M. WARD at the Phoenix (410 Sherbourne), Monday (April 27), 8 pm. $23.50. 416-870-8000.
Like Ron Sexsmith or Richard Thompson, M. Ward is the kind of under-the-radar musician’s musician who attracts top-tier celebrity fans due to the timeless quality and unfaltering strength of his songs. Since his 1999 debut, Duet For Guitars #2, he’s enjoyed a star-studded career trajectory unusual for most indie folk musicians.
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Norah Jones, Noel Gallagher, Jack and Meg White, Zooey Deschanel, Chan Marshall, Howe Gelb, Neko Case, Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis: they’re all fans. Does this indie-celeb cred come with disadvantages?
“My circle of friends has grown over the years in the same way that everyone else’s has,” explains Ward from a Palm Springs hotel room prior to his Coachella appearance. “You meet people through work and mutual friends and acquaintances. There are no disadvantages to having friends you can rely on.”
Hold Time (Merge), the Portland-based musician’s sixth studio album, further cements his reputation as one of the best American singer/songwriter’s of the last decade. The pop-informed songs move in and out of genres, clearly borrowing from the past yet always sounding contemporary. His guitar playing is deft and unobtrusive, his vocals calm and without posturing.
“I wanted the production to sound widescreen and microscopic at the same time. Every record begins with me going through four-track tapes that I’ve been making for a long, long time. I look for patterns of thought or subconscious obsessions that never seem to age or sound dated.
“So the songs on the new record date from one to 10 years ago, mixed with ones I’ve been hearing in my head since I was born.”
Lucinda Williams and Granddaddy’s Jason Lytle lend their pipes. And no stranger to cover songs, Ward reinterprets Don Gibson’s Oh Lonesome Me, Frank Sinatra’s I’m A Fool To Want You and Rave On by Sonny West, Bill Tilghman and Norman Petty. The latter features vocal harmonies by actor Zooey Deschanel, the “She” in Ward’s other acclaimed project, She & Him.
“Every musical project has an effect on how you see music, as does every good song you hear on the radio or find on record,” offers Ward about how his many collaborations, side projects and producing duties inform his own work. “Everyone’s influence is everywhere.”
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