It is said good things come to those who wait, but for Fort Macleod songwriter John Wort Hannam, inspiration come from being forced to wait.
Hannam releases his long awaited latest CD “Love Lives On” on Oct. 2.
“It was originally only going to be an EP, ” Hannam said from the Vancouver airport after playing a few shows around B.C, around an appearance at the Bluebird North with Leeroy Stagger, who produced Hannam’s new album.
“It’s based on the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, so it’s five songwriters sitting around, playing their songs without a band and telling the stories behind the song,” Hannam said, returning home for a quick breather to see his wife and child, before hitting the road again in October in support of the new CD. Running into Leeroy Stagger was a pleasant coincidence.
“We were both added independently, so we decided to play a few more more shows together,” he said.
“It’s been a lot of fun touring with Leeroy,” he said.
He is noted a better album resulted from life experience and waiting an additional two years to finish and release it.
“I started recording it in fall 2012. It was originally going to be a four song EP but it kept being put on the back shelf,” he said adding child raising and working with Leeroy Stagger and Hannam's busy schedules delayed the release.
“Now I’m actually glad it took another two years, because some of my favourite songs on it are songs I wrote over the past year,” he said.
An added bonus of the extra time was being able to get special guests on the CD, thanks to both Hannam and Stagger's large circle of friends who are also touring musicians.
“If someone was passing through town, Leeroy would ask them if they wanted to come to the studio. So it’s a mish mash. Corb Lund’s band is on the CD so Kurt (Ciesla) and Brady (Valgardson are playing on it. And (fiddle/ accordion player) Adrian Dolan from the Bills is on it and Bob Hamilton. John Ellis from Doc Walker and Geoff Hilhorst from the Deep Dark Woods plays on it. So it ended up being a who's who of Canadian roots music,” he said.
One of his favourite songs is one he didn’t think he should write —“ Man of God,” about residential schools.
“ I didn’t want to misappropriate a culture. I sent it to a a couple of people I know on the Blood reserve, because I’m not a First Nations person and it is written in the first person,” said Hannam, who worked on the Blood Reserve teaching for six years before deciding to become a musician.
“But I’ve had people come up to me and ask me why it took 15 years. And after thinking a lot about it I realized it’s because I am a father now and I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have my child taken from me,” he said, adding the song has received overwhelmingly positive response. He noted Sheila Rogers from CBC asked if the The Truth and Reconciliation Committee could use the song in Ottawa in June.
“So that meant a lot to me,” he said. Even more gratifying was running into a relative of a former student he taught in Vancouver, who expressed his appreciation for it.
“ Man of God” is one of the more overtly political songs on the CD. Most of the songs are highly personal.
“I feel people are getting to know John Wort Hannam the person more than just John Wort Hannam the songwriter,” he said.
The delayed release has also allowed him to play the new songs for audiences and hearing the stories behind them before releasing them on CD.
“I wrote ‘Chasing the Song’ in Oklahoma when was on tour and forgot my wedding anniversary. My wife called and she didn’t say anything about it, but she knew I’d forgotten our eighteenth wedding anniversary. I was thinking about how much time you spend away from your family when you’re a musician. And how much they put up with. I wrote that song in 35 minutes and called her back with it,” he said, adding becoming more comfortable in his own skin as a songwriter has allowed him to write from a more personal perspective.
“When you’re just starting out as a songwriter, you try to imitate the people you admire most. I listened to a lot of Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Fred Eaglesmith, so would try to write like them,” he said, adding that resulted in more self censorship.
“I’d ask myself would Guy Clark write a song like this. If he wouldn’t write about a topic, I wouldn’t either,” he said.
“ Now, I’ll write about whatever I feel,” he said.
He is excited about the new CD as much as he is about the tour in support of it, which begins with a hometown show at the empress Theatre in Fort MacLeod, Oct. 2.
“I’m not playing a Lethbridge show this time,” he said adding ticket sales have been slow for the hometown show, so he hopes his Lethbridge fans will come out to see him there.
In addition to the CD release tour, Hannam, Stagger and Dave McCann will be performing a really abbreviated Highway 3 Roots Revue tour in December.“ It will be really short this time,” he said.
Tickets for the Fort Macleod show cost $25. the show begins at 7:30 p.m.
