This Man: Cory Marquardt at the 2015 CNE!

It’s 350km from Cory Marquardt’s home town of North Bay to Toronto and the Canadian National Exhibition – and we’re glad he made the trip.

One of Ontario’s rising stars in country music, Marquardt has been working his tail off, travelling, playing, and having a party at every stop along the way. And his three night stop at the Northern Comfort Saloon stage was no different.

#ThisMan is a combo… part throwback to Haggard and Jones, and part long haired rock and roller (leftover from his days as a drummer in metal bands) – but when you put it all together, you might just get exactly what he needs to be. We had a chance to sit down with Cory before his three hour run on Friday night, and learned a little bit more about him, and then watched him do his thing live up on stage for the first time.

As most have learned by now, Marquardt was a hockey player before he was a country singer, and spent three years playing junior hockey – so we asked him to compare his on ice style of play to his on stage style in a live show. He confirmed for us that his game, like his stage show, was all about high energy, intensity, and doing whatever he could to get the boys fired up. And while he can’t throw a big hit or score a big goal up on stage, we saw first hand that he works to get the crowd to 100% of their potential party.

We pointed out the bright side of not taking penalties when he plays live, and Cory told us they still come, just after the show when he gets told not to get so close to (or over) the line in his show.

Note: The show had a few F-bombs, so maybe he is still taking those penalties after all.

A while back Cory and Brett Kissel traded some tweets about getting together to play some classic country with @corymarquardt handling the Haggard and @BrettKissel taking the Jones – but we asked and Cory told us that even though the two have shared a few stages and spent their share of time together, it still hasn’t happened. We said it then and we’ll say it now, we’d love to be in the room for that.

We also asked which of the very talented Canadian women making country music right now he’d like to duet with and he told us that Amanda Wilkinson of the Small Town Pistols is at the top of his list, with Kira Isabella running a close second. Cory told us that he thinks both of them have the chops to sing some old classic country duets with him… and we agree, those are two very talented ladies.

Classic country is something that Cory clearly has ingrained in him, playing songs by Merle Haggard early in the set (Mama Tried, Big City, I Never Go Around Mirrors) – with more from Vince Gill (Liza Jane) and Alan Jackson (Who’s Cheatin’ Who) peppered in to kick things off.

But it didn’t stay in the radio era, as Marquardt also got the crowd into the action with covers of Eric Church (Lotta Boot Left To Fill, Springsteen), Keith Urban (Somebody Like You), the Eli Young Band (Drunk Last Night), Jason Aldean (She’s Country), and more… plus a little something more rock and roll from Kings of Leon (Sex On Fire).

Note: It was great to hang out with Livy Jeanne during Cory’s set… check the pic of her getting a little dance break in at the CNE!

But it wasn’t all covers… Cory gave the crowd a taste of his debut album, with Smartphone, 21, Nowhere With You, Don’t Count Saturday Night, This Man (the title track), and Take You Home Tonight – which we think should be the next single from the album. Trust us.

From start to finish this night was a lot of fun. Cory Marquardt was humble in the back (he thinks it’s pretty cool that he’s the first artist to have visited the new Country Corner at Steve’s Music on Queen W.) and revved up on stage. He’s an emerging artist and entertainer who misses his dog Emma when he’s on the road, and he can’t wait to hit the CCMA’s in Halifax (look for him if you’re down for the award show).