On Wednesday night we hit a local spot to check out a Vancouver singer/songwriter/poet starting his Eastern Canada tour.
Rodney DeCroo was born in Pittsburgh and moved to BC in his teens. He talked about his upbringing influencing his songs as he played his set and shared his new record Campfires on the Moon.
Listening to DeCroo’s music makes it easy to tell that he’s a poet. His lyrics tell stories as strongly as they do anything else, and as he plays you can feel yourself being pulled in to a feeling that you’re at a reading as much as you are at a concert.
DeCroo played the new album from front-to-back, with a bonus track included at the end to wrap up the set. Here’s the track list, and after that a short Q&A that Rodney was cool enough to do with us Thursday. Many thanks to Rodney and his team for hooking us up with the show at Tennessee on Queen St. W, the Q&A, and to Mr. DeCroo himself for being so honest and forthcoming with his answers and his music.
Campfires on the Moon Setlist
2. Stupid Boy
3. Baby You Ain’t Wild
4. Sparks in the Rain
5. White Circles
6. Tear All Lovers Down
7. Young with You
8. No Saviour Big Enough
9. Ashes After Fire
10. Out on the Backstretch
11. Little Hunger (not on the record)
Rodney DeCroo Q&A
A. Wow, yes. My songs are inspired by a lot of different songwriters, poets and artists outside those disciplines as well. I mean, film makers inspire me a lot too as well as novelists. I’ve also been very inspired by theater too. But, to get back to your question these are the artists that come to mind:
Patti Smith ( horses blew my mind when i heard it and i knew i had to do THAT!), Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Buffy Sainte-Marie, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Steve Earle, Hank Williams, Johnny cash, Gram Parsons, Bruce Springsteen, Elliot Smith, Kurt Cobain, Cat Powers, Neil Young, Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Joan Baez and many more. I have friends who write songs but don’t perform and some of them have songs that blow me away. I’m inspired every time I hear a great song though my tastes definitely are defined by lyrics and story telling. And many poets have inspired me: Al Purdy, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Patrick Lane, Philip Levine, Galway Kinnel, Louise Gluck, Elizabeth Bishop, Jack Gilbert, Charles Bukowski, Syvia Plath, Gary Soto, Richard Hugo, Sharon Olds, Caesar Vallejo, Pablo Neruda, R.S. Thomas, the list could go on and on…
Q. When you introduced No Saviour Big Enough you mentioned that it almost didn’t make the record. What was the decisive factor in adding to the list and sharing it with the world?
A. I was hesitant to release it because it is about a friend who isn’t with us anymore. I was worried that that I was exploiting her suffering by releasing the song. She was very talented, intelligent, gifted, but also battled with severe depression. A mutual friend heard the song and told me I had to release it so I did. I’m still uncomfortable with whether it was the right thing to do.
A. I had no opportunities in Pittsburgh. I was locked into a cycle of poverty, addiction, violence and coming to Vancouver led to a whole world of new possibilities. If I had stay in Pittsburgh I probably would be dead, in jail or on the streets in full blown addiction. Vancouver has all those things too, but I met artists in Vancouver and that changed my life. I wouldn’t have met any artists where I lived.
Q. If we were to sneak a look at your playlist right now, which 3 artists would we find as your most played?
A.
Leonard Cohen
Christine Fellows
Built to Spill
A. Hopefully they’re drawn into an intimate space that allows them to really experience the lyrics / poetry and melodies that contain the stories I’m telling. Kind of like remembering something important or an old memory that you’d forgotten but in the process of rediscovering it you see it in a slightly new way. Also, Ida and Mark are so talented that they take the songs to their highest possible level. I know the word beauty is kind of quaint, but I mean it in the best possible way when I say that their playing is beautiful and beautiful things are rare and always worth encountering.
Catch Rodney DeCroo on tour right now, and check out Campfires on the Moon on iTunes.
Rodney DeCroo Campfires on the Moon Tour Dates
- May 29 – Windsor, ON @ The Phog
- May 30 – London, ON @ Call The Office
- May 31 – Peterborough, ON @ The Garnet
- June 2 – Montreal, QC @ Santa Barbara
- June 3 – Ottawa, ON @ Raw Sugar
- June 5 – Wakefield, ON @ Kaffe 1870
- June 6 – Guelph, ON @ The Cornerstone
Thanks again to Rodney.
