Partnership between Gunning, Hynes,
slow to start
DEAN LISK - Halifax Daily News
Call it being a little bit chicken. Newfoundland singer-songwriter Ron Hynes kept offering to work with Dave Gunning, but the mainland musician kept putting it off.
"I really look up to Ron, he is one of my favourite writers," Gunning said. "One night in Halifax he came up to me with a Sharpie and wrote a line on a napkin and slid it over to me.
"He said, 'Here, here's the song we are going to write.' And the line was, 'Take a look at these hard working hands.' Ron looked at me and he said, 'Who is this guy, Davey,? Who is this guy?'"
That line eventually turned into Hard Workin' Hands, one of the 11 songs Gunning has included on his fourth CD, House for Sale.
The album is his follow-up to 2005's Two-Bit World, which won the 2005 East Coast Music Award for folk recording, and received a Music Industry of Nova Scotia award in the same category.
"I am never overly confident, that's for sure, but I think this album turned out well and it seems fans of Two-Bit World seem to like this album better, and it seems to be getting a better response," Gunning said.
"I'm thrilled because I was worried about whether it would be as well received."
The first single off the album is Cowboy Dream, a song which Gunning crafted with fellow Pictou Co. native George Canyon.
They wrote the song, about a saddle-weary cowboy, at Canyon's home in Alberta. Gunning calls it Canyon's "little house on the prairie."
"He asked me if I ever wrote a cowboy song because he wants to, someday, to do an entire project of cowboy songs," Gunning said. "I went back to the Best Western that night and worked on the idea."
He showed the song to Canyon the next day and the two of them refined the lyrics and the feel on the song.
"I wrote it for him, for this project, as something he might do. But, I liked the song so much, I put it on my record."
Sharing songs isn't a problem for Gunning. The same thing happened with Hyne's and Hard Workin' Hands. The Newfoundlander sings it quite often at his shows, and plans to also record the nostalgic story about former shipyard workers.
"For me, that's better than winning any song contest," Gunning said. "Getting Ron's approval. To be able to write a song with him and have him like it so much that he's going to record it, too."
