Photo by Jeff Robson

Black Silk Gown
The Big East West
The Yellow Jacket
Anything You Want
No Dress Rehearsal
Dog On a Chain
James Medley
The Man Who Married Music

40 minute set
from a great
singer
songwriter

“welcome to my in-store.
i’m having my Spinal Tap
moment. but you’re
here!”

20 souls on a Friday
5:40 PM
in
a real music store
Into The Music
(Van Morrison)
records
vinyl
cds too
for a record collector
like Stephen Fearing
it’s heaven.

Winnipeg record collectors too.

Black Silk Gown
has me dancing
immediately
how can i not
dance to
Stephen’s booming voice
tingling my rocky spine
his melody driving
my soul to
celebrating.

Photo-Jeff Robson

“nice to be in a Real Music Store.
last time i did one of these,
it was an A&B or HMV.”

and he gears down
into a beautiful
ballad
“the big east west”
so musical
so melodic
every syllable
fits
the tune
rhythm/beats
like a poet
and a great guitar player
strumming and picking
alternating
between the need
of the tune/

Photo by Kier-La Janisse

The Yellow Jacket
“following the big beat”
with his
big bass booming
voice
delaying
the syllables/letterables
into a deep down gutteral
grab of the listener’s
attention

Anything You Want
co-written with Tom Wilson
is a mover and a shaker
“i’ll pound another nail in your coffin…
wake me up at the crack of noon”

No Dress Rehearsal
a new song
(from the best of
Stephen Fearing collection,
The Man Who Married Music)
old time tone
rollicking tune

Dog On a Chain
“my poor secret shadow
how long have you walked
behind me…
watching all of the mistakes
i have made”
rolls into a hot
guitar
picking instrumental
The James Medley

and then
the final song

The Man Who Married Music
“and the man who married you”
enough to bring the tears
of this a/lonely
man again
married to writing
and not married anymore
to my muse

so after Stephen Fearing’s
“Spinal Tap moment”
i intro me to he
and i tell him about being,
“17 months out of my 12 year
marriage.”

my eyes are wet
and his eyes
meet mine and
his eyes get wet,

and here’s what he told me,
not the exact words
but close enough,

“my marriage tanked about two years ago
and i didn’t think i’d be playing that
song anytime soon. but i was in the Maritimes
before a show
and a voice calls out,

“play The Man Who Married Music.”

it was Ron Hines and he’s The King!

(the great singer songwriter
from Newfoundland, who I saw
open for Chuck Brodsky at WECC,
thank you Dom for telling me
who he opened for!)

and now i’m playing it again.”

Thank you,
Ron Hines
and
Stephen Fearing

(two Kings of song writing)

(for the gift of)

“The Man Who Married Music”

ps. Vanessa Kuzina of Oh My Darling
loves you.