Guitar 2017
The artist had a rare few days off and was travelling through one of his old hometowns – Guelph , ON . We met at a cafe and over a cortado , which I admit is now my new favourite coffee drink , we talked about his new record , what success means these days , and of course , guitars .
At 54 , the musician is in a good place . He feels lucky to have found his path and carved out a devoted following of fans who buy his records and come out to his shows . He plans to keep playing , performing , and recording for as long as that great spirit in the sky allows .
What sets his new record apart is the philosophy he adopted – even before he sat down to write this batch of songs . “ I decided that I wanted to record them with a trio and so when I sat down to write them , I kept that idea in the room with me ,” he explains . “ Many of the songs were written on my Telecaster – in the past , I ’ ve always written on my Manzer acoustic – and as they came to me , I tried to hear them fleshed out with bass and drums .
“ I brought a little amp with me and my pedals ,” he adds . “ I really tried to immerse myself into that thing … that sound . It was a really different vibe and I think it made for some very different songs .”
The Tele , which a “ replica-nut ” friend custom made for him , mainly drove the 10 songs , although Fearing did bring his Manzer along to the cabin . He also brought his Harmony , which he bought at Folkway Music in Guelph back in 2001 . “ I remember walking in and there was this Harmony 875 , which I had seen 10 years prior as it was a model Luke Doucet used to play in Veal . I loved the guitar . Visually , it ’ s really attractive with three pickups , three on and off switches , three tones , and three volume switches . It ’ s an elaborate guitar from the early 1960s and it has a beautiful , deco look to it .”
Like many of the songs on his latest record , “ Love like Water ” started with a guitar riff , which grew into a chorus , which suggested the phrase itself . After that , it was a matter of Fearing staying calm , being patient , and waiting for the rest of the song to arrive .
While Fearing gets a little political on his latest , especially on the song “ Blowhard Nation ,” which is a commentary on the man who shall not be named occupying the White House down south , he chose a humorous take on this crazy so-called modern world we are all living in these days . “ The tone of the record , the playing on the electric guitars , was much more like ‘ Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother ’ than some deeply intense political statement ,” he concludes . “ It ’ s more Merle Haggard than Bruce Cockburn .”
David McPherson is the author of the forthcoming book The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern : A Complete History , coming Sept . 23 rd on Dundurn Press . Ever since attending his first rock concert in 1989 ( The Who ) and buying his first LP ( Freeze Frame by The J . Geils Band ), music has become “ the elixir of his life .” It ’ s a joy for him to discover new music , and he loves sharing these discoveries with his wife and two children . A regular contributor to Words + Music and Hamilton Magazine , over the years , his music writing has also appeared in : Paste , Performing Songwriter , American Songwriter , Bluegrass Unlimited , Exclaim !, Chartattack . com , and Canadian Musician .
56 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN