Carl Tremblay’s message: “He’s holding his own,” says Cowboys Fringe songwriter Jean-Francois Basse

Cowboys Fringants recently announced that they are postponing their European tour scheduled for this fall by a year. The musicians gave singer Carl Tremblay time to rest well between his chemotherapy treatments.

“Carl really wanted to keep performing this summer,” Cowboys Fringeants songwriter Jean-Francois Basse said Friday, on the sidelines of rehearsals for the concert. Pub Royal.

• Read more: The world of cowboys fringes comes to life in “Pub Royale.”

“But at some point we said to him: Do you need this? Take time to rest. This might be the best decision. […] Carl delivered a major blow this summer. He was fragile. Despite its status we played ten more festivals.

These concerts will go down in history at the Quebec Summer Festival. The show, originally canceled due to weather, was postponed at the last minute a few days later. And there was passion.

“It’s historic,” says Jean-Francois. Before the show, we arranged with our technicians to have a teleprompter in case Carl sat down and I had to sing a couple of songs with the audience. He was very tired at this time. To us, it’s no surprise that he’s a bit sedentary. The public saw this more dramatically than we did. But we expected it to happen. Carl is a very proud boy and doesn’t want to show any signs of weakness. It is a program Compile. Passionate. It was very nice.

How is Carl Tremblay, who celebrated his 47th birthday a few days ago? “He’s on his way,” replies Jean-Francois. Some days are better than others. It depends on the day, these are tough treatments. But he’s holding on. We watch hockey and we have fun.

Photographs of Carl Tremblay recording songs at his home were recently circulated. Jean-Francois Basse confirmed that a new Cowboys album will be released this winter and that it will include five new songs written for the show. Pub Royal.

“The album is almost all recorded. We’re maybe three or four days into it. Carl did all the vocals. There’s left overs. back voice [chœurs] to do, and small tool adjustments.”