Fred Eaglesmith has been touring for 3 decades and it was clear that this 48-year-old singer-songwriter knew how to work a crowd. He told us how he’d been on the road for months, through every which town, in every which direction. He joked about how his audience — a fiercely loyal bunch who sing along and heckle — was getting too old to clap, so he understood if we all just wanted to raise our right hands in approval. He mused about watching a dog run away in Saskatchewan, for three days, and how all the girls are named Twyla in trailer parks in Southern Ontario. He raged a little about hummus (“Everyone remembers a time before hummus, who remembers a time before hamburgers?”) and why if we’re not supposed to eat animals, how come they’re made of meat? Everyone howled and raised their hands.

Eaglesmith has built his career on his lyrical spin of cowboy culture and rural roots, and he’s the real deal. Drawing deep inspiration from bluegrass music, honky-tonk and country rock he sang with soul, like Bruce Springsteen with a Tom Waits-size hangover, about love quietly lost and found in small, forgotten towns, heartaches, booze, how he shot his neighbour’s dog, and near religious reference to all things with big wheels. Throughout the show he was honest and raw, raunchy and funny — a must see the next time he blows through.