An interview with Tony Provencher 8.14.09 by HolleyHall, 30 Jul 2009 05:31 PM

Tony Provencher

Tony's ezFolk page

Tony's ezFolk Radio Station: Tony's Greatest Hits Vol 42

 Tony's music is a pleasure to listen to. His playing/singing style reminds me much of Cat Stephen's. Not only is he a very talented musician but he also has some wonderful photography and graphics  demonstrated on his website and  music slide shows. He has also made a great contribution to EZfolk helping many of us lost souls in computer land find our way around the website! Creating great help pages to locate all the radio stations and finding our links and such!  We all thank Tony for that and the great contribution in music he has made touching our hearts with his stories. I think EZfolk would be lost with out him!

Thank you Tony for the honor of this interview!

HOLLEY: Tell us about your music background? When and how did you first become interested in music? How long have you been playing music? What instruments do you play? (Who are you and your bandmembers? Tell your story.)

TONY: I grew up in France, for the most part, in the fifties, and acquired an interest in the American Cowboy, as exemplified by Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey. I had pistols and a cowboy hat, but I really wanted a guitar. When I was eleven I got my first guitar, and almost right away started composing my own tunes on it, because I couldn't play anything else. In junior high school, I joined Band, and I played tenor sax, as well. No one else in my family played any instruments, but my paternal grandmother played Honkytonk and Ragtime piano at a dive in Methuen MA.

In my second childhood I started playing local dives, solo, and in a band called "The Chapter Eleven Band". Karaoke happened, and all the gigs disappeared. I did have a coffeehouse gig here and there, and played the local farmers' market, but, eventually, other forces in my life took me away from my music. It wasn't until three years ago, in January, that I had begun networking on the internet, and looking for a host for my song, Nova, to commemorate the Challenger disaster, on its twentieth anniversary, that I discovered ezFolk. ezFolk has given my music new life, as, eventually, I built a page and began adding all the stuff I had recorded over the years of my first two childhoods, and even adding a new recording here and there. I still have more to add! ezFolk is the center of my third childhood! Thank you, Richard!

Instruments I play now are:
Guitar, acoustic and electric
Twelve-String Guitar
Five-String Banjo
Lap Dulcimer
Harmonica
Kazoo
I also occasionally noodle on the recorder, piano, and keyboards.

HOLLEY: What artist(s) do you feel you can compare your sound too? How did they influence your music?

TONY: I can't compare my sound to any artists I admire, because they sing on pitch. My earliest influences were probably the songs of Stephen Foster. Later, of course, came Peter Paul and Mary, the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, The Lovin' Spoonful, John Sebastian, Donovan, Pearls Before Swine, Cat Stevens, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, and later, as my musical appreciation grew, The Weavers, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Leadbelly. Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly, (Atwater Donnelly) instilled in me a love of American "roots" music, and the Celtic music from which much of it came. Throw in a little Classical, Baroque, Ragtime, and Jazz music, and that covers the tips of my musical icebergs.

I do occasionally strive to recreate a certain style or sound I have heard.  In Jessica's Rag, I sought very deliberately to compose something in the vein of Scott Joplin's rags, but simple enough for even me to play. (I think I may have even ripped off some of his phrases.) But, mostly, I think, if the music I listen to has influenced me, it has been more on the subconscious level.  

HOLLEY: Do you write your own songs or do you prefer to play traditional music? (If song writing Discuss the songwriting process in detail.) What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?) What inspires you to write music? How do you go about composing songs?

TONY: I don't know as I PREFER one over the other. As I said, I started making up my own songs, because I couldn't play anything else. I also enjoyed the challenge of writing lyrics. I'm afraid many of my songs are typical adolescent bleeding-heart love-and-lost anthems, but I have also made songs in the social comment, political, philosophical, humourous, and schmaltzy veins. I think the thing that inspires me to make a song is usually a feeling that I want to explore. Writing seems to help me understand my feelings, as I discover lyrical imagery and musical sounds to describe them.

For a majority of my songs I wrote lyrics first, and then composed melody and accompaniment on the guitar. On a rare occasion, lyrics and melody would pop into my head together, and accompaniment would come later. On Oh Lordy! I made the lyrics first, and then came up with melody and accompaniment on 5-string banjo. On Sand and Foam, I made up the guitar riff first, and then superimposed lyrics and melody. on Like the Wind, I Made up the lyrics first, then composed the guitar riff separately, and finally superimposed a melody, using the lyrics as a rhythmic template.

Nowadays, when I do get a chance to play music, I tend to enjoy playing traditional songs, or songs of other artists, in the traditional vein. I'm really a campfire musician at heart.

HOLLEY: When was the last time you wrote a song? What can you tell us about it?

TONY: My last inspiration came a couple years ago when I saw this story in the news, about how a congregation of worshippers thwarted an attempted armed hold-up at their church. I was so inspired I made up The Lord Helps Those..., and premiered it right here on ezFolk!

HOLLEY: Do you prefer to play music as a profession or a hobby?

TONY: It's definitely a hobby for me. I have neither the time nor the self-discipline to be a real musician.

HOLLEY: What are your musical goals?

TONY: I just love music -- of all kinds -- and I love to surround myself with it, whether it's my own, solo, or in a band, attending concerts and festivals, or just listening to radio, or CDs, or the incredible musicians that I have encountered here on ezFolk. My goal is to continue to enjoy it.

HOLLEY: What live performance experience have you had? (feel free to include any specific experiences/memories you had enjoyed etc.)

TONY: Well, I sort of answered this in the first question. As for specific experience/memories I enjoyed, well, I could say it was the time I opened for Fred Small at our local coffeehouse, and saw him singing along and cracking up at my song, Ugly People - Part 2, or I could tell the story of my first performances of Ma Normandie, described HERE, but the story I most often find myself telling is about the time I was playing at a bar, getting ignored by the customers, as usual, when all of a sudden I got a tremendous round of applause and cheers. I tried to figure out what I had done to so excite the audience, when I suddenly realised the applause was not for me, but for the Boston Bruins, who had just scored a goal on the TV over my left shoulder...

HOLLEY: Do you have CDs/Audio files for sale? If so, where can they be purchased?

TONY: All my music is homemade, much of it on stone-age equipment.  All, (and more to come,) of it is available for free download here on my ezFolk page.

HOLLEY: Where do you have your music posted online?

TONY: My ezFolk page !!!  I also have an extensive song-sequence with illustrations at The Jealous Sea  http://thejealoussea.snoupi.com/ and music and musical slideshow pages at Ma Normandie http://manormandie.snoupi.com/.

HOLLEY: Any Music Videos? If so what are they about?

TONY: I have several posted right here on ezFolk -- some live concerts and some slideshows.   I enjoy graphic arts, including photography, as well as music, so the slideshows are a great way to combine the two.

HOLLEY: What are some of your pet peeves?

TONY: Musically, for me, the big one is music that is over-produced and overly slick. I like an earthy-crunchy organic sound.

Other than musically, my main pet peeve is the same as Ed Null's: people who don't use turnsignals! But I do understand the philosophy behind this antisocial behaviour: You don't use turnsignals, because signaling your intentions gives your opponent the advantage!

HOLLEY: (OPTIONAL - your specific question on a subject you like to share on)

TONY: I'd just like to say thank you to Richard for his vision in creating such a rare haven as ezFolk, and for his dedication and stick-to-it-iveness in steering her through one adversity after another. We all owe Richard a huge debt of gratitude. As I said before, ezFolk is the center of my third childhood. At this point, I don't know what I'll do, if the new owner doesn't share Richard's vision. I have seen nothing on the internet that compares to this very special creation of Richard's mind and heart.

Thank you, Richard.

CC forums: http://ezfolk.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=7629&forum_id=36