By Jay Scott Kanes

ELMSDALE, P.E.I., Canada – By writing hundreds of songs, 71-year-old Ivan Ashley has devoted much of his time to shaping worthy messages for listeners. Leading musicians from his home province and beyond have recorded dozens of his best songs.

Ivan's songwriting, mainly in the country and gospel genres, produces immense pleasures – for the listeners and himself. “Love and pleasure, man, that's why I do it – for the love and the pleasure of it,” he said in an interview at his home near Alberton, Prince Edward Island.

“There's a tremendous enjoyment in putting the words together and having them come out as a melody. Being creative may not earn me much money, but it gives me a good time.”

Her name was Sue,
And I'm telling you,
She's the prettiest girl
That I ever knew.
And there is a time and a place
Where we chanced to meet.
I remember a day,
And a little café
On Queen Street.
From “Queen Street”, Written by Ivan Ashley, 2009

Ivan revealed a list of titles and many of the lyrics for his more than 200 songs. He keeps them catalogued and stored in a computer.

What does it take to write a good song? “Emotions,” Ivan said. “Songwriting's very emotional. The songs come from the heart and mind, from the emotions that linger from past events and situations in life.

“When you're good with imagination, you even can use events in other people's lives as inspiration. I wrote one song about a guy I knew who stopped me for a talk in a store years ago. He told me about a girl, someone we both went to school with but who has passed away now, that he always loved. I wrote about his life and being in love with that girl.

“I like to pick up my guitar and create a beat. Maybe I'll have a title in mind. Next I think about how I want the song to go. Then the words come along too.”

Ivan probably couldn't stop writing songs if he tried. That's a reassuring notion to musicians, including many in Atlantic Canada. Those who have recorded Ivan's songs include Sandra Jones, Kim Albert, Janet McGarry, Dwayne Dorion, Larry Campbell and Jamie Matthews.

“Bonita Mercer, from Northern Ontario, recorded a song of mine, co-written over the phone with Larry Mercey of the Mercey Brothers, called ‘You'll Be the One’. She had it in the Canadian top 100,” Ivan recalls. “And Larry Good, from the Good Brothers, recorded one of my songs (“Did You Meet Up With a Memory?”) in Nashville.”

Ivan has two CDs to his credit, The Old Ferris Wheel, on which he sings, and Red Island Clay, with his songs performed by regional music stars.

The old Ferris wheel
Climbed into the sky.
She had me flying
On a natural high.
Came down to earth,
Me holding her.
I knew a love that was real,
On that old Ferris wheel.
From “The Old Ferris Wheel”, Written by Ivan Ashley, 2000

Which of Ivan's songs is his favorite? “That's a bluesy one called ‘Spring Fever’,” he said. “I love the way it's put together.”

Spring fever, that's what it is.
A beautiful smile and a possible kiss.
It's a condition, deep in the heart.
Same old symptoms that I've had from the start.
And after all these years,
I walk with a smile and I sleep with my tears.
And I'm a believer, that I've got spring fever,
And I can't get her off my mind.
From “Spring Fever”, Written by Ivan Ashley, 1993

Most of Ivan's best songs tell stories. “I do like to write stories about things that happen,” he said. “You really need to make it all fit together and get it right.”

Recently, Ivan's creative output diversified. Last year he published Red Island Clay, The Life of an Island Farm Boy, a novel about rural Canada and the enduring love of a farmer named Tom Lowden for Ann Browning, a one-time neighbor. The story revolves around missed chances and the author's affection for country lifestyles.

Ivan plans to encore with a second novel, Give Me Tomorrow, The Journey Back to Where It All Began. It's a new version of the same story, told this time from Ann's point of view and with domestic violence playing a part.

“Writing books can be very emotional too,” Ivan said. “Often I've stood up from my keyboard and walked away with tears streaming down my cheeks.”

Ivan likes to begin each book chapter with snippets of lyrics from songs he has written. Not many authors can do that.

The cover proposed for Give Me Tomorrow shows Ivan and his lady partner, Dot, walking hand-in-hand along a beach as waves lap at their feet. “In the photo we play the parts of my characters, Tom and Ann,” Ivan said.

An active musician, Ivan plays guitar and keyboards. “I'm not the best performer,” he admits. “My strength lies in writing, but still I love to perform and sing my songs. The fact that they're my songs is a big part of what makes the experience so special.

“I learned to play piano as a boy. On guitar, I started at age 35 and still learn a little more all the time.”

In 1980, Ivan entered a music store and bought the “old reliable” guitar he still plays. “It cost (Cdn) $85, and I paid all the money I had with me. Then my wife came along, wanting to know how we'd get home. We barely had enough gas in the car.”

When attending concerts, Ivan likes to savor the sensation of hearing polished musicians sing his songs. “I remember Larry Good singing my song at the Charlottetown Exhibition, the same song he recorded in Nashville,” Ivan said. “He and his band were on stage in the old Coliseum, and the show was a big production. As I sat in the audience, he said, ‘I'm going to try a new song. The songwriter is here, and his name's Ivan Ashley.’ Then he sang and made a great job of it. I sat there trembling. The feeling was awesome.”

The youngest of three children, Ivan grew up on a farm. He prefers rural ways to big-city life. Except for short stays in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Ohio, he always lived on P.E.I.

“Attending Prince of Wales College (in Charlottetown) did take me into a city where I lived in an apartment,” he said. “So I know what city-life is about. But I always loved living on a farm.”

Ivan farmed too and then worked as the “head herdsman” for a much bigger operation. “That's back in the 1960s,” he said. “More recently, I had an old barn and a few cattle behind my house. I couldn't get far away from farming.”

Leaned against his old Fordson Major,
And rolled himself another cigarette.
When she would return he wouldn't wager,
But it wasn't hard to tell she hadn't yet.
Talked about the crops and the weather,
But I could tell that she was on his mind.
Promised him that she would stay forever,
But I don't think he'll get over her in time.
Farmer Brown (Farmer Brown),
Is feeling down (feeling down).
Mrs Brown has moved into town.
She couldn't take it and it's all over now,
And Farmer Brown is sure feeling down.
From “Farmer Brown”, Written by Ivan Ashley, 2000

For 20 years, Ivan worked for the provincial government. “We'd go out on the road, visit small farmers and bring government programs to them.

“What I know about country life always influences my country songs and even those that aren't so country-style,” Ivan said. “There's just something about living in the country.”

Ivan's flair for music began in childhood. “I sang before I talked,” he said. “My mother told me that. One day she came into the kitchen and found me singing like a breeze along with the radio. It was an old Mac Wiseman song, ‘Mama Put My Little Shoes Away’. Within a few days I talked up a storm too. But it was music that got me started.”

Yet Ivan didn't write his first song until 1988 (when nearly 50 years old). “That first one was called ‘The Old School Picture’,” he said. “No one has recorded it, but I will soon. It's about children lining up against the school for a picture.”

There's an old school picture
In an album on the shelf.
I take it down and look at it,
While I'm here by myself.
I saw her for the first time
On a sunny summer day.
The feelings that I had for her
Have never gone away….
That old school picture and me.
She was the only one
That I could ever see.
If there's one thing in this whole world
That haunts my memory,
It's that old school picture and me.
From “The Old School Picture”, Written by Ivan Ashley, 1988

What spurred Ivan to start writing songs? “Maybe my trip back to country music,” he said. “I'd been away from country music, which I'd liked as a boy. My favorites had been Wiseman, Eddy Arnold, Hank Williams and others. Then Elvis Presley and the rock ‘n' roll movement swept me away along with a lot of other people. For a long time, I also liked soft-rock music by the likes of Barry Manilow, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles or the Mamas and the Papas.

“Finally I attended a cattle sale at the North River Rink where music played on the intercom system, and I heard a low, mellow voice singing “Forever and Ever, Amen’. I couldn't believe how much the singer controlled that voice, going really low. So I asked someone standing there: ‘Who is that guy singing?’ When I heard the answer, Randy Travis, I instantly became a big fan.

“That returned me to country music. Most of my songs fall into a country style, but I have some rock-sounding songs and others that are pop or gospel.”

For a time, Ivan mingled with the legendary Gene MacLellan, one of Canada's best songwriters. “He influenced me,” Ivan said. “I used to meet him at songwriters meetings. I visited his home too. We'd hold guitars, sitting across from each other. I always asked him to sing ‘Snowbird’ and ‘Bidin’ My Time’. He'd ask me to sing some of my songs too.

“Once I saw Gene at a shopping mall. He'd always stop to talk, and so he said, ‘Hi, Ivan. Are you writing any new songs?’ So I told him I'd written a love song ‘the other day’. Then he said, ‘Well, Ivan, the world always can use another love song.’ I never forgot him saying that.”

Sometimes Ivan writes 25 songs per year. “There's a bit of ego involved,” he said. “A person does like to be recognized.”

Ivan aims to leave a legacy (musical and literary) for his three children, four stepchildren and nine grandchildren. “One of my grand-daughters recently played Anne Shirley in a Kingston, Ontario, high-school production of Anne of Green Gables,” he said. “Her blue eyes and musical talent must come from me.”

No one can talk to Ivan for long without soon appreciating his passion for storytelling, especially in music. If he falls silent for a moment and if a certain glint fills his eyes, then it probably means that the idea for a new song has taken root.

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