While you may know Les Stroud best as TV’s Survivorman, he’s also an accomplished musician, with six albums under his belt. With his latest single “Ancients Call” being released just ahead of his upcoming album Mother Earth, we had a quick Q&A to chat about his musical bucket list, which experience is scarier – Survivorman or the music businesses, and his picks for desert island albums.
From The Strait: You’ve worked with some heavy hitters on your upcoming album, including Grammy-winning producer Mike Clink, Slash, and Steve Vai to name a few. Who else would be on your bucket list to work with?
Les Stroud: Dave Mathews, Neil Young, Eddie Vedder, Joan Biaz, Bob Dylan, K T Tunstall, Sheryl Crow, KD Lang
FTS: Between Survivorman and your music career, you’re certainly not afraid of taking chances – which experience has proven scarier?
LS: Nothing proves out to be “scary” for me in life – as far as which is more challenging – it can be a toss up at times – the business side of TV is evil – pure nasty evil – but the personality side of music can be the same!
FTS: It’s the worst game, but we like to play it – desert island albums (fitting in this case!) – if you were stranded on a desert island with only 4 albums, which would they be?
LS: Pink Floyd – Animals, Steve Goodman – Jessies Jig, Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Chet Atkins – In NY
FTS: What’s next for you, musically?
LS: The launch of Mother Earth may have taken ten years to make happen due to the ambitious scale of the production (the inclusion of world sounds etc) but it actually sits right in the middle of a trilogy of albums produced by Mike Clink and dedicated to celebrating and protecting the earth. So the next album – already recorded, is being mixed now and it will continue the message of making serious change now for the sake of my grandkids.
Check out the video for Les Stroud’s latest single, “Ancients Call”!