The Hey folks this is Simon and Brian here. Thanks for joining us once again for so-de-jerkker on songwriting as we pick the brains of yet

another outstanding tune-smith or in this case Sexsmith. On today's show is an unassuming yet

massively respected Juno award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter

who can count Elvis Costello, Elton John and Paul McCartney among his many fans.

It's the baby-faced, seemingly bottomless well of melody and master of melancholy, that is Ron Sexsmith.

Ron's another much requested guest, so we're delighted to finally get the opportunity to talk with him.

We're actually quite recent

convert to his work. I think I first became aware of him a couple of years ago when

he appeared on BBC 4's songwriters Circle, which is on television here in the

UK. He performed alongside Fran Healy of Travis and the previous guest

of ours, Graham Gouldman, and I remember being really struck by the effect and quality of his voice

and how strong his tunes were, not to mention his charisma and witty stage

patter. Yeah he's kind of an amusing guy isn't he? As anyone who follows him on

Twitter will attest he's fond of a good tortured pawn. Aren't we all?

Ronald Eldon Sexsmith was born in Ontario in 1964 in the town of St Catharines. Compared to many of our previous guests he came to

music relatively late in his teens in fact and didn't begin

performing until he was 17 playing solo covers in his local bar the lions tavern.

Legend has it that his repertoire became so vast that he became known as the one-man Duke box.

However, he eventually grew a little weary of playing other people's music and began to

gradually work his own material into his set, drawing his inspiration from artists like Ray Davies, Leonard

Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot. In 1985, Ron began to focus exclusively on his

songwriting, eventually moving with his wife and young family to Toronto, where the action was, so to speak,

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