Rick Maddocks - BLUE HORSE OPERA (2025)

BLUE HORSE OPERA is a 17-track song cycle by Rick Maddocks, inspired by the climate emergency and spaghetti-western soundtracks. This is not an opera—it’s a horse opera, as in the old slang term for a western film. The songs and instrumentals offer a rich and eccentric musical palette on which diverse sounds collide, from twangy guitars to soprano vocals to flamenco dance. Recorded with a dozen of western Canada’s finest from the realms of indie, folk and classical music, the album evokes vast, surreal landscapes as it mines the emotional depths.