PLAIN FOLK By Steve Srubowich In a fair and just world Ron Sexsmith would be a musical giant. However, we all know that nice guys and girls often finish last or off the radar because they don't fit into a glossy marketing package which highlights gloss over substance. If I could pick one Canadian folk-inflected artist whom I think deserves a major break it would be St. Catherine, Ontario's Sexsmith. If mere admiration from the likes of stars like Paul McCartney, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Steve Earle and Rod Stewart, along with arm lengths of great press acclaim could translate into commercial success, then Sexsmith would have broken in like past Grammy winners Tracy Chapman or John Mayer. The unassuming Sexsmith, a sensitive singer-songwriter, once half-jokingly said that if Celine Dion covered one of his tunes, he's be set for life. It's not like the man hasn't been working his tail off and expanding his largely melodic folk style. To date he has six albums to his credit and has played all over the world to throngs of fans. His lyrics mine the emotional landscape of relationships. Here's an example of his lyrical touch with First Chance I Get from the '95 self-titled debut. "First chance I get I'm gonna take you up where pure love ain't diluted. Ah, but right now the roads are bad, the world's going mad. But I swear I'm going to get there someday. First chance I get I get I'm gonna plan the big getaway." The last three albums by the fragile-voiced, Toronto-based singer has ventured far beyond the pretty folk dramas which colored his first four albums. His latest album from 2003 called Rarities is a collection of b-sides, outtakes and unreleased tracks. It includes the song Gold In Them Hills which is a beautiful duet with Coldplay singer Chris Martin. Sexsmith toured with the English melodic rock stars last year. There's also covers of The Boomtown Rats' I Don't like Mondays and Harry Nilsson's Good Old Desk. Sexsmith's self-titled 1995 debut was dedicated to Nilsson. Another beautiful number called Almost Always could easily be a radio single. Also, Sexsmith lent a song to the new Gordon Lightfoot tribute album which emerged in October. He contributed Drifters, a newer Lightfoot tune, and said in the liner notes how Lightfoot "always put the song first and never made a big spectacle of himself ..." Sexsmith has said in this image-conscious music video world that song content remains paramount to him over presentation. He promises that future songs will have more sing-along choruses; a lesson he picked up from touring with Coldplay last year. In 2002 the singer released a strong album titled Cobblestone
Runway which he recorded In 2001 rugged country-rock artist Steve Earle produced Sexsmith's Blue Boy album. It delved into a plethora of musical genres like funky blues-hip hop, country pop like Blue Rodeo, ska and swing. The sensitive lyrics remained the constant through the loose and live-sounding recording. It's a little-known fact that Sarah McLachlan considered adding Sexsmith to her all-female Lilith Fair tour, but Emmylou Harris talked her out of it. His first three albums are called Ron Sexsmith from 1995, Other Songs from 1997 and Whereabouts from 1999. For more information on Sexsmith check out ronsexsmith.com |