Corb Lund - Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!

Corb Lund is obsessed with horses. I’m not sure if every song on this album mentions them, but even “Student Visas,” a haunting song about a US soldier’s experience as a CIA aide to the Nicaraguan Contras, calls upon the soldier’s family heritage in the cavalry, connecting his injury in a shot-down helicopter to the helicopter’s replacement of the horse in some US Army cavalry units. But the horse theme, or perhaps more specifically a cavalry theme, runs throughout the disc.



I don’t know Corb Lund’s personal history with horses—whether he’s a horseman or not—and I’m not trying to question his “authenticity” if he isn’t. His songwriting shows a longing for the the history and freedom symbolized by the horse that I, as someone who cannot ride and wishes he could, find compelling. “Whenever I see horses, it reminds me of what I ain’t. . . . Whenever I see horses, I see a path I did not take.”



Listen:

Corb Lund - Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier



Watch:

Corb Lund - I Wanna Be In The Cavalry



Buy:

From CD Baby