Battle River is a country-rock band with one Ariat firmly rooted in a barley field in eastern Saskatchewan and the other on the gas pedal of a station wagon hauling through the southern States. As songwriters Battle River winds through varied geography but finds fertile ground in a sound that blends alt-country, southern rock, and raw garage rock with a directness that draws from the deep well of punk ethos. 

Their first full-length album, Motel Blues, is a collection of proudly told folk stories of love, cultivation and loss. The scenery flashes by as seen through a rearview mirror: golden Alberta larches; the moonlight industry of fall harvest; the monotony of wheels endlessly humming on asphalt, and the smells of diesel and grain. Those views are always the backdrop of sadly poetic relationships – a Sears catalogue of seasons brought to life with lurid illustrations and aged family photos of love, laughter, heartache, and pain.
 
Battle River’s players are veterans of musical life; storied musicians, having recorded and toured with Zuckerbaby, The Von Zippers, Hi-Strung Downers, and The Daggers. Great songwriters and musicians focused on a vision to recollect honest, personal tales witnessed then, and now, as they happen.
 
This album is a collection of songs that wears its influences on its sleeve and will appeal to lovers of early 70’s roots rock and modern alt-country. Chinook Arches is a wild bicycle ride buzzing with wry humour that evokes Merle Haggard and Roger Mcguinn. Home Again channels outlaw Waylon Jennings into shallow redemption; High Horse reminisces The Stones at their Honky-Tonk worst; Buck Owen’s and the Allman Brothers bleed into Texarkana Heart; and Steve Earle and Neil Young lay the strained foundations for Sweet Deal and Motel Blues. Shoulders of giants, for sure, but done respectfully, true to their origins, told through the unique lens of true craftspersons of rural arts and culture. 

Battle River is an album that will make you laugh, dance, think, drink, cry and then dance again. 

Battle River is: 
Gregory James Callsen - Vocals, Guitar 
Brian Wayne Doss - Vocals, Bass Guitar 
Robert (Professor) Ferguson - Drums 
Laurence (Uncle Lo) Smink – Guitars