Book ~ "One Man Grand Band: The Lyric Life of Ron Hynes" (2016) Harvey Sawler

From Goodreads ~ Author Harvey Sawler traces the life of Ron Hynes, one of the most respected singer-songwriters in Canadian history. Through personal conversations and interviews, Sawler captures the spirit of an artist whose stock-in-trade has always been authenticity over mere commercial acceptability, providing rare insight into the life of the man who penned some of the country’s best-loved music. 

Sawler guides us through the dark times of addiction to the triumphs of songs such as “Sonny’s Dream” and “Atlantic Blue” while capturing the true essence of Hynes and the source of his musical genius. 

Ron Hynes (1950 - 2015) was a folk singer-songwriter from Newfoundland and Labrador and was known as the Man of a Thousand Songs.  He wrote the song Sonny's Dream, which has been recorded worldwide by many artists and was named the 41st greatest Canadian song of all time on the 2005 CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.  He was a founding member of The Wonderful Grand Band, one of Newfoundland's most popular performing groups (formed in 1978) and had released seven solo albums.   Hynes was a seven-time East Coast Music Awards winner and past Juno and Canadian Country Music Awards nominee.  In July 2012, Hynes was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent treatment.  He died in St. John's in 2015 at the age of 64.

I didn't know a lot about Ron Hynes.  I knew he'd written Sonny's Dream and that was about it.  But I like reading bios/autobios and it sounds like Hynes had an interesting life.

The book included interviews with Hynes' friends and colleagues, in addition to the author interviewing Hynes many times.  While there was a lot of detail about his tours and the author would go off on tangents about non-Hynes things, it is written at a high level with not a lot of details about his personal life.  Apparently Hynes had been married at least twice and had four daughters but this was barely touched on.  To me, if you are going to write a book about a person, this would be important information to include.  Hynes' drug addiction took him to the dark side and he died destitute but this was also covered at a high level.

The editing could have been better.  I found the writing was a bit repetitive.  It seemed like the chapters were written individually for a newspaper article, for example, because the author would tell who someone was in Hynes' life (for example, his friend and guitar player) and then later on say who they were again as if this was the first mention of them in the book.  Plus some of the stories were told a couple times ... as if they weren't told earlier.  It was weird.  And there were some typos ... on the same page, the Barenaked Ladies is spelled correctly but in a couple paragraphs above was spelled Bare Naked Ladies.

Book ~ "Put Your Hand in My Hand" (2018) Harvey Sawler

From Goodreads ~ "Put Your Hand in My Hand" is the personal, lyrical story of the relationship between one of Canada's most beloved singer-songwriters and his daughter, a talented musical artist. 

Gene MacLellan's contribution to the Canadian songbook is legendary. He penned top-forty hits, including "Snowbird," "Bidin' My Time," and "Put Your Hand in the Hand," and his compositions vaulted the careers of international stars such as Anne Murray. 

In 2004, his daughter Catherine, a Juno award winner, three-time Canadian Folk Award Winner, and two-time ECMA winner, released her debut album to critical acclaim. As the story's principal narrator, along with biographer Harvey Sawler, this memoir paints an intimate portrait of a complex man whose words and melodies left us wanting more than he was able to give, before he took his life in 1995 at the age of fifty-six. Includes song lyrics and a colour insert of family photos.

Gene MacLellan (1938 - 1995) was a Canadian singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island.  He wrote Snowbird made famous by Anne Murray and Put Your Hand in the Hand made famous by Ocean.  Elvis Presley, Lynn Anderson, Loretta Lynn, Joan Baez and Bing Crosby were among the many artists who recorded MacLellan's songs.  While he enjoyed writing and sing songs, he wasn't crazy about the limelight, preferring house parties.  He committed suicide in 1995.

Catherine MacLellan is a 40ish Canadian folk singer-songwriter, based in Prince Edward Island.  She is Gene's youngest daughter and was just a teen when her father passed away.  In 2017, she made an album of Gene's songs.  This album was tied in with a show she wrote based on her father's life and music.

This book is about Gene and Catherine and how she is remembering her father.  There are interviews with Catherine and her mother, Judith (Gene's widow) plus her father's friends and singing partners.  There are photos of Gene and his family and friends, along with photos of his songs (some which have been published and some which had not) along with parts of his journal in Gene's handwriting.

The book is written at a high level with not a lot of details. Gene's mental health was discussed here and there. It would have been interesting to have touched on what was going on at the time that made him take his life (it seemed like his death was mentioned in passing).