Minnedosa boys return to Rock the Fields

Johnson Crook emphasizes tight vocals with a country-rock verve that has attracted the attention of Canadian rock mainstay, Tom Cochrane.

The quartet of musicians that constitutes the country band Johnson Crook seemed to forge a deep connection with each other from their first meeting three years ago.

Rhythm guitarist Noel Johnson, lead guitarist and mandolin player Nathan Crook, drummer Trevor Crook (Nathan’s brother), and bass guitarist Jared Craig immediately clicked while jamming together as they attended an artist entrepreneurial course in Toronto. The union — which originates from their similar backgrounds and a strong ability to harmonize vocally — seemed to tighten when they finally hit a stage.

Something magical was happening between them. They knew it and their friends saw it, says Nathan Crook.

“We had a few jams at the (entrepreneurial) program then decided to play an actual show and said, ‘This is really working. Maybe we should be doing this.’ All of our friends who saw us were, like, ‘You should be doing this,’” Crook said from Toronto last week.

“Jared was already playing with Noel. They really clicked together, but when the four of us got together and played, it just seemed really easy. We all sing on our own. When we sang together we immediately knew where each of us should go and it was very easy to harmonize.”

A year later, the quartet became Johnson Crook and the momentum sought by so many bands in the industry seemed to flourish underneath them. In May, they released a self-titled, five-song EP through Coalition Records. It featured the lead track “Minnedosa,” named after the Crooks’ Manitoba hometown.

On August 4, the Crooks will return there to hit Friday’s second stage at Rockin’ the Fields of Minnedosa, where Johnson Crook is scheduled to perform alongside a line-up that includes Glass Tiger, Barney Bentall, Big Wreck, I Mother Earth, Arkells, and The Trews.

For Crook, it’s a huge victory considering the struggle he and his brother had while trying to arrange gigs there as youths.

“We used to find it always a little tough to break into your hometown market. Trevor and I have been playing together our whole lives. If we tried to play in Minnedosa, we either never booked a show or if we did, no one would come out,” he said.

“Last summer, Johnson Crook twisted the arm of a local bar owner there and we had the bar at or over capacity the whole night. There were old faces there I haven’t seen in years and years saying, ‘Hey. Remember me?’ It was an amazing experience; the highlight of our summer even though we were playing quite large festivals.”

With Johnson calling Cochrane, Alta. home and Craig from Greensburg, Pa., the entire band knows and feels what it’s like growing up in a smaller community. These experiences have not only melded them together as a group, but bleeds into their music; a sound that blends the roots rock of The Band, and Eagles with contemporary alternative country artists like the Avett Brothers and Blue Rodeo.

But for Johnson Crook, the tightly wound harmonies backed by stripped down instrumentation makes them stand apart.

“We all have our own, individual vocal ranges and they all fit in to each other perfectly,” said Crook. “Rather than really deciding who would sing where, the ranges we were naturally singing were already complementary to the way we wanted to sound.”

The band’s debut, full-length album titled, The Album, will be released the same day the band hits the Rockin’ the Fields stage. It’s a collection of 12 songs with themes of love, heartache, longing and self-discovery. Produced by Bill Bell at Metalworks Studios, it was recorded live off the floor to give it the energy and feeling of a live performance.

Bell was instrumental in bringing Johnson Crook together with long-time Canadian rock mainstay, Tom Cochrane, also a small-town Manitoba product. Cochrane was impressed by the band’s third track on the EP, “Mr. Nobody,” and decided to provide some vocals for it.

“The first time I met him, I had invited the producers over for one of our potluck suppers and (Bell) said he’d come by later. Bill shows up and says, ‘I brought a friend with me,’ and it was Tom Cochrane… Tom Cochrane in my house,” said Crook.

“He’s a great guy and working with him has been really inspiring. He’s always thinking and talking about music, poetry and art. I wouldn’t trade him for anyone else on the recording of ‘Mr. Nobody.’ Tom is getting a little older and the verse he sings talks about that, so it’s fitting.”

The past two years have been momentous for Johnson Crook as they develop a groundswell of support from audiences across the country. They used to jump in a van to get from one show to the next, but today, require a plane. The idea that they have rose this far so fast is a “surreal experience being from Minnedosa,” said Crook.

“This is the fastest progression we’ve ever experienced,” he said, noting that they didn’t have a name for their group until two years ago — just a handful of months after they met. “It’s exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Trevor and I have played in other scenarios and nothing clicked, but then we formed this band and we’re all of a sudden on a roll. It’s a fast moving train going down a hill without breaks.”

Nevertheless, the band members realize the importance of balance in their lives. Now 31, Crook ensures he has time to spend with his fiancé, while Johnson has a family with a one-year-old child that requires attention.

“We’re away a lot and we’re not going to stop pushing this hard, but we still make sure we have time for family,” said Crook. “We have a tight-knit band family, as well. None of our parents live in Toronto, so we’ve become our own support system to help with babysitting or we’ll have those potluck suppers where we’re all together and talking about what’s happening.”

After all, it’s the way small-town people live; for each other.

“(Being from a small town) influences us in a way that it influences anyone with a regular life,” Crook said. “We carry that small-town, be nice to your neighbor, work together mentality. It’s how we approach everyday life. We’ve been in Toronto for five years and when people ask us where we’re from, we still say we’re from our respective small-towns.”

Find more on Johnson Crook and sample their music at www.johnsoncrook.com.

This story originally appeared in the July 27, 2017 edition of The Westman Journal.

Christopher L. Istace

Written by

Writer, singer-songwriter. Crohn's Disease and brain tumour survivor. Finding peace in whatever life hands us. @ChrisIstace @theold21

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