Sentimental Sexsmith rides in with new album
Ron Sexsmith’s latest effort, The Last Rider, is an intimate and wistful venture
Ron Sexsmith tends to get fixated on insignificant things. He likens himself a bit to Horton and his speck of dust in the classic Dr. Seuss story. What might seem like nothing to others often drives his creativity.
And so it was, writing songs for his newest album The Last Rider. While shopping at his neighbourhood card shop, Sexsmith spotted a vintage postcard of a gate he walked past nearly every day. He liked its haunting quality and put it on his piano.
“I was looking at it one day and I noticed there was a man, you can barely see him, but he’s either walking past the gate or standing. Maybe he noticed someone was taking a photo but he ended up in the shot. As a songwriter that’s the kind of stuff I find myself fixating on. What’s his story?”
The figure inspired the song Man at the Gate and illuminated parallels in Sexsmith’s own life, 100 years later.
“I realized later it was actually about me leaving Toronto. I didn’t know I was leaving Toronto when I wrote the song, but it sort of became about me leaving Trinity Bellwoods, where I’ve lived for the last 15 years,” he said.
He had walked past that gate thousands of times, but that time has passed. Sexsmith and his partner are now based in a village outside of Toronto. A wise financial decision, but one he struggled to make. He said it’s been a big adjustment, but as long as he can walk somewhere and get a coffee he doesn’t need much to be happy.
Man at the Gate is part of a very personal album that opens with the lyric “Everything in life is passing through it seems.”
Someone called the record wistful. Sexsmith, now in his 50s, agrees.
He took on a larger production role on The Last Rider. It was a move of necessity rather than choice. Sexsmith had wanted to work with Martin Terefe, who had previously produced some of his albums, but finances dictated otherwise. Instead he and Don Kerr, a longtime member of Sexsmith’s band, took on the job themselves. Turns out he was better prepared for the experience than he expected.
“Just from making so many records and watching people like Mitchell Froom, I had been gleaning all this education and information about it. It was sort of a surprise to me how familiar it was,” he said.
While Sexsmith focused on things like arrangements, Kerr made sure they stuck to a schedule and said when the song needed another take.
Sexsmith has toured with the same band members for years, but The Last Rider is the first album they’ve played on. In the past, he couldn’t afford to fly all the players to recording locations. Plus, they are busy with other projects.
“In the past I’d go off and make a record with someone and the band would have to learn a record someone else played on.
“We’d go out and have a blast on the road, but I always felt a little bad.”
The album cover reflects that group dynamic. The Last Rider features a photo of Sexsmith and his bandmates clad in robes on a sunny lawn. Sexsmith admits it was his idea.
“I thought ‘This is probably going to look really stupid.’ The photographer managed to get this really amazing light. I wanted it to look like a painting or something,” he said. “If the picture hadn’t worked out we probably would have gone and stood against a wall somewhere like other people.”
The concert tour continues that spirit of camaraderie. It’s Sexsmith’s first tour since 2015 and even after decades as a professional musician, he admits getting on stage can be frightening.
“A whole year goes by and you almost forget. ‘What do I do again? Oh yeah, I go on stage and I sing songs.’”
A whole year goes by and you almost forget. ‘What do I do again? Oh yeah, I go on stage and I sing songs.’