Blue Rodeo Lost Together: Doc Spotlights How Friendships Fuelled the Can-Rock Icons

By Kim Hughes

Rating: A

“Songs are like little miracles, the way they fall into place.”

That’s Greg Keelor speaking about his process in Blue Rodeo: Lost Together. It’s a new and some might argue overdue documentary about the iconic, long-standing Canadian band whose inimitable songwriting, propelled by co-founders, singer-guitarists Keelor and Jim Cuddy, has kept them enviably relevant and in the spotlight for 40 more-or-less uninterrupted years.

More than anything, the film makes the point that the music is and always has been the thing. That may be why Keelor and Cuddy, in that non-alphabetic order, if you please — the Beatles-related explanation for why is one of many fun trivia morsels — continue so successfully in a field fixated on youth, buoyed by ego, and rife with opportunities to skid off the rails.

As the film shows, the pair met in high school, and Keelor’s description of their somewhat fraught first encounter on the football field, with Keelor as defensive end tackling quarterback Cuddy, serves as a handy metaphor for their musical relationship. Though both are on the same team, each plays a very different position, with complementing and contrasting approaches. The magic is in the middle ground, of course. Oh, and in those heavenly harmonies.

The band’s first-ever show as Blue Rodeo happened almost exactly 40 years prior to the doc’s release this weekend, in 1985 at the Rivoli club on Queen St. West. Keelor and Cuddy had recently returned from New York where they had been testing the musical waters in various permutations.

But back in hometown Toronto and galvanized by the emerging-yet-throwback rock-and-twang sound spearheaded by the late, great Handsome Ned, the group found its footing, expanding its base to include bassist Bazil Donovan and drummer Cleave Anderson, the first of a few skinsmen to sit behind the kit.

The combo was an immediate sensation on the local circuit, though, as Lost Together shows, transitioning along the standard musical trajectory of the era — getting signed by a record label, cutting an album, hustling on radio and then touring extensively with an eye to foreign markets — would prove more of a struggle than being a bankable bar band.

Lost Together proceeds in typical doc fashion: chronologically, with lots of talking-head interviews with friends, fellow musicians, stakeholders, and media, past and present members (Keelor and Cuddy are interviewed both separately and together), and reams of archival footage from across the decades.

A few people who stood out in Blue Rodeo’s ascent are mentioned for praise. These include record label rep JoAnn Kaeding, who championed them inside Warner Music Canada until the imprint’s skeptical honchos finally relented and signed them.

Also notable was the late John Martin at MuchMusic who saved their 1987 debut album Outskirts from certain death. The rootsy lead single was faltering at radio in the time of Whitney Houston-Madonna-Michael Jackson bombast. But Martin insisted another single, the now-staple song “Try,” be added into heavy rotation, even though it’s revealed Martin disliked the video itself. No matter. The band and their fans connected and never looked back.

Wild man keyboardist Bob Wiseman also gets props for giving early Blue Rodeo its distinctive musical and performance thumbprint though his eclecticism would eventually drive him out the door. Others came and went but the core trio of Keelor, Cuddy, and Donovan remained, with eventual solo albums adding unexpected vigour to the group dynamic.

The gas in the film’s proverbial tank is an unabashed, knock-kneed sense of awe, shared by its members and by just about everyone in their sphere. Forty years? That all the members are both funny and acutely self-aware keeps the hagiographic elements mostly in check; there’s certainly no tabloid-baiting revelations here.

For those of a certain vintage, particularly Torontonians, Lost Together — so named for the Keelor-penned classic initially dismissed as too sentimental by his bandmates — is the best kind of nostalgia trip viewed from the comfortable distance of the present, where everyone has landed safely.

It’s great fun seeing how much Keelor has changed, looks-wise, over the years — and how much Cuddy hasn’t — and there’s that beforementioned trove of trivia offsetting the grimmer realities that dogged the band, such as relationships strained by constant touring (Cuddy’s) and health issues (Keelor’s with tinnitus).

“[The film] is more than just a band documentary; it's a celebration of friendship, family, and the transformative power of music,” director Dale Heslip is quoted as saying in a press release. “It's a testament to the enduring bond between Jim and Greg, two high school buddies who made a pact 40 years ago and have never let go. We hope this film resonates with fans old and new.”

Job done.

Blue Rodeo: Lost Together. Directed by Dale Heslip. With Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor, Bazil Donovan, Cleave Anderson, Glenn Milchem, Colin Cripps, Bob Wiseman, Michael Hollett, Erica Ehm, Denise Donlon, and Rena Polley. At Toronto’s Hot Docs Cinema February 1, 2, and 22, and Cineplex Cinemas Canada-wide February 2 and 3.