Lisa LeBlanc unveils a stunning performance of City Slickers and Country Boys from the album Live avec l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec

Today, Acadian artist and multi-instrumentalist Lisa LeBlanc unveils a live performance of the song City Slickers and Country Boys, shot last winter during a special concert she gave with an orchestra of 63 musicians. Combining spaghetti western and surf rock elements with stunning arrangements and an enchanting flute, this version of the song appears on the album Live avec l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec, released in October 2024 via Bonsound.

Originally taken from the album Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?, which made the Polaris Music Prize Short List in 2017, City Slickers and Country Boys was composed and written by Lisa LeBlanc during a road trip in the United States:

The melody for City Slickers and Country Boys first came to me in a dream, where I also heard flutes, reveals Lisa LeBlanc. On the original recording, we opted for guitars, but for the live album, I wanted to recreate the riff with those flutes. This might be my favourite arrangement on the album!

Live avec l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec combines the simplicity of Lisa’s lyrics with her taste for extravagance. The result is as delightful as it is surprising. Born out of a desire to further explore the composition of her album Chiac Disco (2022), this collaboration with the OSQ turned out to be the perfect opportunity for Lisa to reimagine her repertoire in a glorious, yet accessible way.

Featuring songs in both French and English, the album's impressive arrangements evoke a range of emotions. Aujourd'hui, ma vie c'est d'la marde is embellished with a harpsichord, and Québec comedy icon François Pérusse makes a guest appearance on Gossip II. Her most sentimental songs like Kraft Dinner and Me semble que c'est facile become even more poignant in this format.

On this album, Lisa LeBlanc also pays tribute to those who mixed pop and orchestral music before her, such as Dusty Springfield, Bobbie Gentry and Lee Hazlewood. The arrangements of Highways, Heartaches and Time Well Wasted and City Slickers and Country Boys recall the spaghetti western sounds of Ennio Morricone, though the many nods to the heyday of disco remain an essential part of the album.

On February 20, 21 and 22, the Acadian will perform in Montreal as part of Folk Alliance International, an event exclusively for industry professionals, dedicated to showcasing folk music around the world.

Lisa LeBlanc @ Folk Alliance

02/20/25 Bonsound showcase - Room 923 (11:20 PM)

02/21/25 Official FAI showcase - 4th Level Ballroom (9:45 PM)

02/22/25 Bose Listening Lounge After Hours - Room 772 (12:20 AM)

About Lisa LeBlanc

Not long after earning major praise at the Festival international de la chanson de Granby, Lisa LeBlanc unveiled her greatly acclaimed, self-titled debut album in 2012. She then released Highways, Heartaches and Time Well Wasted in 2014, followed two years later by the Polaris short-listed Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?. She opted to sing in English on these last two efforts, thus expanding her creative potential and reaching out to new audiences. Those three records sold over 140,000 copies.

A few years later and with a new background as a music producer (after having worked with Édith Butler, among others), Lisa returned with a bang in 2022 with the highly anticipated Chiac Disco, which garnered critical and public acclaim, as well as another spot on the Polaris Music Prize shortlist and a Juno nomination. The success of the album led to several European tours (France, Belgium, Germany, England), including a sold-out concert at La Maroquinerie in Paris, as well as a tour of the United States. During the same period, she gave close to 100 concerts across Canada.

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