By Jay Scott Kanes

RUSTICO, PEI, Canada – Lennie Gallant, the best-known son of this Atlantic Canadian fishing village, thrives among the nation’s best songwriters and performers in a genre best called “roots rock”.

“Lennie Gallant? My God, Lennie’s the cream of the songwriters on the East Coast, and he’s one of us,” said regional radio broadcaster Eric MacEwen, also from Rustico. “Jeez, even Jimmy Buffet sings Lennie Gallant’s songs these days.”

More than 30 singers have recorded Lennie’s songs. “My music’s getting out there,” he said. “I’ve been doing a little co-writing down in Nashville too, and I enjoy that. In the past, I often felt I had to write it all myself. It’s interesting where it goes sometimes when you work with someone you admire and allow them to have a lot of input.”

Lennie has recorded seven albums. The latest, When We Get There (2005), competed for a Juno Award as the top roots recording.

Sometimes it seems so long, the load so heavy.
Sometimes we worry so much, we lose our way.
So many mountains, deserts and valleys to cross,
Sometimes the trail is thin, or river washed away.
We will cross that bridge
When we get there.
We will know the rhyme
When we need the line.
From “When We Get There”, Lennie Gallant, 2005

“There are times when a song just spills out onto a page,” Lennie said. “At other times, it’s a real slog to make one work. The ones that come easiest often end up being the more popular songs. I guess they’re a gift from somewhere, but you still need to be working at your craft and ready to accept them. You need to take the raw material and put it into the proper form.”

Take my hand, move real slow.
Rock to the rhythm of the ebb and flow.
Hold me close, never let go.
Waltz to the music from the open window.
From “The Open Window”, Lennie Gallant, 1994

“By now, I don’t know how many songs I’ve written, but it’s a lot, many hundreds,” Lennie said. “I’ve got tons of songs that have never been recorded, or bits and pieces that are mostly finished, but not quite.

“Not long ago, I started to clean up my basement. I have boxes of cassettes that are full of songs or song ideas. But I’m a bit of a pack rat and hate to throw them out. Someday I may need to go through them and see what’s worthwhile there.”

Lennie’s Acadian and Celtic influences never vanish. His past albums include: Le Vent Boheme (2002, a first French CD), Lennie Gallant Live (2000), Lifeline (1997), Open Window (1994), Believing in Better (1991) and Breakwater (1988).

Onstage, Lennie’s resonant voice makes for memorable concerts. More than a singer, he plays guitar, harmonica and bodhran. His passion on songs like “The Hope For Next Year", "Peter’s Dream” and “Island Clay” echoes with poetic beauty and truth about toil, dreams and heartaches.

First fall of early snow,
White furrows on the field…
Somewhere money must be found.
Looking for the laughter
To follow the tears.
Turn the earth in autumn
And hope for next year.
From “The Hope For Next Year”, Lennie Gallant, 1991

Someone sang an old sea shanty,
And Nealy told a mainland joke.
Kelly cursed and swore until his voice gave out,
And then he asked me for a smoke,
And then he took his father's shotgun,
Walked to the harbour, through the town.
He fired 14 times, woke everyone up,
And we all watched that boat go down.
From "Peter's Dream", Lennie Gallant, 1994

Lennie has earned three Juno nominations, 15 East Coast Music Awards (a record for solo performers) and 37 ECMA nominations. Five times, he reigned as the ECMA’s top male artist. In 2004, he received the Order of Canada.

At age 13, he acquired his first guitar, a Christmas gift. Soon he played in rock and Celtic folk bands, including Speed the Plow with Margie Carmichael, Roy Johnstone, Sigrid Rolfe and David Papazian.

The early days in Lennie’s working career brought ups and downs. According to his Website: “His love of travel and adventure led him to set off on ocean passages as a crew member on a 47-foot wooden schooner, hitch his way around Europe, hop a freighter to the Middle East and take part in a human rights tour in Central America. In the past, he’s been a truck driver, laborer, actor, festival director, movie-location manager, house-painter, teacher, stevedore and bartender.”

Now even Lennie admits to exceeding his expectations. “I started out thinking that I’d love to play at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown someday,” he said. “The idea that I’d travel the world playing music just never occurred to me then. My career kind of evolved. As I did one thing, I’d decide that I probably could do something else too.”

Big on touring, Lennie has performed at many music festivals. His videos, like “Meet Me at the Oasis”, air on television.

I wander in the desert -- I lost my guide.
He stepped on a land mine left behind from the war.
I've no sugar for this tea -- no salt for this rice.
On this riverbed, the water runs no more.
(Won’t you) Meet me at the oasis?
Bring me Bedouin tea and your silver spoon.
Meet me at the oasis.
Drop your veil -- descend the dune,
And we’ll drink from the moon.
From “Meet Me at the Oasis,” Lennie Gallant, 1997

Yet challenges remain. “I think I’m becoming a better and better songwriter, and I’d love to play for an even wider audience,” Lennie said. “Every time I play in a new place, it seems to go really well. That encourages me to try finding new markets.”

Lennie has performed in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Why not look to Europe more often? “I’d love to play more there,” he said. “I’ve done small tours in the United Kingdom and played in France. The reactions were tremendous. But sometimes it’s difficult to get all the machinery in motion to regularly go over there, and it’s expensive too.”

No doubt, he’ll provide even more songs to other singers: “I’m very interested in having other people record my songs. That’s happened in the past, but I’ve never actively sought it.

“It was a nice surprise that Jimmy Buffet picked one of my songs (called “Mademoiselle, Voulez-Vous Danser”) almost out of the blue. He’d heard an album of mine (Open Window) and took a liking to it. I got to know him a little and played the song with him on stage in Toronto. That was a lot of fun.”

Buffet makes no apologies. “Lennie Gallant’s one of my favorite Canadian songwriters,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to bring his music to the forefront.” Lennie’s song highlights on Buffet’s 2002 album, Far Side of the World.

Although living in Halifax, Lennie often crosses the Northumberland Strait to celebrate his PEI roots. “I come back to PEI quite a bit, every few months. It is my home,” he said. “Eventually, I’ll live here again. Now it’s a little easier to work out of Halifax, and my wife has a job there with the National Film Board. But my roots on PEI go back for as long as there have been people of European blood standing on the soil. It always means a lot to be on PEI. It’s great to come back to play, but also to see friends and family.”

There’s “a lot of PEI” in his song "A Day With You in Paradise".

Fill my belly from your mussel bed,
Seaweed pillow where I lay my head,
Sculpture of sand by the water's end,
The mermaid slips into the sea again….
Lost my watch and found my way back to the sound of laughter,
A day with you in paradise was all my heart was after.
From “A Day With You in Paradise”, Lennie Gallant, 2005

Lennie’s roots-rock graces movies, theatre stages, documentaries and TV shows like Dawson’s Creek and Joan of Arcadia. He penned “History Is Happening Now”, a theme for Halifax’s 250th anniversary, and co-wrote a song for the first World Acadian Congress. In addition, he acted as a spokesman for UNESCO and a board member on the Songwriters Association of Canada.

They're just pieces of you,
Something you left behind.
Maybe it slipped your mind,
Like a part of a lie,
A bit of the truth.
Pieces of you,
Turning up everyday
In an unusual way.
A bit of the past,
Out of the blue,
Pieces of you.
From "Pieces of You", Lennie Gallant, 2005

Lennie and his wife have one child, a daughter named Amelie. “She’s four years old, loves music, loves to dance and has her own little guitar,” he said. “It’s funny to hear her compose little songs about things like helping Mummy to cook muffins. I get a kick out of how she strums away on the guitar, although not exactly making chords yet, while creating little verses.”

Music from many of Lennie’s relatives looks like a burgeoning industry. Two nephews, pianist Jeremy Gallant (also a rock drummer) and fiddler Rowan Gallant, show particular promise.

“My family’s huge,” Lennie said. “On my Dad’s side alone, I’m the oldest of 60-some children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When we have reunions, it’s crowded. My brothers and sisters have children who are all very talented and crazy about music in different genres. They’re starting to make names for themselves too. I’m very proud of them.”

That sounds exactly like how the residents of Rustico beam with pride at the mention of Lennie’s name.

For more information: www.lenniegallant.com

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