Consistency is the hallmark of roots rockers Blue Rodeo – both in terms of sound and quality. The band was founded in Toronto by Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor. In 1985, they assembled a new band with the idea of returning to organic, guitar-based music. Christened Blue Rodeo, they quickly became a popular live act on the Toronto scene. Their debut album, Outskirts, was a smash hit in Canada and landed them a slot on tour opening for K.D. Lang. The more introspective Diamond Mine followed in 1989, and it sold even better, not to mention winning the band its first of many Juno Awards. The band made a push in the U.S. with 1990’s slightly poppier, Casino and returned in 1992 with one of their most acclaimed albums, Lost Together; it marked the final appearances of Mark French and Bob Wiseman. New drummer Glenn Milchem, keyboardist James Gray, and steel guitarist Kim Deschamps were all on board for 1994’s folky, largely acoustic Five Days in July. It proved to be one of the band’s biggest successes in Canada. The hot streak continued with 1995’s Nowhere to Here. Blue Rodeo issued the live collection, Just Like a Vacation, in 1999, and reconvened in the studio for The Days in Between. The group returned in 2005 with Are You Ready and again in 2007 with Small Miracles. The two-disc The Things We Left Behind was released in 2010. More recently, in 2014, they released A Merrie Christmas to You. Blue Rodeo continues to rock out around the world.
