13) DAVID FRANCEY LAUNCHES EMPTY TRAIN TOUR

By Helen Kennedy

            Seeing David Francey for the first time, he appears shy and a bit awkward, as if he’s forgotten his pants. On a new cross North American tour to promote his 11th album, “Empty Train”, Francey looks like he’d give anything to have a guitar to hide behind. The awkwardness is soon forgotten however when he begins his stirringly personal and emotional performance. Not until the night is over do you realize that the naked awkwardness wasn’t about forgetting his pants, but baring his soul.

            Born in Scotland, David came to Canada as a young teen, living in Montreal, the eastern townships, Toronto and eventually settling in the Ottawa Valley. A three time Juno award winner, David has documented his life in songs that have simple but powerful lyrics and with a voice that resonates with all the sorrows and joys of working life. Francey’s lyrics draw on his experiences as a paper boy, through work on construction to keen observations and piercing insight into the rigours of the lives of farmers, steelworkers, mariners, construction workers and truck-drivers.

            On this tour, which began at Hugh’s Room in Toronto in late February, Mark Westberg (guitars), Chris Coole (banjo and guitar), and Darren McMullen (mandolin, bouzouki) accompany Francey. While he plays guitar, Francey leaves the expert accompaniment to his band, who he has named the Handsome Soldiers.

            During live performances, Francey’s explanations of a song’s origin give important insight into his mood and how it echoes in his lyrics. The overarching image Francey returns to, song after song, is work and the joys and sorrows of everyday life of the working people. In his 2006 album, “The First Set: Live from Folk Alley”, he explains that he is a ‘sucker for an industrial landscape.’

            “Empty Train” continues on the more melancholy arc of his last album “So Say We All”, which was created after the death of his father. The tribute to his dad continues with two specific songs on this album – ‘Hospital’ and ‘Crucible.’ “At the hospital they come and go, And you might get home but you never know” conveys in a simple statement the depth of emotion anyone has ever felt while in the hospital with an aging parent. 

            ‘Crucible’ is a tribute to his father’s early working life as a signalman in the Royal Navy. It is one of the best tracks on the new album, which he doesn’t perform at the launch for some reason. “My father was a signalman, He rendered speech and sight.” The lyrics go on to convey the magnitude of the horrendous reality of a young marine during the Second World War.

            The title track, ‘Empty Train’, links Francey’s beloved industrial landscape with his current state of mind. He compares the rattling and banging empty coal trains in Ashcroft BC to his own loneliness.

It’s a lonely station I’m waiting at

My ticket’s bought, my bags are packed

My shoes are lead, my feet are clay

I can’t stand alone, I can’t run away

Till every day is much the same

And I rattle on like an empty train

            Francey’s confidence soars when his songs are rooted in his own stories and experiences. For example, he explains the origins of the song ‘Mirror Ball’. After planting trees for months in the back woods of Yukon as a very young man, the crew went into town one weekend. What on the surface appears to be a simple song about a dance, becomes an elegy to a young man’s loneliness.

            ‘Saint and Sinners’, from his 1999 “Torn Screen Door” album, and which he performs at this concert, is a touchstone of Francey’s thoughts on religion:

I remember the lessons of Sunday School

And I can’t help but think maybe I’m the fool

But I see no sign of a greater plan

Just the joy and the sorrow of my fellow man

            Introducing this song, Francey confesses that he only went to church until he didn’t have to.  A similar refrain echoes through ‘Holy Land’ – a song with a very odd narrative about a coach he met on an airplane who was on his way to Palestine to do magic tricks for children. “Me”, he sings, “I’d rather find my way back home, Than walk on holy ground”.

            Home also plays a central role in Francey’s universe and he often talks about going home to his partner Beth, who encouraged him to give up carpentry to focus on his music. The introduction to his perennial hit, ‘Torn Screen Door’, from his debut album in 1999, tells the story of going on a walk with his partner Beth one weekend and stumbling across an empty farmhouse. The resulting lyrics, sung a capella, radiate with anger about economic injustice and admiration for hard-working people:

Had a life they tried to save

But the banks took it all away

And a sign on the torn screen door

Nobody lives here no more

They worked their fingers to the bone

Nothing left they can call their own

Packed it in under leaden skies

With just the wheat waving them goodbye

            This is one of the most powerful songs in the Francey repertoire.

The tour continues through June with stops all across Canada. Check www.davidfrancey.com for specifics.      

The above article is from the March 16-31, 2016, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)