Ron Sexsmith

Lauded by the likes of Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello, he has just dropped his 14th album, Carousel One, and is embarking on his first Australian tour in six years. We were willing to forgive his absence if he agreed to open up on his writing practice and plans for the future, and the man sure doesn’t disappoint.

“There’s never a time when I’m not writing – I’m always working on something,” Sexsmith explains in a measured Canadian drawl. “I’m working on songs right now, in fact, for whatever my next record ends up being, and lately we’ve been touring a lot, so there really hasn’t been that much time for anything else. When I’m home, though, I don’t really have a lot of hobbies. My friends and I might play ping-pong sometimes, but other than that, I like to just grab some drinks, go out and see a movie. It’s not a very exciting life, really, but I quite like those moments when I’m at home and don’t have to be anywhere or be anybody.”

It is an interesting aside, this notion of Sexsmith relaxing his public mask and slipping back into the everyday man. It is deceptively easy to fool yourself into thinking the person you hear in his vast catalogue of songs is the man himself; they seem so personable and direct. Though his songs are not always strictly autobiographical, Sexsmith is certainly a songwriter whose influences are clear, and he does not shy from expressing them.

“I’m very impressionable, and I think I’ve always worn my influences on my sleeve. On this record I think people can hear a whole range of artists who have influenced me. There’s a song called ‘No One’, which is very influenced by Roger Miller. A lot of the usual suspects: Gordon Lightfoot, The Beatles. I mean, I am 51, so most of the music that really influenced me was stuff I heard as a kid, and I’m just fortunate that I grew up in such a melodic period. I’ve just written a novel recently, and I’m a big fan of Dickens – he was a big influence, although I wouldn’t quite dare compare my book to him. But these people just set a high bar, and you’re trying to reach it.”

That Sexsmith has turned his hand to literature comes as a fine surprise, though with many singers celebrated for their lyrical prowess – think John Darnielle or Colin Meloy – the shift across to novelist seems somewhat inevitable. While many details of the book are still under wraps, the novel’s genesis makes for an interesting insight into how Sexsmith’s ideas develop in the first place.

“I’ve never really done anything like this before. I’m in a holding pattern here, waiting to see if the publishers like it or if they’ll pass. I never thought I’d do something like this. I had the arc of the story first, and I didn’t know what it was originally. I thought maybe it was a song, a screenplay, I didn’t know. But when I got down to writing it, a lot of characters I hadn’t even thought about suddenly occurred to me, and it started taking on a life of its own. “I guess that’s what happens. But I could always see this kind of end in sight. I could see where the story was going, I just wasn’t sure how to get there.

“There are some songs I’ve written over the years that are kind of story-songs,” he adds with a laugh, “that were sort of signs from a frustrated novelist. So to actually write something that wasn’t meant to be set to music was something I always wanted to do. Plus it’s a kind of fairytale, which was unexpected. Sometimes I’ll have an idea for a song that is more of a feeling than a topic, and I don’t quite know how to express it. Those are the songs I pull my hair out over, trying to put into words something that you’re not even sure what it is. I guess that’s the thing that I’m always chasing after in every record: a grand statement of something I can’t express.”

For now, there is Carousel One, and the promise to see Sexsmith in action throughout November. He sounds eager to return and showcase an album that has already been celebrated as one of the strongest of his career; no faint praise for someone whose songs have been embraced by smitten fans and fellow singers alike.

“I’ve tried to write songs that were universal, that could be covered easily,” he says. “You just hope that the song’s foundation is strong enough that it can support whoever is doing it, though most of the covers were songs I originally just wrote for myself. You’d like to think if someone has chosen your song, it’s because it speaks to them for whatever reason. Maybe they just like the melody, I don’t know. Leslie Feist did a cover of ‘Secret Heart’, and I think most people know her version. Sometimes I’ll play it and someone will say, ‘Hey, I loved that Leslie Feist song you did.’ But that’s how it goes. I just write, and try not to get too tripped over by it.”

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