Interview with Daniel James McFadyen: ‘I have a couple of magic minutes when I first pick up the guitar after I haven’t in a while’

Nova Scotia, Canada based folk singer Daniel James McFadyen is changing it up next month, going back into the studio to record ‘old school, big band Americana’.

‘One of the new songs that I’m most excited about is ‘Hot Sun’,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘I was lost on the road in British Columbia and I wrote it about not being able to get home. It’ll be with a full band and have a similar feel to ‘Caroline’ with three part harmonies and female vocals, too. Right now, I’m trying to find an organ player. It’ll come out around September.’

Last month, he released his single, ‘Mr. Lipless’, which was based on a chance encounter with a man in Guatemala. It’s a beautiful, pared track which highlights his warm vocals: ‘My sister lives in Guatemala, I was visiting her for the second time, 6-7 years ago,’ he said. ‘I picked up a gig at a bar on Lake Atitlán in the small town of San Marcos La Laguna, near the big volcanos (there are three). This very short man came into the pub with a bongo drum and signalled that he wanted to play with me. So he played along but he couldn’t communicate verbally. I tried the bit of Spanish I know (laughs) but he didn’t understand me. I found out after the show that the only language he speaks is an ancient Mayan one. I found out that he made his bongo drum with a sheepskin that he stole from a neighbour! I had to name the song after him. We played my song ‘Rimouski’, it’s about a small town in Québec, I play it at every show. We played a lot of Lumineers and he came up with his own parts as we went along. I tried to find out more about him but no-one knew his name.’

As ‘Mr. Lipless’ goes: ‘He spoke of his life, he spoke of his guilt. And he smoked from a pipe that his father built but he never said a word.’

‘The idea behind the song was these interesting stories of how people meet each other’

Last year, he released his first full-length album, August, I’m Yours. One of the most memorable tracks on it is ‘Half Past Ten’, a wistful duet with Sarah Surette that opens with a gentle harmonica solo: ‘It’s one of my older songs,’ he said. ‘I always wanted to record it. It slows down a lot at certain points. I recorded it with my friend Sarah in Halifax, it was just us singing in one take. The idea behind the song was these interesting stories of how people meet each other, these cute stories that you don’t hear anymore in today’s online dating world (laughs). The sort of stories our grandparents had. In the song, at first, the woman is not interested in him. It’s based on my grandparents’ story.’

As the song goes: ‘I’ll take the hard road ‘cos, oh I know, where it goes. Up through the mountains and trees and right back to her home, I’ll take her with me, oh this I know for sure.’ 

One of the catchiest songs on the album is ‘Caroline’: ‘It’s not based on a Caroline, although I do have a couple of friends called Caroline,’ he grinned. ‘A melody came into my head. A lot of ideas pop into my head as I’m about to fall asleep, it’s very inconvenient! Often they’re not very good (laughs) but this one, it’s the story about about a man falling in love but not pursuing the woman. A lot of people will be able to relate to seeing someone in their life everyday but not saying anything. I wanted to say “Who could this woman be in this man’s life?” It was the first single off that record. I often have a melody and hook the story onto that. It was originally a very guitar-centric song but we wanted more drum snare kick and bass. Mike Macdougall, he came up with that bass line, he plays bass on the whole record. It’s very different. It’s always amazing when you do a collaboration. People come up with ideas you wouldn’t think of.’

As the song kicks off: ‘Walking down the road, I see my Caroline. Well, that blonde heartbreaker, she’s a friend of mine. Lord knows that I love, he doesn’t wanna give her away. Workin’ on the corner, she’s a checkout girl. Never seen her at a party ‘cos she’s overworked. In my dreams, she’s my lover, I’m wishing I could tell her today.’

‘I’m extroverted, I like being around people’

Another track on the album ‘Let Me Go’ is particularly striking, due to the beautiful guitar melody and strumming pattern and his stunning vocals, paired with light, feathery drums and faint strings in the background weaving in and out. It was very much the product of quarantine during COVID: ‘In Nova Scotia, during quarantine, you had to quarantine for two weeks if you crossed the province border,’ he said. ‘I had to go and work in construction to part-fund the album. I had this sad, dark studio (laughs) where I had to time recording the song between the noisy oil heater going on and off. The song’s about feeling trapped and bored, like I was at the time. I’m extroverted, I like being around people.’

That comes across strongly in the lyrics: ‘Try to sleep but then it starts to rain. And the lights burn brighter as I count the numbered days. And the walls that keep me safe are the same, I can’t escape.’  

Typically, he writes his songs on the acoustic guitar: ”Seabird’ (on the same album) starts with a guitar melody,’ he said. ‘Or a song idea might start with a few chords on the guitar or piano. I have a couple of magic minutes when I first pick up the guitar after I haven’t in a while, often when I have the best ideas. There’s nothing I love more than playing guitar. I have two knobs on my Taylor guitar, for the low and high frequencies. My favourite guitar is my full body mahogany Martin 000 15M to write songs on. It’s small and beautiful. I couldn’t find one here in Canada but my dad was going to San Francisco and I found a place where you could get one and he brought it back for me, how cool is that? Thanks, dad!’ Like all guitarists, he is always mulling his “next last” guitar: ‘Because I found the Martin that I love, I haven’t bought another guitar since. My dream guitar is the Gibson J-45 but I haven’t pulled the trigger yet!’

McFadyen got into music at a very young age: ‘I took piano lessons when I was really young, I didn’t enjoy them,’ he laughed. ‘I took up the guitar when I was 13-14 and took part in Battle of the Bands at school. I grew up outside of Toronto but went to school an 18 hour drive away in Nova Scotia (Acadia University) and I have not left since, I fell in love with being a musician. That was five years ago.’ He grew up on a huge range of music, thanks to his stepdad: ‘He has loads of records! He has Tragically Hip, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Leonard Cohen. Then I discovered The Lumineers (a Colorado-based folk-rock band), they’ve shaped my sound the most. And Rayland Baxter (a Nashville folk singer), he sings upbeat folk, he’s so good.’

‘It’s a lot of fun to see the songs come alive’

Recently, he’s been enjoying playing with his new band, the Daniel James McFadyen Band: ‘I’ve been touring a lot with them, it’s a lot of fun to see the songs come alive,’ he enthused. ‘We’re doing a tour in Canada this summer and might go to the US as well, so you might hear some more electronic sounds.’

If he could go to a local gig tonight, he picks Canadian folk singer Joel Plaskett and Halifax, Nova Scotia indie rock band, Wintersleep: ‘Their lead singer Paul Murphy is really good,’ he said. ‘They’re folk/folk-rock, they’re very clever with lyrics. He’s very well loved.’

McFadyen’s dream line up would be a veritable melting pot of music: ‘One of my favourite bands is Modest Mouse (an American rock band from Issaquah, Washington), so I’d have them. The first tattoo I got was of their Good News for People Who Love Bad News album art. And I’d have Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (an American folk rock band from LA). I’d have to say Elliott Smith (an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was stabbed to death in 2003) because he inspired a lot of people who inspired me, like Bright Eyes. I love his lyrics, I’d love to have talked to him.’

If he could hear ‘Mr. Lipless’ in a movie, he has two requests: ‘I really love the remake of ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ with Ben Stiller, I’d love to hear it on that. Or on ‘Into The Wild’ (about a young graduate hitchhiking across the US). Eddie Vedder did the soundtrack. He’s amazing, he’s so diverse.’

His enthusiasm for playing live is evident, even if he does occasionally have to deal with an unresponsive punter: ‘I was playing solo at a local bar once,’ he said. ‘There was a storm, so not many people showed up. During the first set, I was just playing to one guy and at some point, he put his headphones on and sat like that through the rest of my set (laughs). It was a humbling moment, I thought it can’t get any worse!’