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Jim Cuddy plays McCartney to Blue Rodeo bandmate Greg Keelor's Lennon. Or so the story goes.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, according to Cuddy, who is talking up his third solo album, The Light That Guides You Home, while seated at a west end pub.
"I still find it flattering," the amiable singer-songwriter insists before his show tonight at the NAC. "Paul McCartney is one of my favourite composers of all time, regardless of his output in the last 10 years. So I don't have a problem with that.
"Greg and I are long over pondering whether each of us fits the bill. It's flattering to endure, and to be compared to them because you've endured.
"Beyond that, we understand that it doesn't fully represent us. But Greg will always look like the rougher guy and I always will look like the smoother guy. I could protest it all I wanted, but that wouldn't change it."
And with that, Cuddy's conversation is interrupted by a woman who apologizes for behaving like "a 55-year-old groupie" and politely asks for an autograph. Cuddy dutifully signs the paper handed to him, and mischievously flashes that matinee-idol smile at his besotted fan.
HEARTBREAKERS
"Well," he tells her, "if you're a groupie you'd better meet me back at the hotel. We've got a deal you know."
And with that, the voice of Try, Bad Timing and other heartbreakers has presented his admirer with a story that will also be told often. And as he returns to the topic at hand, it's clear that when it comes to the matter of being perceived as the smoother guy, Cuddy does not protest too much.
To do so wouldn't suit the laid-back musician, who is comfortable with his lot as half of Canada's most respected songwriting team. And grateful for the opportunity to once again revive his solo career while Blue Rodeo takes a well-earned break.
Apart from a pointed jab at America's president and a rough-and-tumble duet with Kathleen Edwards, The Light That Guides You Home holds no great surprises for the band's fans. That means strong, hummable melodies and songs born of experience and observation.
"The trend now is for our reviews to be, 'They did what they do very well ... but they do it all the time,' " Cuddy says of the perils of Blue Rodeo's consistency. "There's never any point in railing against that.
"You know, bad reviews used to hurt me. I used to think, 'Oh God, we suck.' But I don't think we suck. So it doesn't bother me anymore."
That, presumably, extends to Cuddy's extracurricular work with his on-call band -- Colin Cripps (guitar), Bazil Donovan (bass), Bob Packwood (keyboards), Joel Anderson (drums) and Anne Lindsay (violin). It's a lineup that has been together through three albums over eight years. And it helps to ensure Cuddy's hands are seldom idle.
"TERRIFIED"
"I think I'm terrified to stop working because I'm afraid then I wouldn't be able to do it," Cuddy admits.
So far, in the nearly 30 years since Cuddy and Keelor began working together (and separately) on songs, lack of work has not been a concern. Hence, the break that led to The Light That Guides You Home as well as Keelor's recently released Aphrodite Rose solo effort. Blue Rodeo has nonetheless continued to play the occasional show this year, and will return to duty in the New Year.
"I don't know that we like to take a long break," Cuddy says, "because then you lose something that you have to get back with hard work. Even if you just do a little bit here and there you don't lose it and have to start up again. Imagine having to rehearse all of those songs!"