Singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing loves telling stories through his music and connecting with audiences across the country.
He gets a lot of ideas from the lives of other people, and even overhearing a conversation on the bus can lead to a new song.
“Inspiration comes in the weirdest times, in the weirdest ways and so my job is to pay attention and to listen,” Fearing said.
The Juno Award-winner will perform at the Errington Hall on April 12.
Not fond of the "confessional" genre of songwriting, Fearing tends to find other people's stories more interesting than his own life.
"I try to figure out how to tell other people’s stories and at the same time make it ring true, which can be difficult," he said. “It’s partly my own and it’s partly other people’s and trying to find a way to tell it in the most authentic fashion possible.”
Being able to feel what other people's lives are like is important to his ability to capture it in song, according to Fearing.
The title of his latest album The Empathist is a play on the word "empath", meaning a person highly attuned to others' feelings.
“I find the word is kind of clumsy and 'empathist' was something that came to me," he said. "I thought it was somehow a little more human.”
The album was co-produced by Fearing and Grammy nominee and drummer Ken Coomer, of Wilco fame. The Empathist was recorded in Coomer's East Nashville studio and includes nine original songs and a cover of 'Where Will I Be' by Daniel Lanois.
Fearing was born in Vancouver, but spent some of his childhood growing up in Dublin and went to school with the future members of U2. The band's drummer Larry Mullen Jr. was in his year and the other members were a year ahead.
“They were just starting out. I believe they were called ‘the Hype’ at that point or ‘Feedback’, those were both early names for that band,” Fearing added. “They played the high school disco.”
He was interested in music from a young age and recalls when punk music became popular when he was a teenager in the late 1970s.
“I was more drawn to the singer-songwriter kind of thing, but nonetheless the idea that you could be yourself, that it didn’t have to be some big elaborate rock and roll extravaganza," he said. "Which was what punk rock was all about, that was inspiring to me.”
Fearing co-founded Blackie and the Rodeo Kings with Colin Linden and Tom Wilson in 1996 and the project was originally intedned to be a one-time collaboration ro record a tribute album of songs written by Canadian folk music legend Willie P. Bennett.
Nearly 30 years later, the band has released nine albums and won a Juno Award for Best Roots and Traditional Album in 2000.
As a solo artist, Fearing was nominated for that same award as a solo artist and has released 16 albums, which have featured musical guests such as Bruce Cockburn, Margo Timmons, Rose Cousins, Richard Thompson, Shawn Colvin and Sarah McLachlan.
Fearing’s thoughts on playing the Errington Hall?
“I love that place…haven’t been there for a while. 2014 to be exact… that’s much too long an absence!" he said in a news release.
The show starts at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $25 at Shades of Green and Errington Store, and $27.50 online at https://ErringtonHall.Tickit.ca.
Children age six to 12 are $5 and teens are $10 at the door and free under age six. Home baked goodies, ginger tea and Creekmore’s coffee available from the kitchen.
