www.musicweek.com PROFILE RON SEXSMITH
‘I DON’T EXPECT TO BE FAMOUS AT THIS POINT’
One of the most critically acclaimed singer songwriters of the past two decades is set to return with a promising new album - and he says he’s still quietly hopeful of that elusive big hit record
TALENT BY PAUL WILLIAMS
S
lowly but surely the world appears to be coming around to Ron Sexsmith. In a bygone era when great songs and albums
were enough to carry an artist the Canadian would by now already be a big star, but in this age of image and one-track downloads talent and critical acclaim only carry you so far. However, the landscape seems to be improving
for him. His last album Long Player Late Bloomer – its title a nod to his tortoise-like career build – sparked renewed interest and the number of famous names who have covered his songs continues to impressively grow: the list now includes the likes of Michael Buble, Rod Stewart, Emmylou Harris and Katie Melua. Taking him yet further forward is a brand new album in Forever Endeavour, released by Cooking Vinyl on February 4 and reuniting him with producer Mitchell Froom who oversaw his first three major label albums. For Sexsmith their reunion was a chance to make what he describes as a “proper singer- songwriter” album, harking back to the days of Carole King’s Tapestry and releases by his heroes like Elton John, Harry Nilsson and Tom Waits. “You want to make an album that is cohesive
where every song compliments the next one – a true album because I’m an album artist,” he tells Music Week. “I grew up at a time when you would hear album artists on the radio like Joni [Mitchell] or Neil [Diamond], Elton John. Even though he had many hit singles I always considered him an album artist because you bought one of his records and the album sounded like the way the package looked. I’ve always tried to do that and with each record I get a little closer to it.” Forever Endeavour was partly written and
recorded in the most trying of circumstances, after doctors found a lump in Sexsmith’s throat. It turned out to be benign, but still caused him plenty of worry. “I had a few months of walking around and
wondering, ‘Well, either this is something I’m going to spend next year battling or it’s something that they’ve got to too late.’ I wasn’t terrified or anything, but it was just the uncertainty… when I finally got the good news I just collapsed,” he recalls. Sexsmith notes he had written most of the album before the lump was discovered, but there are some songs on the album like The Morning Light that are influenced by what he went through. “There is a song called Back Of My Hand and I was in this dream state walking around where I kept running into people I hadn’t seen in a long time and they were saying really nice things. I thought, ‘Am I
01.02.13 MusicWeek 23
ABOVE Sexsmith: Artists he “looks up to” include Randy Newman and Tom Waits
dying?’ and I had this weird déjà vu kind of state. I’m just glad it ended and I got the results and it was fine.” For his last album he teamed up for the first time with fellow Canadian and Michael Buble producer Bob Rock. The original intention was for Rock to take charge of Forever Endeavour until a chance encounter with Froom. “Mitchell told me he was really getting into
orchestration,” recalls Sexsmith. “I saw these songs as being kind of a throwback to the singer- songwriter albums of the Seventies and that they would work nicely like that. I gave him the demos and he was really enthusiastic.” Froom also co-produced Randy Newman’s last studio album, 2008’s Harps And Angels, and it is hard not to draw comparisons: both Sexsmith and Newman are artists who have achieved more
commercial success with other people covering their songs - Tom Waits could also be thrown into that mix. “Those are the kind of writers I look up to
because, whether it’s Randy Newman or Tom Waits, there’s a very singular thing in what they do,” says Sexsmith. “Whenever you buy a Randy Newman album
you are in the Randy Newman zone. Even before you’ve heard the album you kind of know what you are going to get. I like to think in my career I’ve tried to make those kind of records, too.” Rod Stewart famously covered Sexsmith’s Downtown Train, while his Secret Heart was recorded by the Celtic fanatic for the 1998 album When We Were The New Boys. To the song’s writer, though, Stewart’s version did not quite deliver. “Everyone was going, ‘You’re going to be rich.’
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