Eaglesmith Returns To Water Valley On Feb. 1

Fred Eaglesmith and Tiff Ginn will return to Water Valley at the Old School Theater on Feb. 1. , Eaglesmith a Canadian alternative country singer-songwriter, is known for writing songs about vehicles, rural life, down-and-out characters, lost love and quirky rural folks. 

His songwriting uses techniques of short story writing, including unreliable narrators, surprise endings, and plot twists. 

A typical Fred Eaglesmith show includes his music set between several lengthy between-song comic monologues by Eaglesmith. Topics in the past have included stories about crossing the U.S.–Canada border, Newfoundlanders, and some friends from an Indian reserve. His fans are known as “Fredheads”, a nod to deadheads, who followed the Grateful Dead. He is known to tour extensively throughout Canada and the U.S.

Since 2012, performances have been billed as the Fred Eaglesmith Travelling Steam Show and include opening songs, performed by Fred and his wife Tiff Ginn.

Eaglesmith has accrued plenty of hardscrabble experiences in his 59 rambling years. There has been childhood poverty, teenage train-hopping, relentless touring and a music career filled with ups and downs. Through it all, the Canadian singer-songwriter has never lost his humor and plain old sense of wonder at the world.

“It’s amazing how you can survive on the goodness of people,” he says, calling from a tour stop. “When you’re going by the seat of your pants and playing 250 dates a year, you have to rely on human beings to get you down the road.”

That road brings him to the Old School Theater on Friday, February 1.