Following the Big Beat

Last night one of Canada’s great musicians released a beautiful new CD. I was lucky enough to snag a couple of tickets for my wife and I to see Stephen Fearing at Hugh’s room (another hidden treasure of our land). SF gave a tremendous performance in front of an intimate audience that included friends and family, I felt lucky to be there. The new disc is called ‘Yellowjacket’ and it is stunning. The title track is immense and all I can say is that it’s about caffeine pills, Tom Wilson and a long drive back from Nashville one night-and anyone who knows what a long drive with a crazy friend can do knows exactly what he is talking about. Everything that he has released is a must own. What Stephen Fearing does better than any other songwriter is bring truth and beauty to us. His performance though is everything. His guitar tone is golden, technique masterful, dynamics like nothing you have seen from a solo singer-he enthrals an audience and transports us which is almost impossible to do in our over distracted world these days. His live performance sets him apart from the pretenders and it’s a bit like going to school for me but in such a good, good way. To say I am inspired today is an understatement. He makes me want to burn every song I have written and start again. He shows us the real gravitas of music. He speaks about the musician’s turmoil, which in other less capable hands can turn out to be clichés and shitty road songs. But SF talks about the anguish and struggle with family/debt/stress/children/parents/relevance and age and comes out the other side with songs crafted with humility and hope. And fuck do we need this now more than ever. Musicians are like little bees trying to get to the next flower which will have more nectar, a sweeter taste, a better song, and we drag everyone we know along with us ‘cause well, that’s all we can do, and along the way we pick up people that are enchanted by the stories and the music and it all makes life just a little bit more easy to do. After a long week for us, it was a welcome distraction and a necessary dose of happiness. Thanks Stephen.