Kevin Westphal The Food Inflation Blues
Kevin Westphal, also known in musical circles as The Canuck, is back doing what he does best with his new single. Kevin has a knack for taking things we all think about and turning them into relatable songs to make us laugh and think at the same time.
The Kitchener, Ontario singer-songwriter has released "The Food Inflation Blues," a country comedy track born out of a conversation that stuck with him longer than he expected. While waiting in the checkout line, Westphal asked a store manager why prices kept climbing, and later that same night watched the news report record grocery store profits. "I picked up my guitar and 'The Food Inflation Blues' just came out," he says.
Watch on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=qv7n-XMR20T-b6IH&v=X0xadJHI5Zs&feature=youtu.be
What he felt is what a lot of us think and feel but don't express so he gave us a way to know we're not alone in our worry about the soaring costs. "I almost started crying when I saw the price of meat, and the price of the fruits and vegetables, it knocked me off of my feet," before landing on the chorus that carries the whole joke: "There is something funny going on at the grocery store, every week the price of food goes up a little more, what in God's creation is making grocery prices soar." in the narrative a store manager offers up the usual list of culprits, diesel fuel, tariffs, climate change, rising wages, before the song's punchline arrives care of the evening news, the same stores pleading poverty are posting record profits. "It's the same old story," Westphal sings, "it's the food inflation blues."
Using humour can be like a Trojan Horse, a vessel to carry honesty past emotional and intellectual barriers to make a serious point. Where anger and outrage tend to preach to people who already agree, a humorous lyric invites listeners to laugh first and catch what they're laughing at second. It is also a tradition Westphal came by honestly. His breakout song, "The Gas Song," turned pump price frustration into a hit that spread across Canadian radio regardless of format in the early 2000s. Years later, a friend who played lead guitar for Stompin' Tom Connors brought "The Gas Song" out on tour when gas prices spiked again, a connection that led to a real friendship between Westphal and the country legend from 2005 to 2012, and cemented Westphal's own reputation as one of the genre's most reliable chroniclers of everyday Canadian frustration.
"The Food Inflation Blues" continues a catalogue that has, for close to 15 years, turned ordinary Canadian gripes into songs people instantly recognize, from "Here's to Our Farmers" to "A Typical Day on the 401," "The Barbershop Song" and "The Marijuana Song," each one earning Westphal television, radio and online coverage across the country, including CTV News and London's Country 104.
Westphal wrote and produced "The Food Inflation Blues" himself, recording at Fred Smith Studio in Kitchener with Fred Smith on lead guitar, Doug Dietrich on pedal steel, Don McDougall on drums and Paul Stouffer on keyboards, with Westphal himself on bass. The accompanying video was directed by Danny Bailey, assisted by Riley Harrison and filmed and edited by Inflorescence Bloom, with Grant Heywood on drums, Pete Harrison on upright bass and Paul Schultz playing the grocery manager opposite Westphal as The Canuck.
Listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/track/1ZG7dbfXz3Cav9EUsuJf1n?si=a14d302436394b8f&nd=1&dlsi=9079eb80de2a466c
With "The Food Inflation Blues," Westphal adds another chapter to a career built on turning what everybody is already grumbling about into something worth singing along to, proof that the funniest way to say something serious is often the one that sticks.
So next time you're in the grocery store looking at the ever rising price of food, hum a few bars of
“The Food Inflation Blues.” It won't bring the prices down but at least you'll know you're not alone in being shocked and awed by this predicament.