Another week, another crop of notable names from Canadiana past.An interview with Samantha Parton from the newly reunited trio the Be Good Tanyas (to come next week) is quickly followed by a call to Jason Plumb, former frontman with Saskatchewan roots faves the Waltons.

"It seems to be a bit of a trend right now," says the Regina-based Plumb. "I'm actually going to Edmonton tomorrow to play with my buddies in the Skydiggers who I haven't played with in years. Seems like everything old is new again. . . . I guess a lot of people have been away from it long enough that they think it's relevant again or it's a good time to put something else out."

For his part, Plumb has never really gone anywhere. After the Waltons packed it in just over a decade ago, he embarked on a fruitful solo career, which continues with the release of All Is More Than Both, his latest album with backing band The Willing, released on his own SoccerMom Records label.

It is a collection of songs he thinks is something of a return to the sound that he and his old act honed during their '90s heyday on the Canadian music scene.

"This record of mine is probably as close to some Waltons stuff I've done since we stopped making records," Plumb concedes.

And the 11 tracks are very much in that sweet, casual Prairie rock vein, while still taking it to different quarters in the field, from Kim Mitchell-esque opener First Time to the Fleetwood Mac-like vibe of Alone with You, which features guest vocals from Serena Ryder.

Actually, Ryder is only one of many guests making an appearance on the album and, in fact, the rest of the credits read like yet another roll call for Canrock's old home week.

Some of those include Barenaked Ladies both current and former (Ed Robertson and Steven Page), Shuffle Demons saxman Richard Underhill and even veteran producer Michael Philip Wojewoda, who helmed some of the most celebrated Canadian albums of the '90s by BNL, Spirit of the West, Great Big Sea, the Rheostatics and, yes, the Waltons.

"That was one of the perks of recording the record in Toronto, drawing on my past friendships and acquaintances and peers from my days of living there," Plumb says, before noting that the exception was the inclusion of someone even more ingrained in the nation's musical history.

"The Alex Lifeson thing, that happened by absolute fluke," he says of the Rush guitarist's work on the track Losin'.

"We started going through the songs and wondering which iconic Canadian guitarist could make an appearance on the record. . . . I thought, 'Well, Alex Lifeson, that would be really amazing. If we could get (him) that would be a real coup.' And he actually just happened to walk into the control room some days later."

With all of the help on the record, it's surprising, then, to note that when the musician hits town Friday for an early evening show at the Palomino, he will be doing so solo, with only Willing member Cody Gamracy joining him for the gig.

Still, Plumb thinks it's the perfect way to showcase the songs from All Is More Than Both, considering that before he and his cohorts took them into T.O.'s Revolution Recording studio, all of them began life as demos, with just his voice and an acoustic guitar making them work.

And, as for him getting back, as for Plumb perhaps returning, like many of his fellow Canadian musicians, in earnest back to his past, he admits that, yes, the members of The Waltons have been having that conversation, with perhaps a handful of dates and even an album part of the discussion.

"I think so. It's been 20 years now since Like My Trakter came out," he says of that debut which helped earn them some Juno love.

"So we thought that's a good round number. . . . And I think it would be neat for the people that enjoyed the Waltons' music to make a record."

Jason Plumb performs Friday at the Palomino from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free.

mbell@calgaryherald.com Twitter.com/mrbell_23

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