# 6.  Cryer’s Paradise – Jodee Richardson
It appears Richardson, Tetford, and Doyle combined talents on this remake of the title track to Ron’s most accomplished album. That said, Richardson does the lead vocals and his touch, deft and playful, is recognizable there and in the arranging and instrumentation. It is one of the album’s bolder statements in terms of taking one of Ron’s songs to a new and interesting place. (In vinyl world it opens Side Two and does so with verve.)  I’ve got demons bound to daunt me / I’ve got a ghost from stair to shelf / I’ve got bad mistakes to haunt me / Till I’m just a ghost myself.  For all the innovation, Richardson rarely strays from the original melodic lines and the often wonderful lyrics have pride of place.  I particularly admire the series of trochees that form an epitaph to late King of Rock and Roll, the so-called heartbreak hotel exile, Elvis Presley.  A songwriter’s got to feel pretty good after minting a phrase like that.
With its percussive opening, shifting tempos, playful three-part harmonies, wicked electric guitar solo, and a cappella close, this one leaves you smiling from ear to ear.
FOUR STARS

# 7.  River of No Return – Mallory Johnson
Mallory Johnson applies a dose of salts to the Cryer’s Paradise version of this song, a co-write with Terry Kelly. Basically, a sustained metaphor for life’s trials and dangers, it gains from the application.  The subdued mood and smoky vocals create additional space for the lyrics and crystalize some beautiful images. A lonely child on a city street / A weary face at a window seat.  In a word, revelatory.
THREE AND A HALF STARS

# 8.  Last Chance Avenue – Joel Hynes
A kind of film noir vignette about a guy on the run, this is the first song on the record from Standing in Line in the Rain, the outstanding 1998 live album recorded over two nights at the LSPU Hall. Joel Hynes’s full-throated attack on the vocals strays but little from the original and only adds to the song’s cinematic/graphic novel qualities.  I got off two shots and I jumped for the rocks / As that Chevy went off the cliff. / Yeahhhhhhh!
THREE AND A HALF STARS

 # 9.  Lonely Song – The Ennis Sisters
Few songwriters, I think it’s fair to say, have explored the dichotomy between innocence and experience as thoroughly and as well as Ron Hynes. Even Bob Dylan seems uninterested in this space, Bob Dylan’s Dream from his second album being one notable exception. However, see Steve Forbert’s It Isn’t Gonna Be That Way from his debut album Alive On Arrival for an excellent example in the genre. This song, also from Standing in Line In The Rain, was co-written with Declan Doherty.  The lyrics and melody are exquisite and the Ennis Sisters’ vocals equally so. The excellent production actually enables the already superb vocals to soar to fresh heights. But time is not the kindest friend / It only steals away from you. Poignant and beautiful.
FOUR STARS

 # 10.  1962 – Matthew Byrne
A near-perfect marriage of singer and song on this nostalgic track from Get Back Change.
THREE STARS

 # 11.  Where Do You Get Off? – Barry Canning
Once again, we find Ron building whole verses out of a series of questions, a device he clearly enjoyed. It would take a lot to improve upon his own performance of the song from Cryer’s Paradise, but the boys come close. Paul Kinsman’s soft piano notes at the opening signal a more relaxed approach and his organ fills add an enriched texture. Chris Ledrew’s subtle work on pedal steel delivers the country flavouring and Barry Canning’s solid vocal brings it all home. A generous and tasteful offering that is true to the original.
THREE STARS

 # 12.  Shine Like Diamonds – Cory Tetford
We return to Standing in Line in the Rain for this and the next selection. The personnel on both tracks includes Sandy Morris, Glenn Simmons, Paul Kinsman, Paul “Boomer” Stamp, and Cory  Tetford. It seems calculated to reassemble the band that played live on those two splendid nights at the Hall in 1998.  As a result, the sound, though fresh and reinvigorated, is consistent with what we find on the album.
Shine Like Diamonds is a special song, co-written with frequent collaborator Connie Corkum. It is a tribute in its own right to the transient Newfoundlanders who work the Alberta oil sands. It’s an elegant composition replete with internal rhymes. In a trailer park that was dingy and dark / Not the spark of a single dream / In a company town where the dark gold / Slept in the frozen ground. The lines about  “The Syncrude boys with bets on the side / On when the Athabasca would break…” or “… forty-five guys and five women / Sinking down doubles at the Synhouse bar” do seem eerily accurate about the life, especially from a guy who never worked it. Tetford, a friend and sometime sideman for Hynes, has a special relationship to the song and his performance reflects that passion. The vocal is sensitive, yet dynamic and compelling. And it’s not all doom and gloom. After all, those … northern lights would shine like diamonds… so beautifully that … you wouldn’t even mind crying.
FOUR STARS

 # 13.  The Picture of Dorian Grey – Glenn Simmons
This song would have been suitable for inclusion on Stealing Genius, Ron’s 2010 album of songs inspired by the work of others. This one, of course, derives from the Oscar Wilde novel of the same name about a young man who sells his soul to the devil, though perhaps unknowingly, in exchange for a version of immortality. Ron’s hero is more circumspect and cites the novel as a cautionary tale.  “Well, I won’t say what I’d give away / Cause ya don’t know who’s around!” It’s a spirited performance, much like the one on the live album, with Simmonds filling in on the vocals. The song itself was a mainstay of Ron’s live shows, guaranteed to get everyone rocking it on the dance floor.
THREE STARS

 # 14.  Where Does Love Go Wrong? – Yvette Lorraine
This is one of two songs from Ron’s 2006 self-titled album featuring an appropriately dark, rather Dylanesque, portrait of himself on the cover.  A number of the tracks deal head-on with Ron’s ongoing struggles with addiction. Titles like “My Name is Nobody”, “Carry This Cross”, “For the Mother Who Bore You in Pain”, and “Dry”, as well as the songs that underlie them, unapologetically convey this misery. Into the mix, however, comes this song of slight lyrical content with a well-worn country theme. Despite the decent arrangement and a nice vocal, it is, for Ron, a little underwhelming. It has the markings of an earlier work. (“I’m Sorry, Lori”, the song that follows it on the album is also, I believe, from an earlier time.) I don’t think there’s a more transformative track on the record. Yvette Lorraine’s catchy vocal stylings, together with Chris Kirby’s arranging and instrumentation, land the song somewhere between a jazz bar and a Paris bistro. It’s quite an impressive rescue, demonstrating that Ron, even if not at his best, can still yield up delights.
FOUR STARS 

 # 15.  House – Rum Ragged
The only song on the tribute album from Stealing Genius, House is an excellent choice. It is so like Ron to call to mind the ups and down, the joys and sorrows, the doings and undoings that occur inside the walls of a family home. Rum Ragged’s Mark Manning provides a warm buttery vocal with Jamie Dartt supporting the melody line to excellent effect. The arrangement, instrumentation, and production all contribute to a heart-rending version of what could become a classic Ron Hynes composition.
FOUR STARS

 # 16.  If I Left You Alone With My Heart – Shanneyganock
This robust attempt at finding a new direction for the country-flavoured track from Cryer’s Paradise ultimately founders and leaves me craving the original. The quickened tempo and beerhall aesthetic, despite Chris Andrews’ rich vocals, simply don’t move the needle. The track has more people on it than any other and, for once, it seems the production isn’t up to the task. Damhnait Doyle’s vocals, for example, are entirely lost in the mix. The rendition hits its stride a bit when the voices join in unison towards the end, but it’s too late. The story, too, has somehow been lost in this song, kindred to Man of a Thousand Songs, about the thankless life of the barroom troubadour.  I’ve played every dive there is / I’ve heard every story told / And I’ve never questioned one man’s reason why.
TWO STARS

 # 17.  No Change In Me – Fortunate Ones
This co-write with Murray McLauchlan has become one of Ron’s iconic songs. The closing track from Get Back Change, it is, I’m sure, a tough one to do, Ron’s stamp upon it being so indelible. Fortunate Ones, as if mindful of the challenge, begin tentatively, but the version finds assurance by the second verse when Catherine Allan joins fully on the vocals. You can’t eat the air / And you can’t drink the sea / No change in the weather / No change in me.
The song is breathtakingly good and, ultimately, Fortunate Ones do it quiet justice.
THREE STARS 

 # 18.  Dry – Silver Wolf Band
The falling cadence of the opening chords and Jamie Jackman’s plaintive vocal intro make it immediately clear that this song has found new life. It was not the voice of God / It was only rolling thunder / I stepped outside the detox / And the night was rent asunder. About a failed attempt at rehab, the song was recorded live for Ron’s self-titled 2006 release. He often performed the song live, and often with great composure, as in the case of the December 2007 concert at The DF Cook Recital Hall (recorded for Canada Live), but on the 2006 recording his distress is naked and palpable. The audience rewarded his honesty and bravery on the occasion with sustained and well-deserved applause. Not that any of it made things easier in the long run for the harried troubadour. The darkness takes forever to die / This highway runs on for a million miles. Silver Wolf Band, aided by magical guitar fills from Cory Tetford, lend a grace and elegance to the song that elides the author’s painful experience into a universality. It puts the song into the service of a humanity trying not only to represent such pain, but grappling to understand it. For which service, I have no doubt, it was always intended. I knew a man who walked in fields of gold / With the wind in his sails and the sun on his shoulders / Down the line his heart and soul got cold…
FOUR STARS

 # 19.  Get Back Change – Mick Davis
Ron clearly thought highly of this borderline novelty song — after all, he made it the title track of his 2003 album. As for Mick Davis’s version, there’s a relaxed informal feel at the start that might have gone somewhere but, in the end, this twanged up version is a bit too raw for my taste and simply doesn’t take itself seriously enough. I’m not saying it won’t grow on me — I’m a Davis fan and it’s an incredibly catchy tune — but it’s taking time.
TWO AND A HALF STARS

 # 20.  Sonny’s Dream – Kellie Loder
Speaking of challenges and iconic songs, it had to fall to someone to undertake Sonny’s Dream and, whether by invitation of the producers or at the request of the artist, it turns out Kellie Loder fit the bill.  Self-accompanied on piano, employing a largely mid-range vocal, and only occasionally departing from the melody, they bring the piece to a tender close with the phrase I’m not all that strong still hanging in the air.  The piece builds carefully, but dynamically, and crescendos beautifully on  I know I can’t hold him / Though I’ve tried and I’ve tried and I’ve tried.
FOUR STARS

This is by any metric a stellar album.  I’m sure the CD is first rate, but if vinyl is your thing you won’t be disappointed. The artwork is excellent and, inside, the white vinyl, beside being attractive, is high quality. The song titles are cleverly embedded on the album cover, visible only if you catch them in a certain light. There are several fanciful Ron portraits reflecting different ages and stages of his career, my favourite, and the most accurate, I believe, being a miniature on the back just above the credits. Again, producers Alan Doyle and Cory Tetford deserve high praise, as do the artists listed there beside their chosen songs. All that remains is to speculate on where the project might go from here.  Maybe there’ll be a second and a third iteration? A making-of documentary would be fascinating. I had it in mind to suggest some songs lying in wait, but the list is simply overwhelming. More please. Just give us more. And, dear reader, if you haven’t bought the album yet, do so.  Like all good records, it’s more than a listening experience, it’s a journey of the heart, one you owe it to yourself to properly enjoy.

Paul Rowe is a writer, theatre artist, and educator (and sometime storyteller) who resides in St John’s.  He is the author of two novels, and is currently at work on a third, a historical novel set in 1840s Newfoundland and Labrador. A note on his connection to Hynes and his music:
“One morning I opened a window in my downtown row house to hear Ron Hynes on my neighbour’s deck playing guitar and singing a beautiful version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Racing in the Street.” It was an extraordinary moment. Ron never played the song in a show, as far as I know. The only cover he regularly did was a rocking version of Bob Dylan’s “Blind Willie McTell”. But he knew a good song and he loved a good songwriter. And he knew his own worth on that score too. I knew Ron a bit.  Both our father’s had been in Newfoundland’s First 200 Naval Contingent in WW2. Sometimes, he would graciously reference the fact and play “My Old Man” at a show. “Two hundred fools took all they knew/ Went to war and he did too …”