Every so often a musician will arrive on the scene who is not only hugely talented, but also a genuinely good person. These are the artists whose legacies become inspirations for others and whose music tends to reflect their personality in song.
Barney Bentall is one such musician.
Bentall is playing a series of concerts on Vancouver Island in October with his band, Cariboo Express, before heading off to gigs on mainland B.C., Calgary and Toronto.
His concerts, though, are not typical, so a little background is in order.
The Cariboo Express is a 12-piece western band led by Bentall but the extended cast of the band includes Dustin Bentall, Ridley Bent, Matt Masters, Kirby Barby, Stephanie Cadman, Wendy Bird, Scott Smith, Geoff Hicks and Rob Becker, all united in the spirit of giving back to the communities that have supported their careers.
“It all started out when we were asked this one time to do a sort of charity event at a local rodeo dance. Afterward we sat around and thought about it and decided that, once a year we’d go out there and raise money for charities, and Cariboo Express resulted,” Bentall said. “That was 20 years ago and since that time we’ve raised about five or six million dollars for a variety of charities.
“I don’t like to make a big deal of it. We work with charities and get sponsors for songs and then introduce the songs the way they used to do in Grand Ol’ Opry days. We have some fun with it, and it helps us to give something back (to the community).”
But it should come as no surprise to anyone who's followed Bentall’s career that he has a unique approach to life and to his music.
Barney Bentall first drew the attention of the music world when he and his band, The Legendary Hearts, recorded and toured extensively throughout Canada. The group sold more than a half million records, had a host of hit singles and achieved platinum status for multiple albums. They also won a Juno and were a regular feature on Canadian radio.
Then, in 2000, Bentall decided to get off the music world’s treadmill and traded in his musical career for life as a cattle rancher in the Cariboo region of central British Columbia.
But true musicians like Bentall never really stop creating. Over the next few years he continued to write songs saying, “the damn things just wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“I look at life as a journey and I guess it’s great to do one thing and do it well, but I’ve always been enamoured by the adventure of it all and I’m always willing to try new things.”
It was just as well that Bentall’s soul was still tied to music. In 2006, friend Jim Cuddy, of Blue Rodeo fame, prompted Bentall to return to the music scene.
“Jim Cuddy came to me and said that ‘you have more to say, let’s go make a record,’ and that’s just what we did,” Bentall said. “It was a reset for me.”
Bentall went on to perform and record both as a solo act and in collaboration with others.
His band, The High Bar Gang, featuring friends David Barber, Kirby Barber, Rob Becker, Wendy Bird, Colin Nairne and Shari Ulrich, were nominated for a 2014 Juno Award for "Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year" and won "Vocal Group of the Year" at the 2014 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
In 2022, Bentall released his album, Cosmic Dreamer that featured nine new singles as well as two covers – Bob Dylan’s You Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go and Gordon Lightfoot’s Shadows.
And Bentall still plays the occasional gig with The Legendary Hearts.
“We did a couple of shows this summer and it was all right there,” Bentall said. “In fact, when we played, I it reminded me of how much I love the elements of rock and roll. It’s part of my wheelhouse, for sure.”
That wheelhouse also includes a broad range of roots, country, bluegrass – and even instrumental.
And although Bentall has scaled back on his ranching activities, he still maintains his ranch.
“It keeps you grounded,” he said. “I hear some musicians complain about the business and I say, ‘Try sitting in a saddle for 10 hours in the snow, looking for your cows or fixing a barbed wire fence sometime.’ I feel grateful that I’m one of the lucky ones who can perform music and make a living at it.”
“For me, I look at life as a journey and I guess it’s great to do one thing and do it well, but I’ve always been enamoured by the adventure of it all and I’m always willing to try new things.”
Bentall and the Cariboo Express are performing four shows at Sidney's Mary Winspear Centre Oct. 24 to 27, before heading to Parksville's Knox United Church on Oct. 28.
Learn more at barneybentall.com/tour.
