Ohio-born, Saskatoon-based rocker Hollis Brown’s humble philosophy belies his past as a U.S. paratrooper, crystal meth addict, and perhaps most importantly, Red Rider fan.

Brown was living in Florida in the early 1980s when the Tom Cochrane-fronted Canadian rock act Red Rider was at the peak of its success. While Red Rider didn’t make the same overall impact in America as contemporaries like Loverboy and Trooper, they had a lasting effect on young Mr. Brown.

“A lot of people don’t realize it, but Red Rider was actually really popular in Florida,” Brown says, adding that a lot of Floridians may not have realized how popular Red Rider was, either. “A lot of people down there thought that ‘Lunatic Fringe’ was a Pink Floyd song.”

In 1989, nearly a decade later, a lifetime for the recovering addict, Brown was living in Saskatoon and attending a trade show in Yorkton, where Red Rider was playing during their Victory Day tour.

“I went in and sat through their soundcheck,” he says. “And then when they were done, Tom Cochrane came out and introduced himself to me.”

The two struck up a friendship. When, at the urging of friends, Brown began making music a few years later, he would send demo tapes to Cochrane, who eventually passed one on to bandmate Kenny Greer, who offered to record an album for Brown’s band, Tango Sierra, as well as add his signature slide and steel guitar sound to it.

The resulting independent release, This Is It, is full of progressively bluespowered rock honed to a fine point by topical lyrics, such as those of the songs “Tumbleweeds” and “Maher Arar.” It shows clear but not overbearing influences from Led Zepplin, Peter Gabriel, and, not at all surprisingly, Red Rider.

“To me, Tom Cochrane is Canada’s sonic journalist,” Brown says. “I’m just writing about the times I’m in, and the world I’ve seen from my point of view. Isn’t that really what all songwriters do?”

As if having one of your heroes validate your music by producing your album and becoming an occasional member of your band isn’t enough, Brown and Tango Sierra scored another major coup earlier this week. After an interview with a Saskatoon commercial rock radio station, the band was told that effective Monday, Tango Sierra’s first single “Why Baby Why” was being added to the “heavy rotation” playlist.

“They handed us a piece of paper with the adds for next week, and it’s us, Collective Soul, and Coldplay,” Brown says.

“Well, holy smokes! We’re just absolutely thrilled.”