Mean Old World

A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Gordie Tentrees was raised on a farm in an environment described in his bio as ‘a colourful broken home.’ He spent time in foster homes before getting a grip on things partly by becoming a Golden Gloves boxer. Employment as a social worker and schoolteacher preceded a move, at age 24, to the Yukon where Tentrees started writing songs and performing on stage, which he has subsequently done a few thousand times in 11 countries. He often performs solo, self-accompanying on guitar and harmonica, sometimes in a duet with Winnipeg-based multi-instrumentalist Jaxon Haldane. Somewhere along the line, Tentrees fostered an indigenous child and got married. Mean Old World, his eighth release, is the not completely sardonic title of a musical recounting of the artist’s remarkable journey.

The album’s ten tracks move quickly as Tentrees describes, in a distinctly nasal, high-pitched voice, bouts with reconciliation (‘Wind Walker’), gratitude (‘Far Away Friends’), adventuring with a best buddy (‘Lefties’), witnessing the death of a close friend (‘Train Is Gone’) and boxing (‘Ring Speed’). For ears attuned to the style, which sometimes strays into alt-folk stand-up comedy territory, Mean Old World is a humorously insightful, quirkily endearing listen.