Duane Steele reflects on the Canadian country music landscape and his admiration for George Jones

WATCH An interview with Duane Steele Duane Steele reflects on the Canadian country music landscape and his admiration for George Jones

The Club Regent Event Centre was packed full of an audience wishing to be taken back in time to hear the roots and legacy of two country music’s most prolific artists on Thursday night.

Golden Ring: The Story of George and Tammy brought two Canadian country artists to centre stage to pay tribute to the careers of George Jones and Tammy Wynette through song and storytelling.

The show was headlined by Duane Steele singing a catalogue of Jones’ classics alongside Mariya Stokes, an aspiring songwriter from Stavely, Alta., who sang several tracks that put Wynette in the country radio landscape. Steele and Stokes joined for a number of duets that Jones and Wynette originally recorded together including the title track of the show.

Before the show, CTV Winnipeg’s Joseph Bernacki had a chance on Thursday to catch up with Duane Steele, who is from Hines Creek, Alta., and was inducted into the Alberta Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022. Steele, a Juno Award-nominated artist and Canadian Country Music Award recipient, reflected on more than three decades of history performing, songwriting, and his admiration for ‘The Possum’, George Jones.

Note: This interview has been edited for clarity.

Now we're promoting, of course, your show, Golden Ring: The Story of George and Tammy, here at Club Regent Casino. How much fun is it to be a part of an event like this?

Duane: It's great. You know, I was asked, and it's been about seven years, I think, since we started doing the original show, The Legend of George Jones. Then we've sort of morphed into more with Tammy's music and life, into the Golden Ring project, too. But, you know, I had no idea. I've always been a fan of George Jones's music, and growing up, you know in my musical career, I guess, if you will.

You know, we played some George Jones music back in the day, but to actually dig into it, to dig into his life history and the depth of the music, has just been a joy musically. It's been really fun.

I imagine he's got such a huge catalog of music, too. Duane, tell our viewers a little bit of a preview of what they can expect to see if they come see one of your shows on this tour.

Duane: Yeah, well, you know what it is. I'm an artist, Duane Steele. I've been making music here in Canada for many, many years, like you alluded to. So what we do is I come out; it's not a, you know, in the truest sense of the tribute show where people dress up the part and all that stuff I'm just doing me, and we have a young lady with us; her name is Mariya Stokes, and she's fantastic.

She sings Tammy Wynette. So we tell through the use of multimedia, and we've got a great multimedia show with our stories that lead into the songs. It's basically a chronological voyage of George and Tammy's music together, right from the early George Jones up to when he meets Tammy and their duets. If people come, they're going to get sort of a full meal deal, I guess, of George and Tammy, both their careers separate and together. So it's a really cool, comprehensive show.

What really interests you the most about his life story that you get a chance to share with the audience?

Duane: Well, you know, it's not—I don't think it's new or a revelation to anybody that he had a troubled life. You know, he was afflicted with some things and stuff. But I think just the fact that he was able to maintain it and his records and the music are the proof in the pudding that the guy had a voice that was next to none in terms of country music.

I think that's the thing that inspired me the most. What I take away from it is like, if you've got that, whatever it is, you know, regardless of where you're at personally or whatever the career, it just carried itself sort of a deal.

I want to take you back in time. 40 years ago, in 1984, you started a band called ‘Rock N Horse’. What was that experience like playing in Alberta growing up? Was that really kind of your foot into getting a bigger appreciation for music?

Duane: I mean, I had been playing music; I started out as a teenager with some cousins of mine. We had a little band called Northern Sunrise, and, you know, we were directionally challenged. Of course, but, you know, we played weddings and dances and all this stuff that, you know, local, you know, young bands and stuff do, and ‘Rock N Horse’ was the first sort of big professional, you know, project that we did.

It sort of gave me the idea, you know, I'm doing this for the rest of my life, and we were basically a club band, but we managed to make a record. We toured all across Canada, and it solidified, I think, my intent and my career path, if you will.

1993, the band breaks up, you have a chance to go solo, publishing contract opportunity comes up, you get a chance to go to Nashville. What was that experience like the very first time you went down to Nashville?

Duane: Well, and the very first experience of mine was with our band ‘Rock N Horse’. We actually went down and we cut some tracks down there. We were trying to do it as a band originally. So the very first time I went to Nashville, it was, you know, it wasn't as glamorous as one might expect.

You know, we got to Nashville. It was a rainy that day, and we got to the top of Music Row, and we were doing a little tour, and there was this guy, you know, singing at the top of Music Row, and, you know, he was doing some Garth Brooks covers and stuff, and there were some, you know, he had some church pews, what looked to be church pews up front. And there were not very many people listening to the poor guy, but we sat and listened, and we were just, you know, we were just trying to soak it in. It was day one, and it was kind of, you know, sprinkling and not quite as glamorous as we thought it might have been. And this guy is out there, you know, working at it.

And it just kind of went, you know what? We got our work cut out for us. But it was very cool. Like, I mean, you know, after that initial day of sort of sightseeing and seeing this fellow slugging it out there that way, we have been for years, but it was still in Music City. I mean, we met some wonderful people there that just opened up our eyes and the doors to some of the places that you could get to that a lot of people don't, and it was pretty special.

Does it astonish you looking at Nashville the way it is today? So many country superstars have their own bar down there now. It's certainly a city that's growing. I mean, we've got a seasonal flight from Winnipeg now running, temporarily. What do you think about how Nashville's changed?

Duane: Yeah, well, you know, I haven't been down there for a few years, but I know that. I've got lots of friends that live down there and stuff, and I see it, of course, on TV. How lower Broadway has changed into, almost more of a tourism thing than it even used to be. I mean, it always was sort of a place that, you know, people coming into town, if they wanted to experience a little bit of Nashville, they could go on the lower Broadway and Second Avenue and stuff and hit those places.

But I think now it's just opened up, and especially with the I think when I left, they were just getting the Bridgestone Arena done and having the hockey team down there and stuff, and it's just become this huge hub. You know, and I think it's great, you know, everyone that I've, people in my family and friends that have gone to Nashville recently, they just love it. I can't wait to go back. So that's a good thing.

You grew up in northwestern Alberta, northwest of Edmonton, close to the B.C. border. Who are some of your influences in both country music and music in general?

Duane: When we were kids and growing up, we were learning songs. You know, back then, if you were playing dances in northern Alberta as a kid, you better play some two-stepping music and some polkas and all that stuff. So our influences are pretty vast. I mean, we obviously like the arena rock bands and, you know, the Bryan Adams and some of those earlier musical influences, Burton Cummings and stuff like that. You know, the Guess Who.

But the country guys were Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Charley Pride, and, you know, there was a host of country music people that we were playing those songs. And it was to make people get up and two-step at our dances because that was our job. Then I kind of got into the singer-songwriter thing with Rodney Crowell and people like that that were writing their own songs and performing.

It's 1995. You're in Calgary; you're at a singing showcase. Can you tell me a little bit behind the story of how you ended up landing a recording contract with Mercury Records Canada, which I imagine must have been a day that really stood out to you in your life?

Duane: Oh, it was fantastic. I had, you know, at that point I had, you know, left the band and I was pursuing; I was living in Nashville already, and I was working as a staff songwriter for Warner Chapel down there. So our intent was to get a record deal, and I always wanted to be a solo artist.

We had a great group at Mercury Records here in Canada that were interested. There were a couple other labels, and they all came together. We put together a showcase, my manager set up a showcase for me, and we got a great band together behind me at the time, and a guy named Doug Chappell who passed just recently, over the past few years here.

He was just a great guy, a great music guy, a great record guy. He was at the showcase, and he made it happen for us. With the record deal and stuff, and I'll be forever grateful for him for that, because it's the reason I'm still here doing music today, because he believed in what I was doing then.

Before we were recording, I was showing you, of course, a little throwback here, Duane Steele's first album from 1996, P.O. Box 423. What do you remember the most about cutting this album? You had a lot of singles that went to air; 'Stuck on Your Love,' 'The Trouble with Love.' What do you remember the most about putting this out? How proud of yourself were you to release your debut?

Duane: It was unreal. It's kind of surreal, really, because it just kind of, you know, we got the record deal, and Doug Chappell just kind of gave us carte blanche to go make me a record, you know, that I can sell in Canada.

And let's have some hits. And we did actually off that record. We had a few great big hits right off the bat with it. But one of the cool things about this, and a lot of people might not realize, is that we actually cut it in Canada. We cut it at an old famous studio in the Laurentian Mountains just outside of Montreal called Les Studio.

And, you know, it had the storied past of the Stones playing in there. And lots of these great rock records were made there and stuff. So we brought some people up, our producers from Nashville, and we got some Canadian players on it. Colin Linden, a great Canadian guitar player, is on it. We met at this cool studio out in the Laurentian Mountains in Quebec and made that record.

It was just a great experience. We got to drive; you know, it was just a beautiful scenic place to be and just a comfortable place to make a record, because I was nervous, like we were making. I hadn't made a record of this caliber or with calibre of producers and stuff like that. It was absolutely wonderful.

Jump to your second album, This Is the Life. Gordon Lightfoot, 'If You Could Read My Mind,' you recorded a cover on here. It was the very first rendition I'd heard of this song before I heard Gordon's growing up. You mentioned singer-songwriters. What kind of impact did he have on your interest as a Canadian musician?

Duane: Well, it's funny, you know. I think I was, especially when I was younger. I was a subliminal fan of Gordon Lightfoot's because he was all over the radio when I was a kid. I'm a 60s kid, so growing up in northern Alberta, we heard lots of Gordon Lightfoot and stuff. He was sort of ingrained, whether you knew it or not.

It wasn't till after I started becoming a singer-songwriter myself and trying to write songs and stuff. You start searching out these great writers. He was right at the top, especially in Canada. For that matter, he's a world-class artist and songwriter. A friend of mine had reminded me of his music.

I was in Nashville at the time. I'd been there for a few years and 2500 miles from my little hometown, so it wasn't always easy to get home. So I was homesick a little bit. This person said, ‘You know, if you ever get homesick for Canada, just go listen to some Gordon Lightfoot and you'll be right back in Canada’.

I went down to Tower Records, bought Gord's Gold, and I'm like, ‘Okay, I'm at home.' I get that voice. then I fell in love with ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ again, and I'm like, I want to cut this. It was pretty special to be able to record that.

When you go back and you look at 'Anita Got Married' on your debut album, and then songs like 'Little Black Dress,' 'Leavin' Made Easy', you kept racking up single after single on Canadian country radio, and then even going into your next album, I'll Be Alright in 2000, you had six or seven songs come from that album. How did it feel getting so much airplay on Canadian country radio? How did you know what you were doing was right?

Duane: I didn't, you know, (laughs), I was very fortunate to be making music back in the 90s, for sure, because, you know, Canadian country radio, I'd get calls, we'd go in to do interviews and stuff, and guys go, when are you bringing me some new music? Come on, let's go. You know, so it was great. It was very inspirational. I was like, okay, they still want my music. So that was half the battle knowing that somebody was kind of waiting for it. I was writing and making music, I had to be happy with it myself first.

Then, we just got lucky that Canadian country radio enjoyed it just as much. Once the fans heard it, you know, they were coming to the shows and buying some records and stuff. Without the platform that Chappelle and his crew at Mercury Records gave me though, it would have been a different story, because he brought me on to a national level, I guess, with my music, and I've been able to sustain a career ever since.

In a lot of these songs that I mentioned, even on this album, you had a chance to co-write. I always like asking artists, Where do you look to for songwriting inspiration?

Duane: It depends. I mean, we do these songwriting seminars and stuff all the time, and it's a pretty open question that way. It could be a personal thing. It could be a friend's story. It could be, you know, an idea out of a movie, out of a book. Like, I mean, I always say, you just as a songwriter, you have to have your antennas up and just be ready for that little kernel of a song or whatever it might be.

It might even be a musical hook, you know, sitting around playing your instrument or whatever that you just start humming you know, you don't have a lyric and you're just kind of humming and coming up with some lyrics that don't really mean anything, but it can eventually become a song and you'll tap into an idea.

Songwriting is a very hard thing to describe, you know, because it happens for me just about a different way all the time. You know, co-writing is a little different because you can get, each person's got their ideas, and you're kind of meeting in the middle and trying to throw out ideas, bounce ideas. I find it a little easier to get to where I need to go with the song and to come up with something.

When you look back when you started in the late 90s, you know, the Canadian country scene was full of really up-and-coming artists who would go on to have big careers. You still hear them today. You know, the George Canyon’s, Terri Clark's, Paul Brandt's, and Jason McCoy's. Does it kind of wow you sometimes to look back and think, Hey, I was kind of a part of that same class of artists who really have had longevity in the scene?

Duane: Many of us were fortunate to be making music back in that timeframe and stuff, and it was an exciting time. Country radio had sort of in Canada opened up quite a bit from where it used to be. Maybe just because there were more artists, there were more of us doing it and stuff, but it was so thrilling to be a part of that.

Even now, we just did a show; they called it a Legends show. But you know, Paul Brandt was there, and Carolyn Dawn Johnson and myself and Brett Kissel. He's one of the younger guys, but he's right at the top of the game right now. He was hosting it with Carolyn, and there was Michelle Wright and Patricia Conroy. Some of these iconic Canadian names, you know, and dear friends of mine, for the most part, you know, were there, and, I’m just like, I can't believe I'm asked to do this. It's just an incredible and honorable feeling.

We were chatting about George Jones earlier. What songs of his do you find you enjoy the most to perform—ones that really stand out to you for audiences?

Duane: He's got a pretty deep catalog. They're all great to perform, but, I mean, when we're doing the show, when I go to start 'He Stopped Loving Her Today,' which is probably his most iconic song. You know, the room just erupts. They love that song.

It came at a time when George, in his own personal life needed a hit again, and he got it. The ironic thing is, he didn't want to record that song. He did. They talked him into doing it, and it turned his life around again, because at the time, he had been sort of basically living out of his car and he'd had some rough times. So that's probably one of the most special, just because I know that backstory on it.

Mariya Stokes, singing the music of Tammy Wynette, gets a chance to do 'Stand By Your Man.' You mentioned 'He Stopped Loving Her Today,' 'Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes,' you know, these are some of the most iconic country music songs, really, that we've had over the last 50 years. I guess it's pretty neat to incorporate them into a show like that?

Duane: You mentioned ‘Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes’. Another great song I remember seeing that years ago, on CMT, when George, you know, he just steps off of his bus and goes into this old garage, and he's talking to the old fella, you know, and he's got a song about it. I just thought, Now that is just an incredible song.

Then, you know, on the flip side of it, we've got young Mariya Stokes with us here doing Tammy Wynette songs, and she just does an incredible job. She's so passionate about getting it right and paying great homage to Tammy and her songs and her story. So, you know, doing those duets, like one of my favorite duets with her is the song One, which was the last song they ever recorded together in 1995, I believe.

Just to be able to do those songs and to have a singer that is just as into it as myself, you know, to bring it to people and to be standing on stage with, it's pretty cool.

You know, with George Jones, where does he rank amongst your personal list of country's greatest musicians? Where would he rank all time for you?

Duane: I'm a George Jones fan. He probably would be in the top two or three. I mean, Merle Haggard and George Jones and Kris Kristofferson, you know, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, all those guys from that era. George even predated that. He sort of kind of came up behind Hank Williams almost, you know, and as a matter of fact, he was a huge Hank fan and sort of emulated him when he first started music.

I've always been a Merle Haggard guy, too, like many of us die-hard classic country fans. But George Jones, I mean, the voice. George didn't write a lot of his songs, so that was one thing. But they found him those songs that just, you know, his voice was one that could rip your heart out. He could do that.

I always like songs that create a picture in my mind, you know, whether it's from the song or writing lyrics. More recently, you released a single last year called ‘Grumpy Old Men’. Are you working on more new music? What do you enjoy about still putting out new singles like that? What comes to mind?

Duane: Well, it's fun, you know. As an artist, I think we can't stop doing that. You know, I certainly can't stop doing that. I'm always looking at, you know, when's my next song coming out, you know? Right now I'm actually working on a new, I guess I'm going to call it an EP project. It’s not going to be a full album, but we'll have about seven or eight songs on it.

I'm recording it right now. We cut five songs just recently. A couple of the guys in the band are playing on it that are with me today. I'm going to be putting out new music as long as I can and playing music and, you know, just keeping the wheels rolling. I unfortunately forgot to learn anything else. So I'm stuck in the music business. Yeah, I don't feel too bad. (laughs)

Obviously, if you get a chance to listen to the song, it's a song that you could just picture guys at a Tim Hortons in small town Manitoba, you know, just talking about the news of the day, basically, and things like that. You've been a traveling musician, of course, for a long time. You've got a chance to travel all across Canada. What have you enjoyed the most about getting that perspective of seeing North America really as a traveling musician?

Duane: Well, that's a great question. You know, and I haven't toured a lot in the U.S. I've been back and forth across our beautiful country many, many times. Of course, I lived in the U.S. and stuff too, and I've travelled there. I think it's just the beauty of our, you know, to be able to have been lucky enough to have been born in this country and to be able to make a living here and travel across this country, and, you know, Canada is so vast.

We almost have, you know, there could be three countries in the size of our country, but we've got great people across this country. We take it for granted, and we talk about it all the time because we'll be rolling into a small town and talking.

We sometimes forget that a lot of people don't get to do what we do and travel like we do. So we've been fortunate to see this beautiful country from coast to coast and meet so many different people of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities, for that matter.

What advice would you pass along to aspiring country musicians here in Canada? Musicians tuning in and from someone who has had such a long career, such as yourself.

Duane: Well, I would just say, I think you just have to be yourself in music. I think if you want to do music, think of it as a lifetime pursuit. If you want to be in music, to be a star, that's great, and sometimes that'll happen. But it might not. But if you approach music as a career and as a lifetime pursuit and something you enjoy doing, that's the route I would take, and that's the road I've taken. I still love getting up on stage in whatever capacity that is every day. To sing and play songs if somebody is out there listening.

Can you find any better lyrics to describe the title of your show? You hear the opening lyrics of Golden Ring: 'At a pawn shop in Chicago, on a sunny summer day, a couple gazes at a wedding ring there on display.' Does it get any better than that?

Duane: It's pretty cool. There's some great lyrics in this show, and back in that time frame, they were culling and pulling in from some of the greatest songwriters that Nashville had down there. You know, and, yeah, there's some great lyrics.

It's Golden Ring: The Story of George and Tammy performing shows across Canada. Duane, I really want to thank you for your time today having a conversation with me from CTV. Thank you so much.

Duane: My pleasure. Joseph, thank you very much.