When it comes to folk singers and songwriters, David Francey is the real deal.
Francey’s journey to Juno Award-winner status did not run through high school band, college music studies then hitting the road to garner a listening audience.
Rather, the Scottish-born Ontarian’s music career started at the age of 45 – after years of working across the country in rail yards, in the Yukon bush and swinging a hammer on construction sites.
As he travelled and worked, he wrote poetry, set it to melodies in his head and sang them as he worked. No wonder then, that many of his songs are related to labour, the struggles of the working class and family.
In his 40s, his wife Beth encouraged him to share his songs and get out in the public eye with them. In 1999, he released the hit album Torn Screen Door and since then, has released nine more works and collected three Junos.
His most recent, the 14-track So Say We All, was released in April, with his son Colin on drums, Ontarian Tannis Slimmon on backing vocals and the trio who will appear at the 36th annual Canmore Folk Music Festival (Aug. 3-5) with him; Mark Westberg (guitar), Chris Coole (guitar, banjo) and Darren McMullen (multi-instrumentalist).
Last week, the Outlook interrupted Francey at his eastern Ontario home as he was getting ready to take a load of trash to the dump. “So I don’t mind,” he said, laughing, “that’s not something that can’t wait until later.”
Francey lives, “in the middle of nowhere” in a town of 38 people on what’s known as the Juno Highway, where he and two-time country and folk singer/Juno winner Jenny Whiteley are neighbours.
In listening to So Say We All, you might not recognize the album as a form of catharsis, but Francey said working on it helped him through the kind of dark time that many people face during their life.
The songs, though, are not dark and sombre. “Harm” touches on his dark period, but “Cheap Motel” is a more light-hearted look at life on the road.
“I was in a depression I could not get myself out of,” said Francey. “It was just a hard period like a lot of people have when a lot of things went wrong and I lost my best friend in the world.
“And it helped to put an album together, work with bandmates and get some help. If anything, it shows that if people are having trouble, you need to get some help; find God, or anything else that will help you.
“If you broke your leg, you wouldn’t hobble around on it, you’d get it fixed. I don’t think I’m different than anybody else.
“The album doesn’t dwell on any of it, though, and the feedback I’ve received has been tremendous. I feel strongly that it’s one of the best I’ve done. I’m excited to get out on the road with it and I’m looking forward to playing some of the new songs for people.”
And Francey doesn’t feel it’s his best just because his son worked with him, though that’s been a side benefit. “He’s more of a bass player, but he also plays drums. He writes, plays and is a madman for music.”
It’s likely not surprising that Colin is following in his father’s footsteps, or his artist mother’s for that matter, as the Francey siblings have been hauled around to many festivals in their day.
“I keep pointing out the benefits of a medical career,” said Francey, “but he’s interested in music. Years ago he bugged me to get him a bass and I said ‘look man, you’ve got a guitar you never touch, and a drum.’ But then I got him a bass and amp that he didn’t play and I said, ‘are you going to be playing that?’
“Then I went ahead and got him some lessons; next thing I knew he was downloading tablature and really taking to it.”
Francey said he and his wife are from non-musical families, but the artistic frame of mind seems to have taken root in the family tree now.
And swinging a hammer? Those days are pretty much behind Francey now, although he and family members did put a new roof on his mother in law’s house a couple of years ago (one wonders if there’s a “Brand New Roof” song in the future?).
“I don’t mind swinging a hammer around at home,” he said, “but after my mother in law’s roof I said ‘I’ve hauled my last pack of shingles.’”
Years of carpentry and labour jobs, he said, “put me in good stead for songwriting.
“This is a good life. I like to play with interesting people and I find there are two rules for enjoying yourself; people you perform with need to be really nice and they’ve got to be a great player.
“I’ve been doing this full-time since 2002 and I love it, it’s a great life. It takes you away from home considerably, and you have to keep in focus. But people look after you and take care of everything, you just have to worry about getting to the gigs.”
Francey said he’s also easing up a bit when it comes to touring. “For the last three years, I was gone for three quarters of the year, that didn’t work out too great. I love being on the road and working, but you gotta be home and you gotta rest.
“Being on the road is good for ideas and running into people with new ideas. I write on the road or at home and I find lately songs come in bursts. I don’t want to not work. Part of the plan was to go at this for 10 years and see how it goes – it’s going pretty well.”
After a summer festival season, Francey and the band will travel to England and Ireland and possibly head to Australia at Christmas.
Francey has won three Juno Awards and had his songs covered by such artists as The Del McCoury Band, The Rankin Family, James Keelaghan and Tracy Grammer. He’s also received the prestigious SOCAN Folk Music Award as well as taking home the Grand Prize in both the International Acoustic Music Award and in the folk category for the John Lennon Songwriting Award.
David Francey performs on Aug. 4, along with Habedku, Ben Sollee, Chic Gamine, Tony Furtado and Spirit of the West.
