PLAIN FOLK

by Les Pearson
John Wort Hannam's Folk Is Blue Collar Country

Although John Wort Hannam speaks feelingly about his appreciation for life in Alberta's hinterland, it is his music that truly endears. His lyrics are real, rhythmic, and uplifting. His voice is a haunting echo ofSteven Page but is neither bare, naked , nor lady. This is a man's singer singing men's songs of farming and fishing. Here is what he says about songs on his CD, pocket full of holes (2001).

LES: Who were the musical influences in your career?

JOHN: I have always been influenced by the songwriters. Especially those in the tradition of story-telling. I certainly look up to Billy Bragg and he is probably the reason I picked up the guitar in the first place. I think Fred Eaglesmith is an incredible songwriter and certainly think he has influenced my style of writing. I think Loudon Wainwright III has written some great songs as well as Pete Seeger. There are other influences that I don't believe show up in my music but always seemed to be on my turn-table growing up: The Clash, Frank Sinatra, and any kind of SKA music.

LES: Childhood is an inescapable source of story and song. Your childhood was near the ocean. Yet Seafaring Man isn't quite a shanty song. Fisherman's Son shows its heritage. How do reconcile this difference in style between the two songs?

JOHN: I have always enjoyed certain types of Celtic music, and although some of the songs on "pocket full of holes" have that flavour, I have never considered myself or wanted to be considered a Celtic artist. Fishermans Son is sung and arranged the way it is to attempt to authenticate the story I was trying to tell. I imagined the songs these Newfoundland fisherman and there fore-fathers probably listened to and wrote Fishermans Son in the same style. The style of Seafaring Man, Im sure, was influenced by The Pogues. This was the first band out of Ireland to take traditional Celtic music and thrash it. They considered themselves a punk band that happened to play Irish music. That style of taking what appears to be an old traditional story-type song and putting a driving beat behind it, is what happened to Seafaring Man.

LES: What is the significance of the carpentry tool icons that appear before the printed lyrics of each of your CD songs?

JOHN: The quick and easy answer is that my Dad is a carpenter however it also goes much deeper than that. I have real pride in my lower-income upbringing. Pride in the sense that although there was not much money in the house when I was a kid, it was not for lack of working hard on my mother and father's part and I am very proud of them for that. Watching them has given me a real appreciation for the working class and especially those blue collar workers who work with their hands.

John is currently working on his second CD, Dynamite and 'Dozers. Although he would like to raise his performing profile here and in the USA, today he is "...simply trying hard to be a working musician and pay the bills by performing my songs."  With any luck, he will be working in Medicine Hat real soon.