Career
Tuck's career started when he began appearing in Halifax coffeehouses and college pubs, either doing solo performances or with his first couple of bands, such as The Columbia Recording Artists, in the early-to-mid 80s, and then The Bluegrass Lawnmower, which existed from 1988 until 1992. [2] [3] Bluegrass Lawnmower received an East Coast Music Award nomination for "Unrecorded Artist Of The Year" in 1991. [4]
Tucked formed the quartet of Al Tuck and No Action in 1993, with a "revolving cast of musicians", [5] [6] [7] after the dissolution of Bluegrass Lawnmower, and with increased attention on the burgeoning Halifax independent music scene in the early 1990s.
By 1994, the band dropped down to a trio, with Tracy Stevens on bass, and Brock Caldwell on drums. [5] This led Tuck to a recording deal with Sloan's Murderecords, [8] which released his first two LPs: Arhoolie, [9] and Brave Last Days, [10] both in 1994. That same year he made an appearance at Edgefest. [11] He also appeared on a festival bill with Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails at Molson Park in Barrie, Ontario, playing on the CFNY-FM 'Nu Music Sidestage' alongside treble charger, The Killjoys (Canadian band) and other acts. [12]
During his tenure on Murderecords, a "documentary" short film was shot and produced by Colin MacKenzie (Murderecords, Cinnamon Toast Records) on Tuck, in 1995. [13]
Tuck received another East Coast Music Award nomination for "Male Recording Of The Year" in 1996. [14]
Tuck released Food for the Moon in 2009. [15] In a review, Now magazine wrote, "Tuck's voice – thin, rough-hewn, distinct – reaches out intimately, and his songwriting never drops beneath top-shelf." [16]
In 2010, Tuck was the voice of Milkman Cat in the Spike Jonze-produced animated short, Higglety-Pigglety Pop!. [17]
"Under Your Shadow" followed in 2011 under the Maple Music label. The album appeared on the !earshot Campus and Community National Top 50 Albums chart in January 2012. [18]
In June 2013, Tuck's studio album Stranger at the Wake was longlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. Fair Country, which is a mix of original songs, co-written with poet Alex Rettie, and covers, was released digitally in 2015 and then in CD format in 2016.
December 2016 saw release of a tribute album, Behind That Big Red Curtain, [19] featuring 15 of Tuck's songs, performed by 15 of his musical friends, and produced by Adam Gallant and Andrew Murray of Charlottetown, PEI.
Two of these songs, "In the Days When the People Were Small and Few" and "Behind that Big Red Curtain", were not previously recorded by Tuck. [20]
