Time Being

These assets are vividly displayed on Time Being, the latest addition to a formidable catalogue. The Toronto Star recently noted that “Ron Sexsmith has produced a body of quality work that’s unequalled in contemporary Canadian music in originality and musical daring.” It is no stretch to extend that statement into the international arena, as a vast number of Ron’s peers would agree.

Time Being marks a happy creative reunion with ace American producer Mitchell Froom (Elvis Costello, Crowded House, Suzanne Vega, Paul McCartney). He has played a pivotal role in Sexsmith’s career, producing Ron’s first three major label albums and offering valuable advice ever since. Their empathy and trust made for a smooth recording process. “It really felt like we hadn’t stopped or taken time away from each other,” recalls Ron. “I’ve kept in touch with Mitchell with every record I’d made since, and now I felt I was more on level ground with him.”

Froom assembled some of LA’s best players to frame Ron’s songs with subtle and sympathetic accompaniment. They include Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello’s longtime drummer and a previous Sexsmith sideman), bassist Davey Faragher (Costello, John Hiatt), and guitarist Val McCallum (Jackson Browne, Sheryl Crow), with Mitchell himself adding keyboards. “Those are some pretty serious musicians there,” says Ron. “Whenever there was a problem, there was a lot of on the spot troubleshooting and adjusting their parts.”

Problems were rare, thanks to the pre-production work of Ron and Mitchell. “We spent a week on that, then went into the studio. We’d try to get one song done every day, and usually within three or four takes, we’d have something that was workable. I was actually a little concerned that it was going so well,” laughs Ron.

The result is another sparkling collection of songs that range in tone from sad to surreal, melancholy to magical. Time Being is destined to delight both longtime Sexsmith fans and those that have come to the party more recently. Ron’s 2004 album, Retriever, marked a major breakthrough for him at Canadian radio, with the tracks “Whatever It Takes” and “Not About To Lose” making a real impact on adult contemporary formats. His material continues to receive solid airplay on the CBC and college radio here, on National Public Radio stations in the US, and on the BBC in England.

The strength of his songwriting is such that Sexsmith tunes have been covered by artists from genres as diverse as classical (The Brodsky Quartet, Anne Sofie von Otter), Celtic (Mary Black), rock and pop (Rod Stewart, Feist, kd lang, Nick Lowe). Their covers have helped Ron sustain a prolific career.

“I’ve always been a bit under the radar so I’m amazed that I’ve been able to keep making records and to build on what I guess you could call a cult following,” he observes. “That seems to grow with each record, so the tortoise approach of slow and steady suits me.”

Ron Sexsmith has so many celebrity endorsers that even Nike are envious. All without any money changing hands either. Check this out for just a partial list: Paul McCartney, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Steve Earle (who produced Ron’s 2001 album, Blue Boy), Sheryl Crow, John Hiatt, Bono, John Prine, Radiohead, and Chris Martin (who asked Ron to open many Coldplay tours and dueted on the track “Gold In Them Hills”).

Costello is given credit by Ron as “the man most responsible for getting my first album released overseas. He held it up on the cover of [English music mag] Mojo, calling it his favourite record of 1995, and that generated a lot of interest internationally. He continues to be very supportive, sending me detailed production notes on all of these new songs.”

On the Canadian front, major admirers of Ron’s artistry include Diana Krall, kd lang, Gord Downie, Feist, Andy Kim, Sarah McLachlan, Daniel Lanois, and many more. They’ve all shown their respect by covering his songs, inviting him on tour, or collaborating in some way.

When a pre-release party for Time Being was held in Halifax over the recent Juno weekend, those lining up to sing their favourite Sexsmith songs included Matt Mays, Dallas Green (Alexisonfire), Jim Cuddy, Allan Doyle and Bob Hallett (Great Big Sea), Damnhait Doyle and Kim Stockwood (Shaye), Tomi Swick, and Bubbles (of Trailer Park Boys fame).

A multiple Juno nominee over the past decade, Sexsmith has taken home trophies in 1998 (Roots & Traditional Album of the Year for Other Songs) and 2004 (the much-coveted Songwriter of the Year Juno for songs from Retriever). Ron received two more nominations in 2006, for Roots & Traditional album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year for Destination Unknown, the much-praised collaboration with longtime musical comrade Don Kerr. He also played a key part in the Juno-winning World Music Album of the Year, Humo De Tabaco, from the Alex Cuba Band. Ron added guest vocals to the track “Lo Mismo Que You (If Only),” a song that became a UK hit.

Ron Sexsmith is not driven by a lust for awards, critical acclaim and peer respect. His passion is to keep writing better songs. “Sometimes you hear someone say all the great songs have been written, but it is amazing what can be done with a limited amount of chords and notes. The challenge is to find a melody you can call your own and a fresh point of view on an old theme.”

That noble quest is one he is pursuing with true commitment. For the Time Being, the swelling legion of Ron Sexsmith fans can luxuriate in the warm embrace of another lovely album. There’ll be more coming soon!

Time Being – Track By Track

1 – Hands Of Time
“I always knew that would be the first song. You always look for one to set the tone of the record, and there seems to be a preoccupation with mortality here. I was thinking about time, and how you always hope you have enough to say the things you want to say and to finish whatever you do.”

2 – Snow Angel
“That was me trying to write an Edgar Allan Poe style telltale heart song. I’ve done it in the past, with ‘From A Few Streets Over’ and ‘Parable,” these little dark cautionary tales. It is basically about a guy haunted by a guilty conscience and the appearance of this snow angel on his lawn every winter. It is about a love that went south or ended tragically.”

3 – All In Good Time
“It’s the first single and actually the last song I wrote for the album. I thought it injected some much-needed levity, as it’s very upbeat lyrically. It is rather about hindsight. There are times when we all look back and it may seem nothing was happening, but we see there was a lot of stuff going on that you had to get through to get to this other place. It’s more of a message to myself that whenever I feel like I’m stuck in a rut, I just have to be patient. Things will become clearer as I go on.”

4 – Never Give Up
“This was another late addition. My partner Colleen and I were on our way to Mexico, for my first ever vacation where you just sit in the sun. We were waiting for the cab to take us to the airport and I came up with this on the piano. The whole way to Mexico I had to keep singing it in my head so I wouldn’t forget it. I then wrote it entirely on the beach.’

5 – I Think We’re Lost
“I guess it had to have that bright melody otherwise people wouldn’t be able to listen to it! It’s about our fear of things that are on the horizon, environmental things, and all the tension in the world.”

6 – Reason For Our Love
“I find myself writing these kind of songs almost in the vein of the standards I love, like ‘Tomorrow In Her Eyes’ on Retriever. I have a lot of respect for the tradition of songwriting, and when I write a song like that I’ll think ”this would be great for Bing Crosby.’ Maybe Michael Buble will do it!”

7 – Cold Hearted Wind
“I started messing around on the piano for this. It had more of a gospel thing when I started it, and I was thinking of Johnny Cash. In the last couple of years, I’ve had a couple of friends that have passed on, which is kind of strange at my age. The song says that this is all swirling around us and you never know when something will come along and turn your whole world upside down.”

8 – Jazz At The Bookstore
“It was one of the earlier oddball songs I was writing. I didn’t want it to sound coy, but it’s a bit humorous. I was thinking about the insane coffee culture we have in North America, where you see everyone running down the street with a giant coffee and there’s a Starbucks on every corner. I’m totally addicted too. The thing about these places that’s a bit strange is that they are sort of white environments, but in the background you are always hearing this great jazz or blues music. It is relegated to wallpaper, but I was thinking about the artists making that music and how at one point it was very dangerous and sexy music.”

9 – Ship Of Fools
“Living in Canada we are pretty lucky to have been spared all the horrible things happening – the extreme weathers, the wars. It makes me worry that they might be saving something really awful for us. It’s easy to remove yourself from it because it is happening over there, but one day it could show up on your doorstep. It has always occurred to me that we are all in this together. Musically, it is probably the lightest song on the album, very much in the ‘Yellow Submarine’ vein. “

10 – The Grim Trucker
“I wish I could have had a Tom Waits type voice for that song, which came off sounding more Beatlesque. I wrote it after Colleen told me that she’d see a truck taking pigs to the slaughterhouse every morning, and it’d bother her. It turned into a song about karma and seemed to fit in with a couple of the more twisted numbers here.”

11 – Some Dusty Things
“It’s one of my favourites on the record. I had been away on a very long tour and no-one had been in the house for a while, so it was all dusty. It’s just nice to have a place with all your things in there, and this is about the things we attach ourselves to that give our life meaning, even though they may seem insignificant to other people.”

12 – And Now The Day Is Done
“It is one of the sadder songs I suppose. I was thinking of a friend who’d passed away and when I started I was also thinking of Elliott Smith. I’d envisioned strings and a choir, but I think Mitchell was right in keeping it to a guitar and voice with a harmonium. I knew going in that this would finish it off, as a fitting way to go off into the sunset.”

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