#31 David Boyd Janes: Canadian Country Artist

Beyond The Melody Podcast with Brian Melo

David Boyd Janes // Drove Me Country

Sometimes, clichés prove weirdly true. Take that one about dark clouds having silver linings. Turns out, that stuff can happen for real. Just ask David Boyd Janes.

Were it not for a brutal breakup in 2017, which tore up the floorboards of his life, the fast-rising country music singer/songwriter might still be living the contemporary urban dream, successfully selling heating and air conditioning units and living in a nice condo with a girlfriend beside him and a bunch of suits hanging in his closet.

Yet that breakup — precipitated in part by Janes’ rekindled romance with music via, of all things, singing karaoke in bars — yanked the Toronto-based performer out of his comfort zone and into a suddenly dreary world where the only thing worth doing was making music.

All of which sounds like something you might hear in a country song. Enter Janes’ dazzling debut, Drove Me Country, so named for his experience (as in, she drove him out of the condo and into country music) and delivered in a distinctive voice alternately conjuring honey and sandpaper.

Yet despite Janes’ back story, the EP’s eight original compositions are decidedly not sad-sack ballads steeped in gloom and swimming in whisky. Rather, Drove Me Countryis an affirmation of what can happen when somebody who has been kicked to curb gets up, dusts himself off, says… well… screw it. Then follows his dream.

“My main objective as an artist is to inspire people to follow their own dreams,” Janes says. “Four years ago, I was a broken man sitting alone in my condo thinking, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ Now I have this mindset where I can push past things and live my life. Turning my thoughts into reality is not schtick. It’s how I live my life now.”

Evidence of that transformation is scribbled all over the vivid and diverse Drove Me Country, often in surprising ways. Take lead single “Behind Bars,” a gargantuan roadhouse corker propelled by wailing pedal steel, B3 organ, and Janes’ breathtakingly candid (and frankly amusing) lyrics about the aftermath of his split as surveyed from a barstool.

At the other end of the spectrum but no less compelling is the super-melodic, soaring, and anthemic ballad “Fools Gold,” in which our man takes stock of what really matters in this life as an ace group of players garland the background with gleaming steel and guitars.

“The song ‘Fools Gold’ is who I am,” Janes says, adding it’s one of his favourites on the album. “If you want to get to know me in three minutes, listen to that song. As for ‘Behind Bars,’ I’m not a big drinker and this song isn’t about blowing off steam in a bar; it’s about playing in bars, getting back into music and brushing off the bad news. Sometimes you just have to move on.”

He continues: “I went through a lot when that girl up and left. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic, but it took me four years to rebuild my confidence. I finally realized I couldn’t hold myself down any longer.”

Ironically, had it not been for the abovementioned girlfriend, Janes might still be wearing neckties and slinging HVACs. Though Janes “had been doing music his whole life” and grew up immersed in country music courtesy his mom and dad — smalltown Newfoundland transplants to Toronto — he started out playing rock and roll. When that experience soured, “I turned my back on music for, like 10 years.

“Years later, my girlfriend and I, just for kicks, went to a karaoke bar. I sang a few songs and the reaction I got was amazing. People asked if I was in a band. This happened a bunch of times, and soon enough I was entering karaoke competitions. This was around 2016.

“One night, I said to my girlfriend, ‘I think I should get back into music.’ She looked at me and said, ‘That is not what I signed up for.’ I