The CD has been described as an "alternative gospel" album, but Eaglesmith points out that "it's not a gospel record. This is actually tearing the whole thing [religion] apart and having a look at every bit of it. I was raised in a religious background and we weren't allowed to question. This album asks every question."

The Santa Barbara News Press says that Tinderbox sounds "like a field recording from the alternative world of rural Pentecostalism mixed with the artful theatricality and gruff timbres of Tom Waits." Metro describes it as "Something on the order of Eaglesmith jamming with Tom Waits on a 1930s chain gang full of bluesmen, it's spooky and dark, with a hint of the metaphysical."

Tinderbox has already been heralded as a "masterwork" (Philadelphia Inquirer), "exceptional" (Americana Roots), and "beautiful" (Ink 19). The New Yorker says, "Imagine a duet record from Tom Waits and Woody Guthrie," declaring, "if you're missing out on Eaglesmith… you're really missing out."

Working outside the pop music radar, Eaglesmith had forged one of the most unique and eminent careers in contemporary music. His previous 16 releases have won him comparisons to such major talents as Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, John Prine, T Bone Burnett and Steve Earle. His songs have been recorded by fellow artists like superstar Toby Keith — who covered Eaglesmith's "White Rose" on his recent hit album Big Dog Daddy and included his recording of "Thinking ‘Bout You" in the movie "Broken Bridges" and on its soundtrack album — The Cowboy Junkies, Kasey Chambers, Mary Gauthier, Ralph Stanley II, Dar Williams and Todd Snider, and he is the subject of a tribute album by other fellow songwriters. His has also scored a #1 bluegrass song with James King's recording of his "Thirty Years of Farming."

Eaglesmith boasts such a fervent coterie of fans that he hosts a number of annual music festivals such as Roots on the River every summer in Vermont; the Fred Eaglesmith Texas Weekend each spring at Gruene Hall, the mother church of the Texas roots music scene; and last year two Roots on the Rail rolling music fests along both historic narrow-gauge railroads through the American West and another into the Canadian arctic. Martin Scorsese and James Caan have used his music is their film projects, and his songs are even included in the course curriculum of two colleges.

Tinderbox was already in consideration for Canada's Polaris Prize, which is awarded for musical artistic merit. And odds-makers agree with the Guelph Mercury, which suggested in its rave review of Tinderbox that Eaglesmith "better get his tux dry-cleaned in preparation for all the award shows he'll be attending."

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