Waltons (band)

Waltons were a Canadian folk rock band, active primarily in the 1990s.<ref>"These guys aren't your average hicks". The Province, December 10, 1992.</ref> The band released three studio albums during their career, and won a Juno Award for Best New Group at the Juno Awards of 1994.<ref name=juno>"Juno about the Waltons?". Hamilton Spectator, March 24, 1994.</ref>

History

The band was formed in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1987, by vocalist/guitarist Jason Plumb, bassist Keith Nakonechny and drummer David Cooney.<ref>Template:Usurped. Jam! Canadian Pop Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2009-08-05.</ref> The band was originally known as "Neurotic Paperboy", before changing to The Waltons; the name was derived from the fact that Plumb had been given the nickname "Walton" by a bandmate in an earlier musical project, although Plumb sometimes joked that the band hoped to be sued by the producers of the television series The Waltons for the free publicity.<ref>"Group stays true to the spirit of jazz". Ottawa Citizen, June 4, 1992.</ref>

They released two independent demo cassettes, '89 Demonstrations and Demo Sandwich, in 1989 and 1990, before moving to Toronto, Ontario in 1991.<ref name=onthemove>"Waltons keep on the move". Calgary Herald, January 14, 1994.</ref>

They released their debut album, Lik My Trakter ("like my tractor") independently in 1991.<ref name=onthemove/> That year, they were nominated for two CFNY-FM CASBY Awards for Most Promising Band and Best Western Canadian Band.<ref>"Local heroes of '91". Toronto Star, December 21, 1991.</ref> They signed to Warner Music Canada, which rereleased Lik My Trakter in 1992.<ref name=onthemove/> Todd Lumley also joined the band that year, playing keyboards and accordion. The album became their commercial breakthrough, spawning the Top 40 hits "Colder Than You", "In the Meantime" and "The Naked Rain", and won a CASBY Award for Best Debut Album in 1992.<ref name=freedom>"Waltons don't mind losing freedom". Ottawa Citizen, February 4, 1993.</ref>

In 1993, the band toured Canada as an opening act for Barenaked Ladies.<ref name=freedom/>

In 1994, the band won a Juno Award for Best New Group,<ref name=juno/> as well as a SOCAN Award to mark "In the Meantime" being one of the most-played songs on Canadian radio in the previous year.<ref>"List of winners of '94 SOCAN song awards". Edmonton Journal, November 15, 1994.</ref> Also that year they released the Simple Brain EP, which comprised the title track, which the band had written for the film soundtrack Naked in New York, as well as covers of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer" and Weddings Parties Anything's "Under the Clocks".<ref name=onthemove/>

In 1994, Cooney left the band to pursue other interests, and was replaced by Steve Pitkin for the recording of the band's 1995 album Cock's Crow and by Sean Bryson thereafter.<ref>"The Waltons push on past the Tractor pull". Toronto Star, June 8, 1995.</ref> Cock's Crow was produced by Michael Phillip Wojewoda, and included two songs co-written with Spirit of the West's John Mann and Geoffrey Kelly.<ref>"Safe at second: The Waltons survive second-album syndrome with the confident Cock's Crow". Edmonton Journal, April 27, 1995.</ref> Wojewoda won the Juno Award for Producer of the Year for his work on the Waltons' song "End of the World" and Ashley MacIsaac's "Beaton's Delight".<ref>"Complete list of 1995 Juno Award winners". The Record, March 11, 1996.</ref>

In 1998, the band released Empire Hotel.<ref>"The Waltons rise again". Ottawa Citizen, October 29, 1998.</ref> A live album, Liv, was released in 2001,<ref>"Waltons happy to be back". Regina Leader-Post, September 20, 2001.</ref> following which the band went on hiatus; after four years of inactivity, during which Plumb recorded the solo album Under & Over, the Waltons formally broke up after headlining a final Canada Day show at Regina's Wascana Centre in 2005.<ref>"Waltons ready for family reunion". Regina Leader-Post, June 30, 2005.</ref>

Plumb subsequently launched the new band Jason Plumb and the Willing, whose albums included Beauty in This World (2007)<ref>"Hitting the bull's eye with a Plumb assignment". Regina Leader-Post, March 22, 2007.</ref> and Wide Open Music (2009), the latter of which included both new songs and some rerecordings of Waltons songs.<ref>"Cheerleading a Plumb job; New CD includes live material, well-known solo songs". Regina Leader-Post, June 11, 2009.</ref>

On the 2007 Rheostatics tribute album The Secret Sessions, Plumb appeared with Barenaked Ladies on a live version of "Legal Age Life at Variety Store".

Discography

• 89 Demonstrations (1989)
• Demo Sandwich (1990)
• Lik My Trakter (1992)
• Simple Brain (1994)
• Cock's Crow (1995)
• Empire Hotel (1998)
• Liv (2001)

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: nm17767941

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=nm17767941|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nmnm17767941/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+%0A++++++%7C+%7B%7B%7Bname%7D%7D%7D%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if: nm17767941  {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: 
 | {{{name}}}
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: nm17767941{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=nm17767941|plain=false}}

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}