If you have a song in your heart and want to let it out, register for David Essig’s workshop at the 11th annual Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival.
A singer-songwriter with a talent for playing great guitar too, Essig will bring his accomplished teaching skills to the festival, which takes place May 16 to 18 at the Prestige Harbourfront Resort.
One of Canada’s finest interpreters of original, contemporary folk music, his international career spans more than 40 years.
The artist, who has several critically acclaimed CDs to his credit, pays homage to his roots in bluegrass and country blues by creating timeless new songs.
Essig says he is inspired by daily life and teaches his many students the need to be aware, to always listen to what is going on around them and not rely exclusively on the muse from within.
“Sometimes the muse come from external sources and we internalize the outer muse,” he says.
Originally planning to be an economist, something he describes as being a “normal” career path, Essig had a revelation when he was about 20.
He was playing guitar in several groups at a time when a lot of traditional folk musicians were actually creating their own songs, he says.
“I thought, ‘there’s another avenue in addition to playing guitar that I could express myself,’” he says, noting he began writing his own songs and, like Woody Guthrie and Bill Monroe, was influenced by Bob Dylan and other songwriters who followed in that school.
“We found our voices, and it was within a few years of making this discovery that I could do this, that I started writing in earnest.”
What set Essig apart from some of his contemporaries was his ability to play guitar at a performance level.
Whether on the lap-style Weissenborn or the electric slide guitar, his spontaneous style crosses all the borders between country, blues and the avant-garde. With his 5/8” socket and a sound that could peel the petunias off your mother’s porcelain, he is considered one of Canada’s finest slide guitarists.
As to choosing a life of making music over being an economist, Essig has no regrets.
“Economics is mostly based on math and the fundamentals of music are based on math, so I carried the proficiency of one to the other,” he says. “I have no regrets… I feel I’ve been able to create a satisfying career without compromise. I have been extremely fortunate and blessed to be able to do things I thought were important, and things I aspired to before the commercial concerns.”
Essig is equally enthusiastic about his workshop and about being part of the Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival.
“The fact some of the literary festivals are now bringing in songwriters is a good indictor of the convergence of art forms,” he says. “I spent my years advocating for the recognition of songwriting as a form of poetry, and that songwriters, the ones who care about their work, should be afforded the same serious consideration that we afford writers in other traditions such as poets and novelists.”
Essig believes that communicating in any form – through the arts or by talking with someone “with a sincere heart,” emancipates people, freeing them from the constrictions of life.
He is looking forward to being part of the writers’ festival and says participants should not feel intimidated about the workshop.
“I am about the easiest-going guy around and I try to see the good in everything,”
Essig is also a record producer, owning his own record production business, “Woodshed Records”in his home near Nanaimo.
Registration for Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival is now open and the early-bird rate of $180 ends April 25.
In addition, there are special group rates, senior and student rates, SAW member rates, gift certificates and bursaries.
The deadline for the Young Writer’ Contest is April 17. Students ages five to 18 years in School Districts #83 and #22 are invited to submit short stories and poems.
Visit www.saow.ca for more information about the festival, or karen.bissenden@gmail.com for information about the Young Writers’ Contest.