After seven years making music with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and touring the United Kingdom as part of the folk duo Fearing and White, Stephen Fearing finally decided to get back to basics and put out a solo album.
He says Between Hurricanes was an important project for him because it gave him a chance to get back to the core of what he does as a folk singer.
鈥淚 really just wanted to remind people that I travel around the country in a car with a box of records, playing shows. I mean, that鈥檚 what I do.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing quite like climbing on the stage on your own and it鈥檚 just you and the audience.鈥�
For someone who stays as busy as Fearing, the simple connection between a musician and his audience is a kind of catharsis that stands in stark contrast to the business of making music. Fearing says he鈥檚 constantly trying to stay busy and fill holes in his schedule, and sometimes that catches up with him.
鈥淎ll of a sudden you realize there鈥檚 four pots on the burner and, 鈥榦h my God they鈥檙e all going to boil over.鈥欌��
Combine that with the pressure to keep up with all the new forms of social media and, Fearing says, it鈥檚 a lot to handle.
鈥淧ut it this way: In the old days the fans used to stalk the artists, nowadays the artists stalk the fans,鈥� he says in mock exasperation.
It鈥檚 an interesting reflection on the industry that such a force in the Canadian folk scene spends that much of his time thinking about the business of making music. But don鈥檛 dismay, he still has a ton to say about the music itself.
Talking about the Canadian Folk Music Awards he attended earlier this month, Fearing riffs on how folk music has evolved.
鈥淲hatever folk means鈥攖hat鈥檚 a pretty broad category now,鈥� he says.
鈥淧eople who look at it from the outside often look at it as a very static thing. But there鈥檚 always been a whole lot of evolution. If you kind of shy away from [those views] what you come away with is a bunch of people who are really involved in the music, but aren鈥檛 necessarily academic about it.鈥�
Sure, he says, there are a lot of smart people playing folk music, but some of the most interesting are bringing in outside influences, bending and blurring the lines between folk and other genres.
鈥淚f you go to the core of any musical genre it鈥檚 probably the least interesting place,鈥� Fearing says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 really in the fringes that you get the most interesting stuff.鈥�
With two albums coming out next year鈥攖he second effort from Fearing and White and a new Blackie album鈥擣earing thinks he鈥檚 juggling enough boiling pots to keep his fans interested.
鈥淚鈥檓 lucky to be doing this,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is a crazy life, but somehow I get to make a living at it.
Trevor Nichols
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