鈥淪ometimes you have a plan and it all goes beautifully and you think, 鈥楾hank Christ I had a plan.鈥� Sometimes you walk blindly into the dark and let the moment take you on the journey it has mapped out for you.鈥�
Folk singer John Wort Hannam wrote those words on his blog. He was talking about writing songs for his newest album, but the message also rings true for his decision to strike out as a musician.
When he took the plunge, Hannam was in his 30s, working as a language arts teacher.
鈥淚 enjoyed aspects of teaching but it wasn鈥檛 anything I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. And I enjoyed singing a lot, so I thought, well, I guess I should learn to play guitar. And maybe I can sing my own songs,鈥� the Alberta troubadour said in a March 27 interview.
So he tooled around in his basement for a few years, learning some covers and picking out a few of his own tunes. Eventually, after attending an open mic a couple of times, he worked up the courage to perform. A promoter took notice, and when he offered Hannam $50 to play a 15-minute set, Hannam said he was flabbergasted.
鈥淣ot that I didn鈥檛 know people played music for money, but I was kind of dumbfounded that people would pay me to do this,鈥� he said with a laugh. Not long after, in 2002, he quit his job as a teacher in order to pursue a career in music full-time.
鈥淚 knew that if I was actually going to make an attempt 鈥� I was going to have to hurry up and get things done. I wasn鈥檛 16 years old and I wasn鈥檛 willing to sleep on a couch and all those things that a young aspiring musician was willing to do.
鈥淚 guess I just kind of dove in head first.鈥�
On his blog he wrote about his last days as a teacher, remembering the last set of assignments he had to mark. He knew he wasn鈥檛 coming back, and they sat on his desk for weeks.
On his final day he walked the whole stack to the garbage and chucked them in, never even bothering to look them over. On the drive home he took his entire five years worth of lesson plans, chucked them out his car window and watched them swirl away down the side of the road as he drove off.
鈥淚 knew if I took those lesson plans home and put them in the basement I might be tempted one day to go back to teaching,鈥� he said. 鈥淔ive years of work went out the window and blew down the road, and that was the last I saw of them, I cut myself off.鈥�
Ten years later and Hannam is still crisscrossing the continent playing his tunes. He鈥檚 in the process of putting together his sixth album, and said that even though he was late to the music game, he鈥檚 never been intimidated by those who have been doing it far longer.
鈥淭here鈥檚 always going to be a musician that you鈥檙e further along the path than, and there鈥檚 always those that are going to kick your ass all the time,鈥� he said.
聽Trevor Nichols
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