Balarama Music

Carbon Leaf Countdown #1: One Prarie Outpost

Feb 19

Doug2000s carbon leaf 5 Comments

Considering the heavyweights we have passed, I think our number one song might be a surprise to some. The quality of the song can’t be disputed though. Our number one Carbon Leaf song is “One Prarie Outpost!”

Before we start, I want to say thanks. Thank you to all the people from Carbon Leaf’s message board and Facebook that participated. I got a much bigger response than I hoped for and was very pleased to see that a good number kept interacting with me afterwards. Above all else though, thank you to Carbon Leaf. Not just for entertaining Virginia and the country for about twenty years now, but also for putting up with this countdown! I’m sure they’re have been some songs where I was WAY off base and you probably scratched your heads about it. Plus, I can’t imagine it being easy to see your work ranked. For all we know, each band member’s favorite song could have ended up in the bottom 25 or not even on the list! So above all else, thank you to Carbon Leaf. Now though? Let’s talk about one great song…

This. This is the greatest Carbon Leaf song. Like I said earlier, we passed some heavyweights in our countdown but we landed on this one as our number one. Doing the numbers for the ballots too, there was no denying this. We had over 100 ballots turned in and after the tenth ballot was placed, this song started to run away with the votes. By ballot 50, it was all but confirmed that it would end up as number one. No one song appeared on every ballot, but this one came the closest by far. Before doing this, I could have given you probably six songs I thought would end up in the number one slot and none of them would be this one, but now; it’s pretty clear this is their best work. We just need to have some better foresight apparently.

From the opening guitar riff, you know it’s going to be a change of pace from the Indian Summer. Barry comes in next singing his tale of life on the road and the evocative lyrics just flow out naturally. It’s ode to life on the road. You’re here, then there, and who knows where to next? The venues and van rides all merge together and before you know it, six months has passed and you don’t know, as the song states, where to begin. Before you know it, that prarie outpost out alone in the middle of nowhere is all they associate with. Such a beautiful story, but it is the execution that really allows the song to be labeled “great.” The old-timey shuffle, the singular guitar riff, the laid-back instruments; it is the song written probably in the middle of the night while most people were asleep on the van. Seeing it performed live a cappella with the whole audience muffled in awe, you get the desired effect. This song is different than all the rest because this song IS Carbon Leaf. It is who they are. It is what they do. And it’s just phenomenal.

Song: One Prarie Outpost
Album: Indian Summer
Year: 2004