By CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
Canadian folk singer/songwriter Marc Audet is sharing his love of the Ottawa Valley through song.
His first CD, The River, is being released this Friday.
“I love telling stories about the Ottawa Valley,” he said. “There are so many interesting stories.”
Mr. Audet said while writing the words can “come out as a beautiful burp” while other times “they come out as a shard, but are worked into something elegant.”
To make sure he doesn’t miss a moment of creativity, he carries a small recorder with him.
From influences such as John Prine, Neil Young, and contemporary folk music artists such as David Francey and Dave Gunning, Mr. Audet’s songwriting speaks to a range of life experiences: love, loss, decisions, struggle. In the songs on The River, many pay tribute to the heritage of the Ottawa Valley, with the stories of settlement and development being true to many other areas of Canada.
While he agrees that every area throughout Canada has its own story, he wants to share the Ottawa Valley stories.
The 59-year-old Deep River retiree, has been playing guitar and writing since his high school years, but only since retiring did he decide to release a CD.
Mr. Audet had been in a classic rock band, but, two of the members had to leave as they became more involved with their children’s hockey. He wanted to continue in the music field and decided to go back to his first love of folk music.
His view of music is simple and wholesome — a fundamental element of our soul that unites us and brings peace and happiness.
For the last five to six years, he has played various gigs, and in 2016, decided to “reward myself” by putting together an album.
He spoke to well-known area musician Terry McLeish about how to go about it, and discovered it wasn’t as easy as first thought.
Mr. Audet was able to hire music producer Brock Zeman, “who has done wonderful work with other folk singers” and has produced more than 80 CDs, including 13 of his own.
While Mr. Audet has numerous songs, he decided which ones to put on the album. The 12 songs are: Hear You Sing (love and relationships – the ups and downs, the early times); I Favour You (romantic song about an interest in another person); Holden Pond (tells the story of hydroelectric development of the Ottawa River in the 1950s. The story starts in 1929.); Another Chance (about making decisions in life and if you were to somehow go back in time would you make the same decisions regarding what to study at school, what type of job to take, where to live, and who to the spend the rest of your life with); Let It Rain (getting yourself through a difficult time); Stone Fences (the stone fences throughout the area tell the story of the decades of determination and hard work that European settlers had to endure in the late 1800s to turn forested story hills into marginal farmland); Borrowed Time (pays tribute to the life and times of his father, Hector Audet, who died before he could enjoy retirement); Not Forgotten (expropriation of lands to make room for industrial development and government institutions, such as Garrison Petawawa and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.); Sleepy Head (innocence and purity of an infant) and Battle Hill (the story of a unique place on Hwy. 17 between Bissett Creek and Deux Rivieres marked on the maps Battle Hill – name came from the battle land surveyors had to ensure when they routed the trans-Canada highway through this rugged section of the Canadian Shield).
While deciding what instruments he wanted to accompany the lyrics, he would sit on the dock or in the canoe and think about the many instruments – fiddle, banjo, mandolin, accordion, guitar.
“I wanted to come up with the parts that were fitting for each instrument,” Mr. Audet said.
Once the instruments were figured out, each of the instrumentalists were provided the lyrics and the music was created.
“What they did was amazing,” Mr. Audet said. “I loved what they were doing. “
However, what he discovered that while he enjoyed playing guitar, his skill needed to be greatly improved. Great performers like Brian Hebert and Dan Schryer were performing in some of the songs, and his talent was no where near theirs.
“It took me 70 hours of recording to get the guitar tracks to where I wanted them,” he recalled.
It took four months to record the CD, Mr. Audet said.
“I’m pleased with the outcome,” he said. “I hope people like the music. There are unique arrangements.”
The album is now ready to be released, but he’s still deciding where to release it.
“I don’t have a band to play,” he said.
Mr. Audet performs solo acts and will be in Deep River this Sunday evening; March 2 at the Black Donald’s Pub in Calabogie and Kerry’s Place in Pembroke from 7 to 9 p.m. on March 2.
The River is available at Mill Music, Valley Heritage Radio, mail or through the website, www.marcaudetmusic.com. CDs are $20 while downloading from the website is $15.
But, he’s not the only family musician. His wife Anne is in a choral group and plays the saxophone; son Bradley plays the flute and recorder and is now learning the penny whistle; and daughter Kaitlin can play the piano and guitar and performs in a handbell choir in Ottawa.
“We didn’t push our children to go into music, they wanted to,” he said.
