Lennie Gallant writes and sings of the Acadian and Celtic traditions that make Prince Edward Island unique reflecting our rich heritage.

Lennie Gallant, singer songwriter (photo Stephen Pate)

Lennie Gallant writes and sings of the Acadian and Celtic traditions that make Prince Edward Island unique reflecting our rich heritage.

Born in Rustico, PEI Gallant has been performing for three decades since he was 13 years old.

He performed in a variety of local bands in traditional and rock and roll styles, including the Speed the Plow.

In 1988 he released his first solo CD, “Breakwater”, which demonstrated his traditional Island roots and story telling abilities.

Since then Gallant has traveled the world telling his stories about people, places and especially about PEI. His 7th CD “When We Get There” (2005) was nominated for a 2007 Juno, his third JUNO nomination.

It was the PEI stories I wanted to explore when I met Lennie Gallant in downtown Charlottetown in February. He was here to judge the David Foster Star Search.

What keeps him writing and singing about PEI? I asked.

“PEI is definitely my home,” he said. “I live in Halifax because my wife has a job there and it’s easier for me to move around than for her. I’ll be back here eventually.“

“My family is the oldest (European) family on PEI, the Gallant family” he said tracing his ancestry to Michel Haché-Gallant who lived from 1662 to 1737.

Growing up in rural PEI, Gallant was close to the land. “I’ve worked on farms. I’ve worked on fishing boats. I’m pretty close to what we’re all about here.”

“Peter’s Dream” is a song about fishermen and the hard times they faced. “I wrote it in Rustico Harbour one morning,” said Gallant. “I woke up at 6 am just in time to hear the put-put of the boats going out.” The song tells of a fisherman who drowning in despair sinks his ship in the harbour.

The first CD Breakwater displays Gallant’s talent for story telling and his Acadian roots. One song, “La Tempête”, is entirely in French. Destination is a bilingual song that became so popular Gallant performs it at almost every concert.

“Island Clay”, from Breakwater, was inspired by a poem by Island historian Harry Baglole. It is the touching story of an 80-acre family farm auctioned off to pay the debt. “Another part was inspired by Maggie Carmichael who was in the first edition of Speed the Plow,” said Gallant. “Her family owned a farm like that.”

The song also echoes Gallant’s roots. “I lived in a small farm community and I did all the work, baled hay, picked potatoes and all the work you do in a farm community. I have a great affinity for Island farms and the farm way of life. The song came from that life.”

At Rendezvous Rustico which takes places each July, Gallant sings “Going Back to Rustico”. “It’s just a fun song to get you to come home to PEI and hang out with your friends and family.”

Ghost stories are also part of Island tradition. Gallant remembers Antoinette Gallant, a story teller, who told them of a phantom ship. Gallant said he incorporated this tale into his song “Tales of the Phantom Ship.”

The last verse tells of the drowning at sea of six hundred Acadians trying to make their way back after the expulsion. Years later he was given a book by a woman who attended a concert in Victoria, PEI. It had the exact same story of an Acadian ship that went down off the north coast of PEI. Gallant added, “It was exactly like the last verse that I thought I had made up about Acadians who didn’t make shore.”

That song seemed to make strange things happen. “We lost power in concerts while playing that song so many times, we put the song at the end so it wouldn’t end the concert early. We lost lights. We shut down the Vancouver Folk Festival in the middle of the Festival over that song. We we’re playing a TV show with Rita MacNeil and a wind storm came up. We’ve had three lightening storms in the middle of that song,” said Gallant.

Lennie Gallant with Stephen Pate

I felt the old story-teller was weaving her story through Lennie Gallant as he recounted the unusual events that accompanied “Tales of the Phantom Ship.”

Gallant says he will return to PEI for four or five concerts this summer. We also can look forward to the Lennie Gallant Songbook coming out later this year. It will include his stories in song with the music and guitar chords.

More information about Lennie Gallant is available on his website. Lenny Gallant is also on MySpace and Facebook.

An excerpt of this article was published in the Guardian Voice for Seniors June 2008