Thursday, November 10, 2005
Another Gallant effort
By Chris Connors

GLACE BAY — After doing his first French language album (Le vent bohème) and a live album (Lennie Gallant Live), P.E.I. singer-songwriter Lennie Gallant is back doing what he does best with his latest studio album — telling stories.

When We Get There, his seventh full-length recording, is vintage Gallant, as he once again masterfully weaves songs that take listeners on something of a literary journey, whether he’s drawing on personal experience, such as the opening departure song, The Gypsy Wind, which was inspired by a rocky schooner voyage he took from Mahone Bay to the Caribbean with a distant relative, or religion, as is the case with the closing number, The Innkeeper, a thinly veiled retelling of the birth of Jesus from the innkeeper’s perspective.

“In some ways I think that perhaps with the last couple of albums I strayed a little bit away from it and there weren’t so many story songs,” says Gallant, who performs tonight at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay. “The response from the beginning on this album is that it’s a great album to have in your car, especially because there are so many tales being told.”

But as Gallant learned, some songs — like the stories that spur them — seem to write themselves. That was the case with There Must be Another Song, which was supposed to be a tribute to a luthier friend who had worked on guitars for greats like Gordon Lightfoot and Lenny Breaugh.

But after sitting down to write the song following a late-night dinner with the friend one night, “it kind of took on a life of its own and it didn’t really seem like it was about him at all anymore.”

Instead, he ended up with a song about a busted up Martin double 0-1946.

“I finished it at four o’clock in the morning, and since he had been the inspiration for the song, I wanted him to be the first to hear it so I put it on a cassette and sent it to him. He sent me back a message saying ‘How could you know that story?,” recalls Gallant, who composes most of his songs on a Martin 0018 1954.

“I thought it was interesting in that sometimes you just have to start the story and sometimes it seems like the guitar itself or the universe or whatever is giving it to you and that you’re more of a conduit than a songwriter. I know a lot of songwriters who have experienced that kind of thing. Whether it’s just that you’re leaving yourself open to whatever is floating around out there or there is an energy in the wood, it’s hard to say.”

Whatever the source, Gallant hopes the inspiration keeps coming, particularly now that he’s hoping to shop more of his songs to other artists. While it’s not something that he’s ever openly courted, a recent performance with Jimmy Buffet, who covered Gallant’s Mademoiselle Voulez-Vous Dancer, has opened his eyes to the possibilities.

“Now that I’ve had more and more people recording my stuff, I think it’s something I’d like to pursue a lot more — recording songs at home and sending them off to various artists and trying to get other people to record my stuff as well,” says Gallant whose songs have nevertheless already been recorded by people like fellow P.E.I. singer-songwriter Tara MacLean, Cape Breton blues rocker Matt Minglewood and English socialist folk singer Roy Bailey.

“I’ve never really pursued that aspect of the business at all and after the experience with Buffet it certainly opened my eyes to both the artistic side of those sessions but also certain other positive things that go along with having someone of that nature record your songs.”

Meanwhile, Gallant is looking forward to his Savoy performance with violinist Sean Kemp and bassist Joel Butcher.

“I really like that format. I find it doesn’t lack any punch — it’s still a pretty big sound — and yet it’s kind of more intimate with the audience,” he says. “The vocals are very clear and it works really well. I like playing with the band too, but I’m starting to enjoy more and more just doing a trio scenario.”

For tickets, phone the Savoy Theatre box office at 564-6668 or visit www.savoytheatre.com. For more information, phone the Savoy 842-1577.

For more on Gallant, visit his website, www.lenniegallant.com.

cconnors@cbpost.com