IN HIS WORDS
Gunning shares the stories behind some of the songs from Up Against the Sky.
Circle Of Boots
(Dave Gunning/Thom Swift) While on tour with George Canyon a few years back, he would gather the band and crew before every show to say a prayer. We’d all form a circle, locking arms and bowing our heads. While looking down each night I noticed the circle of boots and started imagining different scenarios where groups of people would be vowing to be there for one another and looking down into a circle of boots. When I got together with Thom and threw the premise out he jumped on it right away and, just by coincidence, had a picture of a group of people huddling. Thom himself has been there for me during a time of need and I’m lucky to have his boots in my circle.
Celebrate the Crop
(Dave Gunning)
We live out in the country and we love it. We’re fortunate that we can buy lots of local quality food and local quality beer around our area. My favourite time of the year is the fall and I love the celebratory feeling around harvest season. There’s certainly an even greater buzz around harvest season in Canada now. Anyway, after reading a story about the “old days” and having a little harvest season party of my own one night, I was inspired to write this tune.
Horse For Sale
(Dave Gunning/Ray Stewart) Ray Stewart is a gem of a man and a great songwriter. He pitched the idea of writing a song about a house for sale but then I reminded him that Jamie and I had already written one of those a few years back. So he laughed and said, “Right, OK,” then reached out a couple of days later about this concept — where you’re trying to sell the house but instead, advertising that it’s a horse for sale. This basic story is a familiar one in rural communities all over. Smaller farms can no longer make a go of it like years ago when it was all family farming. I really love the way this song came together and I cried the first time that I heard the strings being played along with it. And I love the crickets that made their way onto the recording and helped create the mood. They’d been auditioning every night and trying to get my attention, so I caved and placed the microphones by the windows.
Ferris Wheel
(Dave Gunning/ Jamie Robinson) My favourite ride has always been the Ferris wheel and, more specifically, the “Big Eli” model which was the one we’d always see around the Pictou/North Colchester Exhibition and the Pictou Lobster Carnival. It was often powered by an old gasoline tractor engine that would be purring away quietly. I don’t know if it’s an insurance issue now or what, but you don’t see them around anymore and I miss them. They were the best.