Up until the last few years, I had always dismissed country music. (Except for a period as a child following Kenny Rogers's performance on The Muppet Show.) When asked what type of music I like, I, like many of my suburban peers, would give the clich�d answer, "I like all kinds of music...except country." This changed once I moved to Calgary to attend university. Now, whether it was my Albertan country music loving environment or my openness to all things new, I can't be sure. Regardless, my acceptance and love of country music was brought on by the band Cuff The Duke.

Hailing from Oshawa, Ontario, the five-piece plays alternative country that fuses indie rock with folk, utilizing both the steel guitar and the moog synthesizer. In 2005, they released their second full length on Hayden's Hardwood Records imprint entitled Cuff The Duke. The band employs the precise amount of country and indie rock elements on the record to satiate both camps, and in doing so expands both their listenership and their listeners' tastes. Whereas some of the songs have very mixed genres, others are more folk than indie, and vice versa, but the great unifier of the record is Wayne Petti's (vocalist) countrified lyrics and vocals.

If you get a chance to see Cuff The Duke live, I suggest you take the opportunity, as I saw them in concert three times last year and every show was memorable. The most indelible moment occurred at their show in April when the fire alarm was set off and the show was moved outdoors for an off-the-cuff acoustic rendition of "Alberta Bound" by Gordon Lightfoot.

Listen to "Take My Money and Run" and "The Ballad of Poor John Henry" at Cuff The Duke's MySpace page. Or if for some ungodly reason you use RealPlayer, the Cuff The Duke album can be heard in its entirety via the band's website.

Or watch the video of "The Ballad of Poor John Henry":