The Last Rider Ron Sexsmith
Album info
Album-Release:
2017
HRA-Release:
20.11.2025
Album including Album cover
- 1 It Won't Last for Long 02:45
- 2 Our Way 02:47
- 3 Breakfast Ethereal 03:13
- 4 Worried Song 03:24
- 5 West Gwillimbury 02:56
- 6 Who We Are Right Now 03:46
- 7 Shoreline 02:51
- 8 Dead End Dream 03:23
- 9 Evergreen 04:08
- 10 Upward Dog 03:44
- 11 Only Trouble Is 02:48
- 12 Radio 02:43
- 13 Every Last One 03:09
- 14 Dreams Are Bigger 03:09
- 15 Man at the Gate (1913) 04:09
Info for The Last Rider
Ron Sexsmith’s status as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation has never been in doubt, even from the moment he released his self-titled major-label debut album in 1995. His career arc since then has in some ways been a study in how that pure ability has been handled in the studio. On his 12 albums, Sexsmith has worked with some of music’s most celebrated producers—Daniel Lanois, Mitchell Froom, Tchad Blake, Ray Kennedy, Martin Terefe, Bob Rock and Jim Scott. With all of that experience, it would stand to reason that Sexsmith has learned a thing or two over the years about how to make a record.
That thought indeed struck him as the Toronto-based Sexsmith prepared to make his thirteenth solo album, The Last Rider, where for the first time he, in tandem with his longtime collaborator Don Kerr, has taken matters into his own hands as a producer. For fans, that fact alone should heighten the listening experience in terms of getting to hear Sexsmith’s complete musical vision for the first time. However, it’s not much of a surprise that, as an artist whose music never fails to draw out raw emotions, Sexsmith the producer has made The Last Rider perhaps the most intimate and welcoming album in his catalogue.
Over the course of its 15 tracks—most clocking in at about the three-minute mark—The Last Rider is by turns romantic, bittersweet, uplifting and humourous, as might be expected. But what is most striking is how naturally the songs flow together, and how at ease Sexsmith sounds, accompanied by his trusted touring band who know his creative process perhaps better than anyone.
“I did have this wealth of knowledge about recording that I didn’t really realize I had,” Sexsmith says. “And being able to rely on Don’s skills at getting great sounds, and just making sure everything ran smoothly, was essential. I think for a long time I just may have been afraid to produce myself. I mean, if someone ever said to me, ‘I don’t like the way this album was produced,’ I could always say, ‘Well, I didn’t do it.’”
Working primarily at The Bathouse, The Tragically Hip’s studio near Kingston, Ontario, sessions for The Last Rider were a marked change in approach from Sexsmith’s previous album, 2015’s Carousel One, which was laid down in less than a week in L.A. with a host of the city’s top session stars. While that was not an unfamiliar setting for Sexsmith, and one he admittedly thrives in, it’s not the kind of pressure any artist should be under every time they go into the studio. For The Last Rider, then, it felt right to stay closer to home, and as a result, Sexsmith believes it’s one of his most personal albums.
“I didn’t plan on it being that way, but as we were assembling the songs, this theme did start to emerge about leaving the city, which my wife and I are going to be doing soon, and other big life changes.” Sexsmith adds, “The album title stems from these thoughts I’d had going into it that this actually might be my last album for a while, just because of how frustrating the music business can be these days. But the way everything played out, it felt a lot more free, so I guess we’ll see what happens.”
Like one of his main inspirations, Ray Davies, Sexsmith is a rare songwriter able to extract profound meaning from even the most mundane aspects of urban life, while simultaneously lamenting what remains of our simpler past. But always, hope springs eternal. That’s evident from the outset of The Last Rider with “It Won’t Last For Long,” a song that couldn’t be a more appropriate balm for the scars left by 2016. The same can be said of “Dreams Are Bigger,” whose chorus, “If your dreams are bigger than your worries, you won’t have to worry about your dreams,” should particularly appeal to Sexsmith’s Twitter followers familiar with his love of clever wordplay.
“I think my sound has always been a combination of the folk singers and British Invasion artists I’ve always admired,” he says. “At this point, it’s just second nature for me to write short, melodic songs that say everything you want to say. But having my band totally involved on this album maybe brought out more in the songs than on other recent albums. It felt special, anyway.”
On the album’s most poignant moments, such as “Man At The Gate (1913),” there certainly is a sense—as with all of Sexsmith’s best songs—that life if often richer than we make it out be, and we should embrace that. In this case, the point is made through a photograph taken a century ago in front of Toronto’s Trinity-Bellwoods park, conveying the message that although styles and attitudes change, we all remain connected through our shared humanity. It all sprang from Sexsmith simply buying a postcard at a shop near his house one day.
“In the photograph, there’s a man walking by the gates of the park, and you can barely see him, but that’s the kind of thing I easily get obsessed about,” he says. “I couldn’t stop thinking that that guy could be me 100 years later, and really could be all of us. We’re here for a certain period of time, and we leave behind these traces of who we were that have the potential to inspire people who come along after we’re gone. To me, that’s really beautiful.”
Although Ron Sexsmith has more music to come that is sure to inspire us, for now The Last Rider is the latest addition to a body of work as impressive as any produced in the past quarter-century. Through truth and simplicity, Sexsmith’s songs help us get closer to the things that make us better people, meaning that an album like The Last Rider is as necessary now as anything he has ever done.
Ron Sexsmith, lead vocals, guitar
Dave Matheson, vocals
Jason Mercer, vocals
Kevin Lacroix, vocals
Jason Mercer, bass, banjo
Don Kerr, drums, percussion, harmony vocals
Roslyn Black, French horn (track 15)
Kevin Lacroix, guitar
Tom Richards, horns (track 15)
Dave Matheson, keyboards
Howie Beck, percussion
Drew Jurecka, strings (tracks 3, 7, 10)
Rebecca Hennessy, trumpet (track 15)
Ron Sexsmith
is a three time, Juno award winning singer songwriter from St Catharines Ontario. Born in 1964, Ron was drawn to music from an early age by the melodic songs of the era, which he heard on the radio and by his Mom’s record collection. His earliest musical heroes were Buddy Holly and Elton John. He always loved to sing and started playing guitar at age 14. Although he tried to write songs throughout his teens, it wasn’t until he was 21, when he had his first child, that he truly became a songwriter.
Ron eventually moved his young family to Toronto in 1987 to further pursue a career in music. He worked as a courier by day, while performing in the clubs by night. He formed the band ‘Ron Sexsmith and The Uncool’ and started gaining attention from music label executives, though all passed on signing him.
In 1991 he released his first full length album on cassette called “Grand Opera Lane”. The album was rejected by the Canadian music industry, although it found its way to Los Angeles where Ron ultimately signed his first music publishing deal with Interscope Records followed by a recording contract.
With producer Mitchell Froom, Sexsmith released his self-titled label debut album in 1995. The melancholic tone and sparse acoustic arrangements of the album were met with disapproval from Interscope. However an enthusiastic endorsement from Elvis Costello drew media attention and the album was declared a critical success. In his Sept 7, 1995 review for Rolling Stone, Bud Scoppa wrote: “He just may be the most fluent balladeer to come along since Tim Hardin or Harry Nilsson.”
He has built a steadfast reputation with critics and with some of his own songwriting hero’s (Elton John, Ray Davies, John Prine, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen and Paul McCartney) for his characteristically honest, sensitive, and enduring approach to the songwriting craft.
Ron has released albums on a consistent basis since 1995 and has recorded with noted producers Mitchell Froom, Daniel Lanois, Steve Earle, Jim Scott, Don Kerr, Brad Jones, Bob Rock, and Martin Terefe. His extensive song and album catalog has garnered Sexsmith a substantive cult following and an international touring career. His early years of touring included opening for established artists such as, John Hiatt, Elvis Costello, Sarah McLaughlin, Squeeze, Aimee Mann, Coldplay, Nick Lowe, John Prine, Lucinda Williams and many others. His songs as well, have been covered by the likes of Rod Stewart, Nick Lowe, Emmy Lou Harris, Feist, Michael Buble, and Stevie Nicks to name a few. In the past few decades as a headlining artist, Ron has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the world, such as Massey Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and The London Palladium.
In 2017, Ron penned his first novel ‘Deer Life, A Fairy Tale’ published worldwide by Dundurn Press Limited. He has written a ‘yet to be released’ complete musical score to accompany the tale, for his vision to bring the story to the stage as musical theatre or adapt to film.
Ron will be making his theatrical composer debut in 2025 with the internationally renowned Stratford Festival production of ‘As You Like It’ in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.
He currently lives in Perth County, Ontario with his wife, his piano, and his vinyl record collection and continues to be inspired to write, record and perform live worldwide.
This album contains no booklet.