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Oct011, 2009-Oct18, 2009 |
Lighting a fire with Tinderbox
Veteran songsmith Fred Eaglesmith delivers his best work yet
By Kerry Doole
Originally Published: 2008-09-07
Very few artists have a career long and successful enough to even put out 17 albums. To have their 17th record be widely hailed as their best yet is even more rare, but that is the current situation of Canadian roots-rock troubadour Fred Eaglesmith.
Born and raised in rural Southern Ontario, this Juno-winning singer/songwriter has earned a loyal following on both sides of the border, and internationally too. That fan base is expanding further with the recent release of Tinderbox, an adventurous and totally compelling disc being met with unanimous glowing reviews.
Unlike earlier albums that oft had a rowdy country rock feel, this is a sparse and haunting collection of songs with a strong gospel vibe. Eaglesmith examines people’s need to believe during troubled and hard times, and he treats his characters with real respect.
We recently tracked down the ever-touring Eaglesmith on the road to yet another gig to talk about the album. He’s clearly pleased at the reaction, noting that this “is the kind of record you make and then just hold your breath when you put it out. It is risky. We worked on it for a long time in my little dark studio. Then when it came out and was this well-received, it was ‘thank goodness.’”
Not that he is swayed by the words of critics. “I don’t listen to them very much. A lot of my albums are my best work yet (laughs). Or a lot is ‘this isn’t his best yet,’ then four years later, it’s ‘it was his best yet.’ To be fair I hardly ever get any bad stuff from the critics. I am very lucky, so when I take a jab at them, I don’t really have much of a right to.”
The common themes on Tinderbox were inspired after writing the title song, Eaglesmith explains. “What started was I wrote the song ‘Tinderbox’ - ‘someone’s crying in the very back row.’ I always imagined it was a girl back there, so I sort of got onto her a little bit. I live in a Masonic lodge. I’d go up to my studio at four or five in the morning and just write the song and record it right then. A lot of the songs were done that way, then I’d get the band in and we’d work around that. I get these flashes of inspiration, and I’d go, ‘I’m going with this. I’m not going to second guess it.’”
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