WHEN LESS IS MORE
New approach for songwriter
It’s a natural thing for songwriters to start out by examining their life, but one real mark of maturity comes when they move beyond self-therapy, to use personal experiences to find universal truths.
After nearly two decades in music, John Wort Hannam is one of Alberta’s most admired folksingers for the way he relates stories in song. He has won several songwriting competitions and a Canadian Folk Music Award. But from his self-deprecating perspective, he’s “just getting it.”
“I feel like I’m just starting to really understand the craft of song- writing,” he said.
The proof comes in his new seventh album, the independent release Acres of Elbow Room, songs he’s bringing to Southwood United Church Friday through Fish Creek Concerts. It features some of Hannam’s most personal, moving statements, inspired by some challenging transitions he faced as he hit 50.
“Eight out of the 11 songs are really about change, change in my life over the last few years.”
Moving from his hometown of Fort Macleod — where he quit teaching school and started writing songs around 2001 — to the city of Lethbridge and spending two years renovating an old house is only the start of the story, addressed in the opening song, Acres of Elbow Room.
Hannam and his wife had their first child, which changed a lot of things (see Song for a Young Son), and then there was his major bout of depression, addressed in Key of D Minor. He had a “marital reckoning ” and along the way adjusted his touring schedule.
Now he feels it’s good to have new challenges. The song I Believe lists off items like a pair of boots, love at first sight and his Martin guitar, celebrating life’s simple pleasures. On some tracks you can tell he’s just having fun.
“I feel like I’ve gotten a little bit smarter as I’ve gotten older, I don’t need a lot in my life and I’m really happiest when I’m sitting, playing my guitar.”
Two stints as an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre fostered a new approach to the craft, starting with a songwriting workshop with his friend, acclaimed American songwriter Kevin Welch.
“I felt like, for years, I’ve been writing songs that came out like a massive salad with all these different vegetables and a lot going on. Then I listened to Kevin. His song was like a tiny little sweet onion. Every verse he peeled back one of those layers and at the end, it’s a complete song.
“I realized I was trying to cover too much ground in one song, that maybe one little idea was enough. That whole ‘less is more’ thing has allowed me to write songs I probably wouldn’t have written before.”
He also started experimenting with guitar tunings, changing to the DADGAD tuning, and found that opened a new set of possibilities.
A second stint at Banff saw Hannam holed up with his regular band to record new songs over eight days last December. Keeping it simple worked well.
“This is probably the first record where there aren’t a lot of extra parts. The only instruments are the four of us who were in that room, Steve Fletcher on keys, Jason Valleau on upright bass, Jon May on drums and me on guitar, and that was it — except for Jesse Zubot. He was up there for something else so I got him to play eight bars on Key of D Minor.”
Hannam’s Acres of Elbow Room is available through cdbaby.com or his website, or you could pick up a copy at the concert.
Check out Fish Creek Concerts for tickets.