Leary Set for Homecoming - Sentinel Review (Oct. 6th, 2006)

Ron Leary has played hundreds of shows in the past two years, taking the stage at lounges, clubs, and bars across the country.

But until now, Ron Leary has never performed his spare, introspective songs on a Woodstock stage, a circumstance that will change with the musician's first hometown show since his teenage years. When Leary begins his Saturday show at Ody's, the Quality Hotel's resident watering hole, it will definitely be a different sort of homecoming for the Woodstock native.

"There will be lots of family and friends, some I haven't seen in quite a while," Leary said from his Windsor home. "It will be exciting to see a lot of familiar faces, but it does change things. When you play to family and friends, it's definitely a different dynamic."

While Leary often makes the trip from Windsor to Woodstock, stopping at home during his cross-province tours, he had struggled to find an appropriate venue in the Friendly City. A conversation with some friends in Wayne Omaha, a Toronto-based band with strong Woodstock roots, pointed Leary in the direction of Ody's, allowing him a hometown unveiling for "theroadinbetween," his recent full-length debut.

"(Wayne Omaha) had played at Ody's before, and I kind of pieced it together," Leary said. "It's also a lot easier when you have something to promote. The album was long overdue."

In a way, the genesis for "theroadinbetween" could be traced to Woodstock, where, as a 13-year-old, Leary took his first halting steps to become a songwriter. Leary honed his craft in the intervening 19 years, emerging as a gifted songwriter, but had waited until he was satisfied before committing his songs to album. Woodstock, though, does make a cameo on the album's title track, where Leary sings, "This is the place where it all began, in a place that prides its cow downtown."

"It's taken a long time to get to the point where I could release an album with 10 songs that I was totally happy with," Leary said. "There's one song that goes back about four years, but the vast majority have been written in the last two."

"It's taken a long time to get my sound together."

The Windsor and Detroit media have embraced Leary's sound, with local publications praising his broken-hearted melodies and acoustic melancholia. While Leary often gets lumped in with alternative country stalwarts like Ryan Adams, his often-haunting songs have more in common with Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, another idiosyncratic talent who balances twang with atmospheric tone. The arrangements for "theroadinbetween" also eschew the exaggerated production that mars so many releases in this digital age, adopting an approach that emphasizes the space in the songs.

"We wanted to put the melody and the song first," Leary said. "With all the technology out there, it would have been easy to fill all the tracks."

Leary's approach was bolstered by his choice of collaborators. His producer Dean Drouillard, brought his experience as a songwriter and musician, helping imbue the songs with a rustic warmth that burnished the storytelling and nostalgia. While Leary began as a drummer, playing in his parents' country band as a Woodstock youth and later studying percussion at the University of Windsor, he surrendered the kit to Adam Warner, whose comfortable style was the perfect complement.

"I was working with some good people," Leary said, "All three of us put the songs before anything else. I'm already preparing to do another album with them. They're both amazing musicians."

Leary's song-first approach is reflected by his decision to completely focus on his music. Two years ago, Leary made a momentous decision, resolving to "do nothing else but what I'm doing now." Instead of a nine-to-five job or more years in academia, Leary chose the life of a professional musician, affording him the focus necessary to finish the two-year recording process for "theroadinbetween."

"It was an obvious decision," Leary said. "I couldn't imagine doing anything else now. My philosophy is just to play as often as I possibly can. It doesn't matter if I'm playing for a bunch of money or no money at all."

Saturday's Woodstock show should be a little different than Leary's solo performances or his full-band blowouts in Toronto. During his homecoming show, Leary will be joined by Kenneth MacLeod, a fiddle and mandolin player, giving the performance more of an "old-timey feel."

"It will be a little different than some of my other shows, but I like to do a lot of different things to keep it interesting," he said.

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