This is the first major label release from Cochrane's George Fox. We picked it up at first because it has Dan Lowe as producer - but we kept it because it's really great. There's a refreshing honesty to these tracks, likely a big reason why Fox broke so big. [img width=662.5px]//7ca49eb9f67ba1319ef136f9d52cd8b8.cdn.bubble.io/f1726109959163x228410814296813980/richtext_content.jpeg[/img] [b]From dirt field to Dome[/b] [b]Cochrane rancher opens for Randy Travis[/b] By Wendy Dudley (Herald staff writer) George Fox has a lot to do this week. There's a tractor to fix, a crop to harvest and cattle that need attention. Then there's his opening act Sunday for country star Randy Travis at the Saddledome. "I've got to get some practice sessions in pretty soon," says Fox while sorting through the music equipment he stores in a chicken coop on his ranch northwest of Cochrane. "I keep all the stuff in suitcases because the roof leaks," he says, pushing aside a mouse nest while hoisting a dusty red-bulbed lamp. "This here's my light show," he says with a chuckle. Fox, 28, looks anything but worried about his big date. "My mum and my dad are coming to the show and some of my friends are bringing banners," he says. "And there's about 70 people coming from the nudist colony up the road." But what's an unknown singer and a Canadian to boot doing on the same stage with Travis? Fox shakes his head, having GEORGE FOX: Friends, family and nudist colony turning out to cheer on unknown singer asked himself the question many times over. "You could have heard my jaw hit the floor when they (Warner Bros. record company) told me I was the opening act," he says. Until recently, Fox was peddling his own tapes to Cochrane stores, entertaining visitors at guest ranches and receiving second billing to Heide's Petting Zoo. Earlier he was bopping with Elvis Presley imitations. "I really enjoyed my rock days but people around here don't want to hear stuff by the Sex Pistols," says Fox, who adopted country tunes after an agricultural exchange in Sweden. With a mail strike then on in Canada, and a Swedish vocabulary consisting of two words - wheelbarrel and shovel - Fox chose country music as a companion. "I was feeling sorry for myself and face it, country music's the art of misery." Last year, Fox financed the production of his own album at a Calgary studio and then sent tapes to various record companies. Several months later, he had a recording contract with Warner Bros. "I was out pitching hay to some calves we were weaning when I heard my mum calling out that someone was on the phone from Toronto, calling about my tape. The cows were bawling and hollering, but I just dropped everything and ran." A hawk circles above the Fox farm which hugs the forested slopes of the Grand Valley Creek. Neighboring riders move a herd of cattle and a warm breeze rushes cotton clouds across the sky. Such sights, says Fox, provide fodder for his songwriting. And to abandon such a lifestyle for a routine of concert dates, hotel beds and studio sessions is a horrific thought. "It would be so hard to shift gears when you're used to chasing cows around in the bush and picking up stones." His date with Travis may be a gold mine of an opportunity but it's certainly not a rich claim. Fox says Travis' salary is about 100 times what he'll make. But right now, Fox isn't counting dollar signs. He's counting how many days he has left before haying.
