Captain Tractor Announces East of Edson (Revisited), 30th Anniversary Edition out April 11, 2025
Go “Up the Hill” All Over Again
Watch East of Edson Mini-Doc Here
Edmonton + Calgary Shows Announced
Photo credit: Lyle Bell
Edmonton’s Captain Tractor, a stalwart of the prairie music scene since the 90s, marks the 30th anniversary of the classic album East of Edson with a new revisited edition, the release of a new mini-doc, and the announcement of shows in Edmonton and Calgary in April.
East of Edson (Revisited) is not simply a remaster, but a reworked, re-recorded and updated collection of songs that reflect the band’s changed lineup and the evolution of the music over decades, offering hardcore fans a fresh take on songs that have truly stood the test of time. For an album that originally sold over 40,000 copies, home to the definitive version of “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate,” a song equally fit for weddings and CFL intermissions alike, East of Edson (Revisited) tells the story of a band who DIY’d their way to commercial success, loyal fans, and a place in prairie music history.
To make East of Edson (Revisited), the band sourced the only remaining tapes from the Provincial Archives of Alberta. With an assist from the archivists, Captain Tractor took the 300 odd tracks back into the studio, adding parts by “new” members Jon Nordstrom, Jason Kodie and Shannon Johnson, editing, polishing and generally bringing East of Edson into the modern studio age. From the Top 40 hit of album opener, “Up the Hill,” to the poignant ballads of “West Coast Rain,” and “Talk,” to the raucous rollover-ready party anthems throughout, including a cover of “London Calling,” East of Edson (Revisited) adds a new chapter to the band’s impressive run.
A brand new mini-doc tells the story of the album, the band, and the legend. Directed by Travis Nesbitt, the doc features original VHS footage alongside new interviews with past and current band members, crew, and other western scenesters. From the early days of Irish ditties at the Sidetrack to leading the surging celtic punk pack, Captain Tractor shares marketing secrets (and other secrets) and more in this pop-up video style history.
Watch the Mini-Doc HERE
Original, traditional, unconventional and fiercely independent, Captain Tractor remains a fixture of the prairie music scene. To celebrate the release, Captain Tractor also announces album release shows in Edmonton and Calgary in April, along with a special acoustic in-store appearance at Edmonton’s Curmudgeon Records on April 12, 2025 to celebrate Record Store Day in true Alberta indie fashion. The Starlite show will be live-streamed around the world.
Six Shooter Records releases East of Edson (Revisited) on April 11, 2025.
Pre-Order/Pre-Save here.
East of Edson Revisited Tracklist:
Up the Hill
Drunken Sailor
Free Yo’ Self
Who’s the Dumb One
West Coast Rain
The Last Saskatchewan Pirate
Lord of the Dance
Talk
London Calling
Lonely Inanimate
Through the Forest
Jesus and the Thieves
Come out of the Hayloft
TOUR DATES:
Edmonton, AB: Curmudgeon Records, Apr 12
Edmonton, AB: Starlite Room, Apr 18 (+ live stream)
Calgary, AB: King Eddie, Apr 19
Mulhurst Bay, AB: Pigeon Lake Music Festival, Aug 1-3
ABOUT CAPTAIN TRACTOR (IN THEIR OWN WORDS)
30 years of East of Edson (and also 32 years of Captain Tractor). How can that be? It seems like just a few years ago that we were touring New Zealand when our manager, Marlene D’Aoust called us to tell us that “Up The Hill,” the first single off of East of Edson, was number four with a bullet on Edmonton radio charts, and it had only been out four months! Since then, Captain Tractor has not only survived, but flourished, expanded, and is still going strong. After ten studio albums (plus a 5 disk collectable boxset), seven music videos, a CDRom, a video compilation including a short film starring the band, music placements in dozens of films and television shows, and thousands of live shows around the world, maybe we’re doing something right.
Our fans are also a breed apart, many of them becoming personal friends over time, and many more joining the fold every year. We regularly hear from fans from all over the world, and in 2025 the lyrics to “Pitcairn Island” (from our first album Land) are being printed in an academic book published by Berkley Press because the author, Professor Russel Fielding, from the Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina, is a big fan - Captain Tractor goes to University!
If success is measured in legacy, let’s talk about the big bad buccaneer in the room. We started playing “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate” as somewhat of an in-joke that we had going on with the original writers and our friends, The Arrogant Worms. Of course, it became a crowd favourite, and so we recorded it on East of Edson, never suspecting what was going to happen. As the years and gigs went on, it remained a mainstay in our sets, but it also started taking on a life of its own, with the Saskatchewan Roughriders adopting it as an unofficial anthem. To this day, the song is played at every Riders game complete with choreography and singing. Since 1995, it has been played at every Edmonton Oilers home game and probably 80% of all weddings that have happened in western Canada. Over a dozen other artists have covered it, most recently Scotland’s Alestorm, and there are over one hundred videos (professional and homemade) available on the interwebs. Ironically, it wasn’t until 2023 at the Bear Creek Music Festival that we actually played it together with The Arrogant Worms on stage; a little bit of Canadian music history went down on that stage that afternoon! After all this, Captain Tractor’s version of “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate” remains king, and with the shiny new updated track on East Of Edson Revisited, it will rule forever! C’est vrai!
Although all six members of Captain Tractor also have other artistic projects, from playing and recording with other groups, writing and releasing solo albums, to working behind the scenes, we always wind our way back to Captain Tractor. Even after thirty-plus years, there’s still more fun to be had, more songs to sing, more cheers to be made, and we look forward to a future of continuing to bring the party, Captain Tractor style, to the world. So give East of Edson Revisited a spin, watch the documentary, and see why we’re still standing, thirty years later. Sociable!
