| His songs are covered and beloved by such people as Nick Lowe and Rod Stewart, the advance single from Retriever, his seventh album, is being added to radio playlists across North America and his recording career is in its second decade. But when several interviewers turn up in Kelowna and ask him if Retriever is his first album, songwriter Ron Sexsmith is stoic. "That’s kind of my career in a way, in some circles I’m very well known and in other circles…" he says, his voice trailing off.
"I wasn’t offended yesterday when I did two interviews with people who were ’I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of you.’ The majority of the population likes music, like 70 or 80 per cent, but they don’t exactly love music. They listen to it as they drive to work or in the background… So they wouldn’t have heard of me unless I was on the radio a lot or on TV. I’m always surprised when anybody does know my stuff."
This in spite of the fact that Rolling Stone gave Sexsmith’s third major label album, 1999’s Whereabouts, a four-star review and Retriever, his best album, garnered three and a half stars. And yes, Sexsmith is one of those either very neurotic or very grounded artists who reads his own press.
"I’m curious," he says. "I get people bringing (it) to my attention often and I’ll go check it out. The press has been really good generally but I’ll read a lot of bad reviews too. Sometimes I’ll read a bad review that I totally agree with. ‘Oh, he was terrible live last night’ and I’ll read good reviews that rub me the wrong way because either they’re over the top or they presume something. Sometimes I’ll read a review that will make me really happy for a week, or read a bad review and be depressed for a day."
And however the stars are spun, Sexsmith is an artist who has earned every accolade afforded him. A meticulous craftsman who listens to Judy Collins, Gordon Lightfoot and Bing Crosby and continues working on his melodies and lyrics until they are recorded, Sexsmith is a master of perspective. An example of this on Retriever is the haunting "For The Driver," a song empathizing with a driver who has collided with a ball-chasing child, written after reading an article about a drunk driver. The article reminded him of a teenage incident when a girl fell off a friend’s car hood as he playfully gunned the gas to rock the car.
"She hit her head on the curb and died, and as awful as that was for her family, for some reason I just felt so bad for him. And that’s kind of the way I am in general… That could have been me doing something just a little innocent or stupid that changes your life forever."
Perhaps Sexsmith earned that perspective by being one of the rare artists who wasn’t signed to a record label until his third decade. He claims he hasn’t been as meticulous about life in general as he has been about writing songs.
"In many ways I’ve been kind of a slacker in many areas of my life. I’ve kind of sleepwalked through a lot of it. I don’t know how to drive a car. I don’t know if I was a good dad. I certainly wasn’t a good husband – my first marriage kind of fell apart and now I’m trying to be a better human being. I got carried away when I got signed.
"I was dad for 10 years, working as a courier, being home every night, and all of a sudden to go from that to never being home and this whole other lifestyle. I thought I was having my 20s in my 30s. My life was in disarray for years."
Sexsmith carried around a lot of guilt and regret, reflected by the progressive sadness of his first three albums. Chalk the beautiful tone and mood of Retriever up to his relationship with Colleen Hixenbaugh of By Divine Right, with whom he moved in during October. And in spite of the dark times reflected in some of his albums, Sexsmith remains fond of his body of work. "I always love to hear that people have the albums and they go back to them, because they’re like my babies. I want to hear that they’re out there in the world doing well because I’m pretty attached to them." |
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