From corny Red Deer pickup lines to a hit
Growing up in Red Deer was on Troy Kokol’s mind when he co-wrote the comical Shane Yellowbird hit Pickup Truck, about a would-be ladies’ man.
Kokol, who was nominated for a 2007 Canadian Country Music Award for that song, along with his writing partner and fiancée Joni Delaurier, now lives in Calgary.
But he spent his formative years in the 1970s living across from the Mustang Acres trailer park on 59th Avenue in Red Deer.
That street, then known as Sylvan Lake Trail, was a dusty road on the edge of town, recalled Kokol. “There were fields everywhere.”
Nearby was a greenhouse, a curling rink and a dirt track for stock-car races, “where we used to smoke under the bleachers.”
Kokol, who raced bikes with kids from the trailer park, recalls being a fairly attentive student at Aspen Heights and Normandeau schools — “until I discovered there was another gender.”
But his older brother was the real ladies’ man, supplying the corny pickup lines that Kokol later used in the Pickup Truck song.
He remembers his brother and other teenagers cruising around Red Deer when the city had only 20,000 people, and “was still pretty rural.”
He was only 13 when he moved with his parents and four siblings to the Northwest Territories during the 1981 recession.
But Kokol said this Central Alberta city “affected my memories in a big way, and definitely influenced my music. . . .
“Just the thought of driving out late at night because there’s nothing else to do. . . .”
At 40, he’s old enough to appreciate the cheesiness of having “fuzzy pink dice” hanging from a windshield and flames painted on the side of a truck — both references from his Pickup Truck song.
But in his youth, when rock band KISS ruled the radio, he didn’t see any charm in the country music his mom and step-dad performed in their off-hours from counselling and cab driving.
“I remember despising country. I was inundated with Hanks — Hank Williams, Hank Snow, other Hanks. . . .”
Kokol acknowledged his life took an ironic turn, since country songs are now what he’s known for. His company with partner Delaurier is even called Reluctant Cowboy Music.
“I guess when we grow up, we become the kind of person we were raised to be,” reasoned the songwriter, who can still imagine branching into pop someday.
Besides working on Yellowbird’s next album, Kokol and Delaurier have penned tunes for other country artists: up-and-comers Lisa Hewitt, The Higgins, Willie Mack from the U.S., and Dwayne Steele and Jaydee Bixby of Red Deer.
Despite getting a request or two each week for his songwriting talents, Kokol hasn’t yet given up his four-day-a-week job as a planning technician for the City of Calgary.
“My job’s not that stressful, it’s steady and flexible. . . .
“I used to do music full-time — now that was stressful,” said Kokol, who played guitar and contributed backup vocals during Yellowbird’s tours. But he found keeping up with Shane’s schedule made it hard to maintain a writing schedule.
Kokol compares songwriting to planting a garden. “Sometimes you have to wait for it to become fruitful. Reputations take time, too.”
Contact Lana Michelin at lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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