Blue Rodeo's Greg Keelor (left) and Jim Cuddy wrote their new album, The Things We Left behind, with a vinyl release in mind. (Michael Peake, Sun Media)

In case there was any doubt that Blue Rodeo's Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy have been writing together a long time, look no further than the Toronto band's new double album, The Things We Left Behind, in stores now.

Turns out the two songsmiths, who met in high school and later formed one of Canada's most respected alt-country-pop bands 25 years ago, both wrote songs independently about the same couple on the new disc: Keelor's Venus Is Rising and Cuddy's One Light Left In Heaven.

But the best part is their different reactions to the news that that information is included on their latest biography.

"It's in the notes?! That's unbelievable!" said Keelor, seated beside Cuddy in their Toronto management offices which also houses their longtime studio, The Woodshed.

"I think that's probably not that unique," added Cuddy, more calmly. "That because we operate in a similiar circle of friends. If something happens to our friends we're affected by it. And I guess, especially because we hang out with a lot of artists, it's not unnatural to be writing a song about it. But understand that we presented the songs to the people involved to say, 'Is this okay?' "

Added Keelor, who quickly got over his initial upset that something private had been revealed by his label's publicist: "It was very nice to hear (Jim's) version."

As for their songwriting styles, it's pretty much remained unchanged over the years.

Keelor says he's lazier and writes at home while Cuddy writes a lot more songs, often in the Woodshed before they come together.

There's also a lot more piano on the new disc, despite the fact the band lost their keyboard player just before recording it, and more prescise arrangements sometimes featuring one or two string players.

"We're working with two new guys, usually 'cause we lose keyboard players. I think we usually retreat into guitars or some other form, but it was a very nice period of discovery, how these two -- Mike Boguski and Steve O' Connor -- played," said Cuddy. "And so we just kept putting it more and more to the foreground. It just became a very interesting anchor for a lot of the songs."

Cuddy says the band will also bring a cellist and violinist on the road with them when they begin a major cross-Canada tour in January -- after some scattered November and December gigs -- which includes two dates at Massey Hall on Feb. 2-3.

They launched the album in Toronto with a street party and performance on top of the Diesel Playhouse yesterday, and will play the Grey Cup half-time show in Calgary on Nov. 29. They also have a special Winter Olympics 2010 performance in Whistler on Feb. 28.

One of the more interesting facts about The Things We Left Behind is that it was specfically written with a double vinyl release in mind, although it will also be made available on CD and digital formats.

"We had a lot of songs so we just didn't want to stack (them) and we could have fit everything on one CD but we would have had to abbreviate some songs," said Keelor. "And we've made long CDs before and they demand a lot of listening. I don't think that's fair. And it was nice really just thinking about it in terms of vinyl and which side presents 'cause that's ultimately still the way that I hear music."

Added Cuddy: "I like the involvement with a record too. You can't just put it on and forget about it and do other stuff. You have to keep going back every 15 minutes and decide what you want to hear and where you want to go next."