On new songs Back on the Farm and Our River, Calgary singer-songwriter Michael Bernard Fitzgerald seems to be pining for a simpler life in the country, where he would have time to reflect and find some inner peace.
When he wrote those songs, he had no idea that there would eventually be a bizarre alignment between these sentiments and the reality he would face as a touring musician during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a fit of never-say-die defiance, the veteran songwriter designed a tour that has allowed him to play across the country these past few months while many of his peers stayed home. The so-called farm tour found Fitzgerald in rural areas across Western Canada, where he would set up an impromptu open-air venue he called the Greenbriar and croon his soft-spoken folk tunes to small, socially-distanced crowds. While it was perhaps not intentional, the material from his newest record, Love Valley, fit these quiet summer evenings like a glove.
“I had been thinking about touring to those kind of destinations back in February, because I did think it would fit the music so well,” says Fitzgerald, in a tour-stop call to Postmedia outside of Regina earlier this week. “I did think they would be a great places to sing those songs and they have been. The people sit in our tent in their groups, but that doesn’t preclude them from being a part of the conversation. I’ve been describing the way those evenings go, in between songs, as being like a house concert. You can hear a pin drop. There’s a nice little P.A., everybody is comfortable and it’s warm. It transformed into this mini travelling, 40-foot-by-20-foot concert hall.”
Fitzgerald has always been an inventive live performer. Part of his reputation in Calgary and beyond has been partially based on outside-the-box, bigger-is-better concepts, whether it be Jack Singer Hall concerts that found him backed by no less than 120 backup musicians and marching bands or leading a communal Canada Day singalong of Neil Young’s Heart of Gold on the Riverfront Stage in 2018.
But while his music has never been raucous, the 12 tunes on Love Valley seem particularly well-suited for intimate gatherings. The album cover depicts a small boy in a windswept farmer’s field. The press material describes it as an “album about the simple details.”
In the past few years as Fitzgerald’s profile as a singer-songwriter grew, he had tended to release albums made up of songs that he co-wrote in Los Angeles or Nashville or London. Love Valley was recorded just outside of Calgary at OCL Studios with producer Josh Gwilliam. The album required some travel; a saxophone part was added in Memphis for one track, while pedal steel that was recorded in Nashville showed up on another. But, for the most part, these songs are come from a period of solitary reflection for the writer.
“I love the opportunity to work with all these different writers and work with these producers, I think it’s been such a great way to learn about songwriting and learn about what I like about a songwriter,” he says. “But the primary difference this time was that instead of travelling and booking some sessions, I ended up just finding a space at home — which ended up being the kitchen — to pick away at learning how to write fully on my own again.”
Fitzgerald has never been an angsty songwriter and Love Valley is full of peaceful, easy feelings as he details simple pleasures. Album opener Heart of It is a rolling travelogue softly sung by a narrator happily returning home, both physically and spiritually. Harley Davidson is a similarly idyllic ode to riding a hog through the countryside. With Nothing On, Fitzgerald even manages to make the opening line “I never get tired watching you undress” sound more sweet than creepy.
“I think I’ve always been a hopeful writer,” he says. “But this time around, I think I was an aspirational writer. I was cognizant that I wanted to paint this picture down to the detail and be something that I’ve made a conscious effort to start moving toward.”
As for life during a pandemic, it’s not always easy to remain hopeful. Fiztgerald played 22 shows on the farm tour, going as far east as Winnipeg for two sold-out performances. But the return of high COVID-19 numbers in Ontario and Quebec forced him to cancel 10 shows. He is scheduled to go back out on the road Oct. 21 to 31 for the British Columbia leg of his farm tour. On Nov. 2, he plans to organize events he calls Love Valley Guest House, which will find him swapping songs with 20 or so Calgary singer-songwriters at a pop-up venue.
“On one hand, I’m starting to see the odd email when we are talking about being back in a venue with reduced capacity or being back in a theatre with reduced capacity,” he says. “But then also it turned around in Ontario. I’m not quite certain what that will mean for this industry, for my peers. Personally, I’m going to keep on being hopeful and I’m going to go to British Columbia and have a great time.”
Love Valley is now available on streaming services and on vinyl.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
