By Jay Scott Kanes

MONTAGUE, PEI, Canada – Newsman Steve Sharratt looks nothing like Clark Kent, the fictional newsman who moonlights as the comic-book hero Superman. Yet meeting Steve stirs visions of Clark.

Steve works at a desk in downtown Montague, where he’s the King’s County bureau chief for The Guardian, the largest newspaper in Prince Edward Island, Canada’s smallest province.

“News attracted me because I love to write,” Steve said. “It blows me away that people will pay me to write when that’s what I lust to do.”

But at dusk as crowds gather for concerts in town halls, 56-year-old Steve reveals different “super-powers”. He grabs a guitar, leaps onstage, sings and plays (usually folk or traditional) in his other identity as a polished and popular entertainer.

People who first meet Steve, the singer, songwriter and musician, may be surprised to see his newspaper byline. Others who know him as a reporter may go wide-eyed when he lets loose in song.

Like the strings on a fiddle gone rusty and old,
We’re so far apart you can feel the cold.
We don’t make music like we used to….
We can’t find a chord.
We can’t find the key….
There used to melody right from the start.
There used to be harmony in every part….
We hang around like old strings.
We play around like old strings.
Just a couple of old strings,
Can’t carry a tune any more.
From “Old Strings”, Steve Sharratt, 2004

“Here on the Island, many people wear two hats to keep the wolf from the door and food on the table, so I don’t feel different,” Steve said. “Lobster fishermen may be electricians too. Carpenters pick up jobs enumerating. Farmers go out west to work in the oil fields each winter.”

Do unpredictable news events disrupt Steve’s music schedule? “Over the years, I’ve made really good contacts and friends,” he said. “I have great bosses and colleagues who’ll cover for me if I need to go on tour outside the province. But let’s face it. This isn’t New York or Tokyo. There’s news every day, but some stories can wait a few days until I return to write them. Cell phones and laptop computers help too. If there’s a fire in Montague when I’m onstage, I’ll get a call and soon have the story written.”

Steve has supplied songs to other performers, like the Rankins of Cape Breton. Fans enjoy his deep voice and knack to mix styles. Being adept on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, ukulele, banjo, accordion and piano makes him comfortable with most songs.

“The great things about Steve are his supreme confidence, musicality, writing and ease with audiences,” said Margie Carmichael, a regular musical partner.

Steve’s solo CD, a self-titled, 13-song “story collection put to music”, appeared in 2004, earning a folk nomination at the 2005 PEI Music Awards.

“I started to learn the guitar at about age 14,” Steve said. “Once I heard Gordon Lightfoot sing some of the songs back then, “Early Morning Rain” and others, I became enamored with the idea of writing songs.” He’d already written some poetry.

Originally from St Catharines, Ontario, Steve studied English and journalism at Brock University and Niagara College. “I paid my way by playing with a band every weekend,” he said.

After a stint at a newspaper, Steve decided to travel. “I went out west, up to the Yukon and Alaska, and down to California,” he said. Along the way, he busked on sidewalks or played at open mikes in folk clubs.

In 1976, he bought a “really good” guitar in Edmonton. “I blew almost all the money I had on it,” he said. “But 32 years later, I’m still playing that guitar.”

Returning to Ontario, Steve took a factory job. “I had the midnight shift at practically double-time and worked seven days a week,” he said. “I planned to stay for two years and then leave for the Maritimes. That’s what I did.”

In 1980, he reached PEI. “First, I lobster-fished and heard a lot of sea stories from older folks,” he said. “I lived in Little Pond and played with a great fiddler named James Banks.”

After responding to a job advertisement, he joined The Guardian and stayed for decades. “Management asked which bureau I wanted, Summerside or Montague. I loved Eastern PEI a little more because I’d met people and had contacts.”

Now settled in Knox’s Dam, near Montague, Steve’s married with a daughter and two sons. His wife Nancy plays piano and sings. “The children love music too,” he said. His daughter plays guitar. A son plays piano and guitar.

In one of Steve’s best moves, he teamed with Sigrid Rolfe and Carmichael in the acoustic Celtic-folk trio Redstone. He recorded four CDs with Redstone and then another group, Jar O’Comfort

Fiddler Roy Johnstone and Steve toured together in Scotland. They created music for the 200th anniversary of the Selkirk settlers’ 1803 Atlantic crossing to Orwell, PEI.

They call us the settlers of Selkirk,
There’s Buchanans, McLeods and McCrees.
Lured by the promise of freedom,
Tempted by sugar from trees….
Well, we prayed to the Lord,
As the Polly we did board,
And left the land we so adored….
Well, Selkirk said there’s game
And respect for every name,
In this land that awaits to be tamed.
There’s more than meets the eye
For this boatload from Skye,
Bound for Prince Edward’s Isle….
From “Sugar From Trees”, Steve Sharratt, 2004

Teamed up again, Steve and Johnstone often pleased audiences with a show called Hot Plaid. They even co-starred at the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival.

Steve has opened for Lennie Gallant, featured on the CBC and hosted summer ceilidhs. He traveled to distant places like Cuba, Burma and Japan. His hobbies range from kayaking to learning Gaelic.

As time allows, Steve works on short stories and novels. “The first book I’ve completed is an adventure-fantasy story called Quintelhawk,” he said. “I wrote it with my sons in mind.”

“I have two jobs that I love, and so I feel very blessed,” Steve said. “Constantly, I wonder how I could have gotten the world’s two best jobs.”

Steve writes news stories while listening to music, surrounded by CDs and music-related photos. “I have a lot of Maritimes material from musicians I know,” he said. “But when writing, I’ll listen to anything from Tchaikovsky to McGuinty.”

Will a day come when Steve must choose between his favorite jobs? “No,” he vowed. “I’m getting too old to change. Even when I retire from a regular job, I’ll still write and do freelance work. And I’ll always play music – at least until arthritis prevails.”

For more information: www.stevesharratt.ca

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