Shawn Sage
I don’t know if I make music or if the music makes me. I tend to be most comfortable when I’m playing some song I wrote on some stage somewhere – even though I’m usually nervous as hell when I’m doing it. Maybe I’m just most comfortable when I’m nervous as hell?
Anyway, I tend to identify as a singer/songwriter. I’m wondering if that’s a dirty word these days, but that’s what I do - I write songs and then I go and sing ‘em, so it seems like a good umbrella to stand under as the cats and dogs rain down (I’d like to meet the whimsical person who coined that term).
Yeah, so I write songs and then I sing ‘em. Most often on guitar. Sometimes there’s a complicit harmonica. I don’t have any particular style that I play. I’m a real pain in the ass for my publicist, but as I’m sure you can guess, I’m my own publicist so the arguments tend to be short and kept within the confines of a closed door someplace inside my far too open mind.
So… the songs. They must be some form of emotional plumbing, but they are rarely ripped from the pages of my life. They have characters. Stories. Words strung together that can mean lotsa’ different things to lotsa’ different folks. Some are opaque – open ended like an English Literature essay question. Others seem as blunt and utilitarian as a butter knife, but I can’t tell you what any of them are about– you gotta tell yourself what they’re about. Well, if you like that sort of thing…
Before I go, I should mention some stuff I’ve done that may or may not impress you. Played lotsa’ shows all over and people tend to dig it. Played some festivals – Canadian Music Week, Brampton Folk Fest, City Roots Fest, Winterfolk. Been played on the CBC and many college radio shows. Won ‘Song of the Year’ on one college show, the popular ‘Back To The Sugar Camp’ on CIUT in Toronto. My fun protest song, ‘Let’s Get Bush Off The Wagon,’ has been download by hundreds of thousands of people and made into a fan video you can find on YouTube.
Now, I can’t say that I have set the world on fire with these songs, but I blame my publicist for that. I think I’ve got songs that you should listen to. If I didn’t think that, why the hell am I writing this? So, I’d be tickled pink if you would give them a listen – maybe on the old world wide web, preferably in someplace where I’m there playing them, but anywhere would be just fine and dandy.
You may find out that I wrote these songs just for you.