Ontario songwriter on western road swing

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Sean Burns plays the Banff Rose & Crown on Sept. 7 and 8.

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DAVE WHITFIELD BANFF

Sure, a new album cost Sean Burns his job and a girlfriend, but in the end, the creative fire had to be fed.

Burns, an Ontario singer-songwriter who released his second album in July (A Glimpse Through Storyboards & Situations), found he became so doggedly determined to produce his second album that all else became secondary.

To hear the end result of hours, days, weeks, months of effort, Burns can be heard in action at the Rose & Crown, Sept. 7-8. Burns (bass) will appear with Jamie Payne (guitar) and drummer Tim.

In the midst of a western tour that saw him in Coleman, prior to heading for Jasper on Saturday (Aug. 28), Burns, who has been a full-time musician since he was 16 (more than a decade ago), said things have been going well since the album’s release.

And who knows, maybe the breakup with the girlfriend pre-empted a future blowup due to Burns’ being on the road until almost Halloween.

“Working on the album affected everything,” said Burns, “and caused some disaster relationships. I was writing tunes from May to June in 2009, then recording until February, then releasing in July.

“It took a year and I lost my job because I was way too focussed on getting it finished.”

Breaking up with his girlfriend, he said, came from his being “a little selfish” and because “there came a time when that’s (album work) all I was doing. But I’m okay with it and there are songs about her on the album.”

Burns began playing guitar in high school, despite the fact his father was also a guitar player and as a teen he didn’t want to do anything his father was doing.

“But in high school, everybody was playing guitar and playing bad. They were so bad I thought I could play that bad and it started there.”

In Grade 11, he started playing full-time in a number of cover bands – “some good and some terrible.” He and drummer Tim go back more than eight years, while Payne has been on board for about a year.

“I wanted him to come on the road,” said Burns, “but no more than him. There’s not enough room in the van, or enough money to go around for a bigger band.”

Burns’ inaugural offering, The Other Side of 25, was released in 2009.

At a nearly gig a night pace, the trio’s roots/country/Americana sound is meshing nicely, said Burns. “It’s coming together really well, even though I throw stuff at them like songs they don’t know. But we’re rehearsing every day, driving and playing and there’s not much time for anything else, so I knew it would all work out.”

With influences ranging from Johnny Cash to Merle Haggard and Elvis to Elvis Costello and Neil Young, and having lived a life as a travelling singer/songwriter who has played everything from sleazy bars to casinos and cruise ships, it’s no wonder Burns’ songs come from the heart.

On-stage, Burns offers up originals, covers written by friends and “mostly unknown covers” that receive a Burns’ treatment.