Fresh off the release of his new full-length album Canadian Folk Music Award Winner, Ian Sherwood will take to the stage at the Townshend Theatre in Fort Frances on his Broken Little Heart Tour on Dec. 6.
Sherwood, who hails from Nova Scotia has been interested in music for as long as he can remember.
“I’ve always been in music in some way, when I was a kid I sang in a lot of school choirs and played in school band then I had a garage band in high school, so there was always music happening around,” Sherwood said.
After high school he went on to study at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
“I didn’t really know what I was going to do,” he said. “So I just took a general BA, but I paid for university by being a musician, so suddenly I was like ‘ok I guess this is the thing I should be doing.’ So I moved to Toronto to become a saxophone player. I eventually made the change to singer-songwriter and started practicing on my guitar and writing songs, learning how to write songs and getting back into singing again and that just kind of took off.”
Sherwood also has a love for theatre, having played in pit bands as well as having acted on stage so he should feel right at home in the Townshend theatre.
More recently Sherwood has kept quite busy between releasing his album and playing with other acts.
“I released the record a few weeks ago and then right from there, I jumped into playing guitar in another person’s band and then playing saxophone in another person’s band,” he said. “Tomorrow night, (at the time of the interview) I’m a fan of Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell and tomorrow night there’s a tribute to them happening at a local venue, so I’m going to take part in that. So it’s been super busy prepping for all of these other things. After tomorrow it’s back to my own music and getting ready to come up to Ontario.”
Sherwood also added he’s also in the process of building a recording studio in his backyard as well.
Sherwood says the inspiration for his songwriting comes from many different places, and changes from album to album.
“That’s different every time, it’s funny,” he said. “Every time I sit down to write for a new record, I have to find a new muse, like a new way of writing because it sort of evades me. For the longest time I used to be able to just go on a walk and it would sort of stir up songwriting. But I’m a family man now, I’ve got two young kids. The time my wife and I have available to us to just sort of chase our muses is not like what it used to be in our 20s, we have to make the time rather than take the time.”
He says walking and going for long rides in the car can still be helpful but he often leans on inspiration from new artists has helped a lot recently.
“Maybe the thing that helps the most is finding another artist that I find inspiring, like hearing someone who I haven’t really heard before or really taken a chance to dig into, when I find someone like that then I often find my own muse knocking at the door,” Sherwood said. “I go to a great concert or see a great video or listen to a great record, I know it’s good because suddenly I can only listen to the first song or two and I have to go get my guitar and sit down and write something.”
One of Sherwood’s recent inspiring artists was Canadian indie artist Leif Vollebekk.
“I only really recently discovered him in the past couple of years and I thought I was the only one, I heard him on Spotify or something and was like ‘this guy sounds great.’” Sherwood said. “Then I found out he was coming to Halifax, so I thought I would be one of the only people going to see him and the place was packed.”
Sherwood says Vollebekk’s style was new to him and gave him some ideas.
“He had this sort of sparse style that I really dug,” Sherwood said. “And his phrasing, I thought was really great.”
Ultimately, Sherwood considers himself an Americana style singer-songwriter.
“My background is in jazz and I just really love great melodies,” he said. “Ron Sexsmith was a huge influence on me as an early songwriter. His style of songwriting and narrative songwriting is really important to me. Tom Waits is another huge influence on me.”
When he hits the stage in Fort Frances on Dec. 6 those in attendance can expect to hear some lovely harmonies from Sherwood and his bandmates.
“I’m a big harmony guy and I’ve got two great singers coming with me, they’re also instrumentalists,” he said. “I like to talk to the audience and I like to spin a yarn, so hopefully there will be some good stories. I like it when people are a bit chirpy and they have something to say in the audience as long as it’s about the show, I think that’s great.”
Tickets for Ian Sherwood are available online at tourdefort.com, or at Ski’s Variety and the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre. Tickets will be available at the door as well. With the holiday season approaching, Tour De Fort will be collecting non-perishable food items on behalf of the Salvation Army Food Bank at the door.
