With the release of Spencer Burton’s new LP Coyote, we had a chance to pose some questions in his direction and see what he’s been up to.
For those readers who might be unfamiliar with Spencer Burton, could you give us a bit of your background?
I’m from the southern region of Ontario, Canada. Been writing and recording songs for the good part of the past 15 years. Most of my touring days were spent with a band by the name of Attack in Black. I’ve since settled down with my family, here on our small hobby farm. We live off the land and treat the outdoors as if it were one of our own.
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
Everyone says something a little bit different when it comes to describing music. I make music that I need to make to help me get through the day. It’s therapy.
Are all of your songs about your real feelings and actual things that happened in your life or are some of them just shall we say storytelling?
Life is a story, one that I feel the need to tell. I tell it through song.
That’s quite a progression going from punk to indie-rock to folk-rock and now landing at country-folk. Let’s get into the music. How does this new album differ from the previous four LPs?
I think the sound has changed for sure, but the soul element is still there. Maybe the sound changes as I grow older, I’m not sure all I know is that I’m making music that I feel needs to be made.
Tell us about some of the songs on the new LP.
There’s so much I could say about this album and these songs. I’ve taken pieces of myself, “snippets” from my life and put them in a place I don’t think I’ll ever forget them. They’re all a small piece of me.
Who helped out making this album? There’s just something about analogue recording, isn’t there?
I had the pleasure of recording this record at The Bomb Shelter studio in Nashville, TN. Owned by an incredible man Andrija Tokic. He also produced the album. We’ve worked together in the past. I’m his ocean and he’s my angler. We really work well with each other, and I don’t think this album could have turned into what it is without him.
With the pandemic affecting a great many, how has it changed your approach to music?
The world has changed but I don’t think my approach to music has. I still write songs and they still get me through the day.
How has Coyote affected your hope and faith in the world that we live in?
My hope and faith in the world rests solely on the people that live upon it. I know they say that sometimes a song can change a person for better or worse. I do hope that the songs on Coyote can help change people for the better.
What is it about music that makes you feel passionate?
A strong chord, a good message, the right lyric at the right time in one’s life. These are all things that can bring out powerful emotions. They aren’t the only things, though, that can do this. A bird’s song, whistling wind. The lonesome cry of an elk’s bellow. There’s music everywhere. It can make your skin crawl or your heart beat so fast that the rhythm it produces is music in itself. These are the things that make me feel passionate.
Describe your favourite and least favourite part about being a musician.
I’ve been privileged enough to have seen many wild places on my travels. Towering mountains, prairie plains and snowy tundra amongst others. I’ve come face to face (through the comfort of a vehicle’s windshield) with grizzly bears and their cubs. I’ve almost touched the back of a wild bison. I’ve met new friends and re-met old ones. I’ve eaten foods prepared by some of the world’s finest. I’ve really tasted parts of the world that I never would have been able to otherwise if it weren’t for music. For this I’m incredibly thankful. The one downfall is having these memories and not being able to share them with my family in any way other than words and photos. Maybe one day I’ll have the opportunity to bring them along with me.
What are some of your hobbies or interests outside of music?
I love the outdoors. Anything that enables me to get my hands a little dirty. I spend time on our hobby farm working soil, growing food for my family. I raise livestock, my attempt at keeping food as local as possible without having to support big factory farms and their inhumane practices. I also have a passion for hunting and fishing. Putting wild food on the table has always been an incredibly important part of my life. I could probably write a few pages on just that alone.
When kicking back and putting on music, who would we find you listening to?
With having a family and a hectic choring routine here on the farm, you may often find me simply taking in the sound of “silence”. Like I mentioned earlier, there is music everywhere if you so choose to hear it. A bird’s beak snapping through the shell of a small seed as I type this is my morning’s song.
ABOUT: Spencer Burton has toured nationally, and in the United States, with City and Colour, Daniel Romano, Jenn Grant, and more. After years of living mostly in the city between long touring stints, Burton was feeling drained and uninspired. The constant hum of the city promoted a lifestyle that was entwined with work and networking, an energy that could easily push oneself into the ground. Coupled with the transient existence of a touring musician, he felt the need to plant roots. That pull led him to ‘flee the city’ for a quieter existence in the country. This simpler reality led him even closer to the earth and to the powerful freedom solitude brings. His move to Niagara coincided with his becoming a father, a shift that has permanently shaped his life and his music.
