Gordie Tentrees
Gordie Tentrees
Mercy or Sin
Feb 2, 2010
DIY – Distributed by Burnside
Gordie Tentrees is from the cold and rustic Yukon Territory and writes like a disciple to preeminent Texas storytellers on his third album, Mercy or Sin. “Alfred” leads off the record, a darkly poignant acoustic tale -“Walks with a hitch, right side hip, reads a dirt palm, right before he spits, thinks on the rain, hollers for the end, Alfred is old his blood ain’t thin.” But don’t settle in for a mellow country/folk album, because he brings his 50s-era resophonic guitar and stomp board to a roaring “No Integrity Man” for a decidedly blues-rock feel—and a hint of rockabilly on “Same Old Blues.”
He brings Mercy or Sin to the US in February (released in Canada in 09) with a detour to perform at the Olympics in Vancouver Feb. 15-17, for the New Songs New Voices Show — selected as the best of Canada’s songwriters. “Ironically, I am a former Golden Glove amateur boxer who spent 10 years trying to represent Canada at the Olympics, and now 10 years after retiring from the sport I am finally going to sing.” On the other side of that coin, Tentrees also quit an 8-year full time teaching job with special needs kids and teens 3 years ago, to concentrate in touring. Since then, Tentrees and band do over 200 dates a year.
