Ron Sexsmith

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• http://www.ronsexsmith.com/
• Here as always, Sexsmith’s priority is the song itself. “I want the lyric and the melody to be as flawless as possible,” he says, “so I’m always pretty critical of my own stuff. In general, I try to write songs that will stand up by themselves if I’m not there. My heroes are people who could write all different kinds of songs. Lennon could write something really powerful, and be really funny in the next song; Dylan the same way. I feel all sorts of things, and I want the songs to have different character traits.”
  
  As he was writing the songs that would comprise Exit Strategy, Sexsmith realized that what he was feeling was somewhat headier than the psychological terrain he’d previously inhabited. “It was exciting in a way,” he recalls, “because I was getting these lyrical ideas that were a bit different for me; they were reaching for something. I wouldn’t call it poetry or anything, but I was trying for something that was a little more poetic. And I think that was partly inspired by what’s going on in the world. There’s something about writing on the piano, too—it has more of a gospel-y attitude, and it puts me in a different place.”
  
  As for his place in the musical universe, Sexsmith says, “Over the years, I’ve built it up to the point where I have a cult following, for lack of a better term. I don’t have a huge following, but for the most part they’re very into it. So that’s encouraging, and that’s really all you can ask for these days. When I got signed, I was already 30, so I never really expected to be filling arenas. I felt that what I was doing didn’t really fit in with what I was hearing on the radio. That’s why it always confuses me when I hear people saying, ‘Why isn’t Ron more famous?’ It’s not that I think a breakthrough album is out of the question, but it’s such a mysterious thing. I mean, I just write the songs, and feel really lucky that I have a career.
  
  “Recently I was in this bookstore,” he continues, “and I saw this giant encyclopedia of modern music. So I thought, ‘Hmm… I wonder…’ I open it up and, sure enough, there I am, right beside the Sex Pistols. So I suppose I have made a mark in my own way. What I can honestly say is that I’m proud of every single song that’s ever been on one of my records. I’m not always proud of the production or the singing, but there’s not a song that I couldn’t play you now and not feel good about it.”