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What Is This Country?, their latest recording, is a marvellous CD which has Prairie Oyster offering up a wide variety of styles, including waltz, swamp rock, swing, and soul.
Though the styles are wide-ranging, the album comes together cohesively. It's the sign of a group of artists who love what they do, do what they want and are comfortable in their skin.
"It wasn't agreed that we'd have to make this kind of album or that -- the general feeling was let's make as cool an album as we can, because who knows what they play on radio these days, anyway," Keith Glass, guitar and vocals, told the Sun during a recent promotional stop in Calgary.
Bass player and lead vocalist Russell deCarle agrees: "The vibes were so cool from the get-go. It was really comfortable and relaxed and we tried to capture that."
Part of the reason for the comfort level was the fact that a portion of the recording was done in the home studio of Joan Besen (keyboards, vocals and songwriting).
"We spent two weeks in her living room/dining room," explains Glass.
"The Vine Is Doing Better Than The Tree ... was done on the third take. It was a real magical thing," says deCarle.
Part of the reason things have come together so well for Prairie Oyster -- playing MacEwan Hall on Sunday -- is they really do enjoy each other's company and talents.
"We definitely entertain each other," says deCarle.
Glass adds: "We spend enough time apart that we genuinely have a good time together."
Though Prairie Oyster has become one of Canada's most loved country acts and is gaining ground in Europe, the band hasn't been widely accepted in the U.S.
"We're not interested in a Nashville career. We don't fit into that scene," says deCarle. "Radio down there is so safe, it's a joke."
Another issue the group has come to terms with is far more personal.
The band's drummer from 1995 to 1998, Bohdan Hluszko, left after becoming Michelle Josef. Though Josef went public with suggestions she was fired because of her sex change, Prairie Oyster stayed quiet on the issue.
"Anything we could have said would have sounded defensive, so we didn't say anything," says Glass. "We were over it from the get-go. I hope he is."
DeCarle hopes the fans realize the issue isn't black and white and that the group's decision was based on a variety of things.
"Anyone who knows us knows how open-minded we are."