Small-town Alberta country band gets career advice from Grammy-winning rapper
The lead guitarist for a country band based in an Alberta village west of Edmonton was given mere minutes warning that he'd be talking to a multiple Grammy-winning rapper and music producer.
Landon Franson, the front man for The Dirt Rich Band, a country group based in Kitscoty, Alta., had a fleeting Skype encounter with hip-hop legend Wyclef Jean last month.
"I had no idea that was even going to take place," Franson said of the 20-minute mentorship call he did with the Haitian rapper, musician and producer.
"Our drummer does a lot of our social media and press stuff and he gave me a call one day, and said, 'Hey, are you available to Skype with some producer?'"
The session, organized by Fiverr, an online marketplace for freelance services, gave fledgling musicians a chance to apply for 20 minutes of mentorship with the former Fugees member.
Franson took the call while working his day job as a salesperson for a trucking company in Lloydminster.
He was sitting in the driver's seat of his idling work truck — dressed in a ball cap and jeans— when the conversation went live.
"I had to download Skype on my phone. I was at work," Franson said. "The guy who picked up was like, 'Hey, we're going to put you through to Wyclef.'
"That was it. It was right on the spot."
'Another smash'
During the live chat, Jean praised the group's latest song, Without Tryin', and said he was a big country music fan.
"It's another smash," Jean said during the chat. "I loved the storytelling. Do you have a whole album like that?
"I love that song. I'm about to put that shit in my playlist."
Jean explained that country music was brought to the Caribbean by Christian missionaries from the Deep South decades ago and remains popular today.
Jean said he grew up listening to Johnny Cash and the Charlie Daniels Band.
"By the time I got to the projects in Brooklyn, man, the music my mama was playing was The Devil Went Down to Georgia.
"When it comes to country, I have so much love."
You realize how small the world really is. - Landon Franson
Franson said all the band members have day jobs. After three years together, the unexpected praise from Jean for their particular brand of "dirty country" came as a big boost.
"The whole thing kind of took me by surprise," Franson said
"You realize how small the world really is."
During the session, Jean divulged that he is headed to Nashville to work his first full-length country album.
"It's called Caribbean Cowboy," Jean said.
Franson said the band will also be heading down to Nashville to work on their own music and plans to request an in-person meeting with Jean when they hit the road next week.
During the session, Jean advised the band to keep playing live shows and ramp up their social media presence.
"Somebody's gotta be working y'all's social media," Jean said. "The kids, all they do all day is stare at it. They got Twitter fingers."
It was solid advice, Franson said.
"I will definitely take his advice, that's for sure."
