Not-so-secret heart
Ron Sexsmith's self-titled debut turns 30
From the Have Not Been the Same files: a look back at a 1997 conversation with Ron Sexsmith, conducted for a cover story in Exclaim! to promote his second major-label album, Other Songs.
Because this was his first major cover story (to my knowledge), we talked a lot about his beginnings in St. Catharines, the Toronto open-stage scene of the late ’80s, how he got to have breakfast with Paul McCartney, and how his self-titled major-label debut almost got shelved.
That debut (technically his third release) came out 30 years ago this year, and remains his best-loved work, featuring at least songs that he plays in every live show: “Secret Heart” (later covered by Feist and Rod Stewart) and “Speaking with the Angel” (Nick Hornby’s favourite song), as well as “There’s a Rhythm,” “Words We Never Use,” “Lebanon, Tennessee” and “Galbraith Street.”
His 18th album, Hangover Terrace, came out earlier this year, produced by long-time collaborator Martin Terefe in London, UK. They first worked together on 2002’s Cobblestone Runway (which featured a Chris Martin duet), and again in 2008 on Exit Strategy of the Soul.
In February 2024, he marked his 60th birthday with a Massey Hall show, which led to a feature interview on CBC television—Sexsmith doesn’t often get invited on TV.
Ron Sexsmith plays the Danforth Music Hall this Friday, November 14, with Nora Joy Stephens, a teenager from Sexsmith’s current home of Stratford. Tickets still available.
For paid subscribers, here’s my 1997 conversation with Sexsmith, just before he headed out on the Tragically Hip’s Another Roadside Attraction, in which we talk about his drummer Don Kerr joining the Rheostatics, about producer Mitchell Froom, getting sick of Neil Young, the generosity of Bob Wiseman and Elvis Costello, the meaning of melancholy, why everyone always assumes he’s in a bad mood, and more:
