing Bent as “a beat-poet cowboy that can sing a broken hearted country song [that will] make you want to cry”. A heck of a songwriter and a performer who carries himself with a calm that most frontmen lack, it was a no brainer inviting Ridley Bent to join us. Plus, my Drummer Joanna has been in his band for nearly 10 years and our guitar player Chris has been Ridley’s right-hand man for 20 years. Ridley’s song I Don’t Drink was the one that made the cut. There’s a recorded version out there from a compilation I helped produce for the Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club during the pandemic and the word is I Don’t Drink will appear of the upcoming Ridley Bent record due out either later this year or early next.
A spirited version (in the style of The Byrds version) of You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere followed:
It’s one we’ve all played - and heard - hundreds of times so I was glad we got a keepable take I Don’t Drink for the broadcast.
KERI LATIMER
Our second guest was another that both Joanna & Chris also play in a band with. Keri Latimer, the principle singer & songwriter from the award winning local band Leaf Rapids joined us for one of my favourites, Leavin’ On Your Mind before digging in to the Leaf Rapids cut, Insomniac Show. Both made the cut for the broadcast. A celebrated songwriter, Keri does a nice job on this old classic but I wanted to be sure we included one of hers in the program and we chose Insomniac Show from the latest Leaf Rapids record, Velvet Paintings. And though I’m certain I’ve shared these in a previous Saddle Up post, here they are again:
For our friends & fans out here unaware of her work, Keri’s career stretches back 25 years to her prior band, another award-winning outfit called Nathan. They toured plenty, found success and had a run with a major label before disbanding. Here’s a couple samples for context:
Often confused simply as a “Patsy Cline song” and as much as I love her version Leavin’ On Your Mind is a Joyce Smith song for me. In the late 50’s/early 60’s Joyce left her home in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada for Nashville where she was scooped up by Decca Records and sent in to the studio with the legendary Owen Bradley. I interviewed Joyce a few years back and we had a great chat about her life & career in country music and she remembered those days in Nashville fondly. Written by Wayne Walker & Webb Pierce, Owen got his hands on Leavin’ On Your Mind and set it aside for Joyce. As the story goes, Patsy heard a demo of the song in the studio one day and wanted it for herself but Bradley wanted to see where Smith could take the song. Joyce found moderate success with the single (and in the biz in Nashville) before returning to Canada and eventually be inducted in to the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. Owen Bradley finally relented and permitted Ms. Patsy Cline to cut Leavin’ On Your Mind and it’s really hard to argue with the results; it was a hit. And I mean, how can you begrudge anything Patsy ever cut? You can’t. All that to say, next time someone tells you Leavin’ On Your Mind is a Patsy Cline song, you be sure to tell them no, that one is by Joyce Smith from Edmonton, Canada.
But C’MON… it’s a damn near perfect record from Patsy:
I was so pleased Keri agreed to join us and that I finally had the opportunity to be on stage playing music with her.
SB & LC
Lost Country would continue to sprinkle in songs between our guests and a few made the final broadcast including our version of the Hank Thompson classic, A Six Pack to Go. I love Hank, that song and the whole Six Pack to Go record and am quite proud of our delivery of the song. Really glad we got a keeper that night. A ton of versions out there but for my money this is the definitive cut:
I’ve also always really enjoyed this version (and this record) a whole bunch too:
Of course we played some other favourites, too…
JESS REIMER & JEREMY HAMM
We couldn’t possibly deliver a presentation of local talent who participate in country or country-adjacent music without inviting Jess Reimer & Jeremy Hamm to be involved. I had requested Jess’ song Pontiac for the show which our steel player Dan has argued is undoubtedly in the Top 10 Manitoba penned songs of all-time. I’m inclined to agree. Members of a local Bluegrass supergoup The Stanley County Cut-Ups, Jess & Jer are baked in to the heart of the Manitoba music scene. In addition to their work with the Cut-Ups, Jeremy is an in-demand luthier with his Hamm-tone Guitars and Mandolins business while Jess has released records of her own including ‘Sweet Darling and Sorrow’ (2010) & ‘The Nightjar and The Garden’ (2014). The pair released a duo offering in 2017 called ‘Down The Valley’. Pontiac was first featured on Sweet Darling and Sorrow but also shows up on Down The Valley which was a happy surprise to me as that’s more the style we’d be in for on Episode 100. Pontiac made the broadcast but the duo’s version of Still Feeling Blue was left out as the Boots & Saddle Show observes a strict No-Gram-Parsons Policy.
ERIKA FOWLER
I first heard of Erika through our steel player Dan and from some other friends & fans who’d caught Erika’s live show over the last couple of years. I invited her to open for Lost Country at Times Change(d) in April, 2025 and was quite impressed with her voice and songs as she delivered a confident performance to a full barroom. A highlight of that opening set was her version of Blue Kentucky Girl (more in the style of Emmylou Harris than Loretta). As I said on the show, it’s a Loretta Lynn song even though some might call it an Emmylou song but for Episode 100 it’s an Erika Fowler song. She doesn’t have a lot of music or video available online that reflect where she’s at these days but believe me when I say she’s got all the makings of a beautiful country music singer. I’m pleased and excited for our audience to see Erika when she joins Lost Country to open the shows on our album release tour this September. Erika delivered a nice version of Blue Kentucky Girl ahead of a real nice original song called Someday. Both made the broadcast.
ANDREW NEVILLE
Our good friend Andrew Neville, the River Heights rebel, Winnipeg’s very own Honky-Tonk hero was our final guest for the show. Another no-brainer as Neville and his band The Poor Choices have been staples of the Winnipeg scene for 20 years. They haven’t released an album since Let’r Buck (2007), the follow-up to their self-titled debut from 2005 but the Poor Choices remain the go-to act for underground, cow-punk, Alt, Outlaw Country groups in town. Lovingly and openly described by a local venue owner as “the best shitty band in Winnipeg”, the Poor Choices may at times resemble that quote but they are so much than that and a big reason is a result of Andrew’s charm and quiet confidence on (and off) stage. They’re exactly the right band for a certain moments in life and we’re lucky to have them in Winnipeg. Despite his songs being cut by a myriad of other artists I’d argue that Andrew is an under-rated songwriter and without touring since 2012, a mystique surrounding Neville persists across the prairies and even down to parts of Toronto to this day.
Andrew is a friend and I have been more than willing to break my soft no-duets policy for him over the years be it Streets of Bakersfield or more likely the Texas Tornados classic Who Were You Thinking Of which we performed as the second of his three songs (Neville got one more song than all the other guests did) on April 10 at Park Alleys. Not a duet in the true sense of the term but I sure love playing Freddy Fender to Andrew’s Doug Sahm for Who Were You Thinking Of.
Unfortunately, that one didn’t make the cut for the broadcast. There was some uncertainty on the bandstand and I completely shit the bed on the changes a couple of times near the end of the song. Very few things stand-out worse than a bass mistake so (mainly) for that reason we had to leave it in the vault.
Neville opened his portion of the show with one of his biggest hits, Brand New Song. Like most of the songs his debut record, Brand New Song has shaped and morphed in to something different (and better) as the years have gone on. It’s really a beautiful song though.
It’s s a well traveled number that was maybe first covered by Sean Brewer & Treeline on their Prairie Sentimentalist album. I can’t find a version online but theirs is good and turned a heap of other Alberta artists on to Neville. My pals, the southern AB country-rockers Tin & The Toad had a real nice live take of the song worked up as well but it was out in Toronto where Corin Raymond spread the song and word around furthest by including it on his Paper Nickels album:
Here’s some other versions of it I found for you:
To close out his portion of the show I asked Andrew if we could do a more proper duet, trading verses on his Town Song another staple of his show and classic in his catalogue that has changed (and improved) drastically over time. I recorded a version of it with Lost Country and that’s more true to the way Neville has been doing it for the last bunch of years. I wish we could have kept more of Andrew’s spot for the broadcast but alas we were only able to include Town Song. That’s okay, it was a nice way to end the show and will remain a fond memory for me for years to come.
After Neville left the stage Lost Country concluded the set with our version of Lord, I Hate to See Myself This Way, which (spoiler alert) we recorded for our upcoming album.
THE AFTERMATH
And that was it, folks. Took about 90 mins or maybe a little more for this whole operation to come to its conclusion and a good time was had by all. We took a break (and took a breath) before heading back up for a loose, semi-casual and fun short(er) 2nd set to close the whole night off for the live audience. Nothing was very keepable from that but I didn’t really expect much to be if I’m being honest. I remember that we played a few Merle Haggard songs and a few from our upcoming album before ending with what’s become our traditional show-closer, a 15 minute version of a song I recorded in 2013 called Livin’ It Up.
The amount of time, energy and effort I put in to that night, the subsequent editing & mixing of it and now this piece that went in to Episode 100 is substantial but the memories make it all worth it. Sounds cheesy but I mean it.
And so with that, how can one argue Episode 100 was not a significant milestone?
We made it one.
Together.
All of us.
Thanks, folks. We’ll chat later.
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Photos + Video Clips by Joey Senft.
https://www.jsenftphotography.com
https://www.instagram.com/jsenftphotography