He may be a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, a little bit soul and a little bit blues, but Johnny Reid is all entertaining. Reid hit the stage at Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon on Monday night, firing up the crowd with hit after hit during his high-energy show.
Prior to the concert, Johnny Reid sat down with Global Saskatoon to talk about his new record, the tour and his involvement with Beads of Courage.
GN: You have a great line for your new album Fire it Up, “It’s a beautiful morning so let’s get up, get out there and help someone. Let’s make a difference.” What was the inspiration behind the line and why did you come up with that?
JR: The new album was basically a reflection of the last two years of my life. The last two years of my life have been very positive. I wanted this album to be that, I wanted this album to lift people up. Fire it Up is basically an invitation to each and every one of us … together we can create this massive fire if we choose to seek the positive things in our lives.
GN: You met some special children at a Saskatoon hospital who are part of the Beads of Courage program. How did you become involved with Beads of Courage?
JR: Beads of Courage actually came from my wife. She had been trying to sit me down for about two weeks and show me this video, she was like ‘have you seen this video yet?’ So she made me a cup of tea, sat me down, opened up the computer and showed me.
Beads of Courage is a charity that offers kids with cancer and leukemia beads of courage for their bravery through all the procedures that they have to go through whether it be blood transfusions, chemo and needles, visits to the hospital, losing their hair, all these things that you would look upon as being a negative thing, the beads of courage give the kids a positive experience. Not only that, each string of beads tells a story. For the kids that make it, it’s a great story for them to keep and for those that don’t, it’s a great story for their parents to keep and be reminded of just not only how lucky we are but also the battle and how strong their kids were because I would image to go through that and to lose a child would be one of the toughest things to go through.
When I saw this, it touched my heart. I have four children and I tell my wife every time we go on tour we always take a charity and for me this was a great opportunity to be part of something bigger than myself, it was a great opportunity to raise a lot of money for this and a great opportunity for Beads of Courage to get exposure across this wonderful country.
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They’re huge around the world but in Canada they’ve only opened up in a few hospitals. Saskatchewan actually has three of those hospitals that have taken the program on. This morning I went and spent time with the kids and it was a clear indication that we’re doing the right thing.
I purchased 10,000 beads myself at three dollars a bead, we sell them for ten dollars a bead and the whole entire ten dollars also goes to them, so in essence their making $13 a bead and you can image we’re getting in front of 250,000 people on this tour so if everybody bought one bead you can image not only how much money that would be but how much love that would show this kids.
GN: What where your feelings playing in front of the kids involved in Beads of Courage?
JR: To be completely truthful I was very sad. I was happy to be there, I was so happy I was able to come and put a smile on the kid’s faces but every kid that I looked at I could not help but see my own children. It was very tough for me but by the end of the day that feeling, that initial feeling of sadness actually turned into a feeling of celebration because kids, I don’t know how they do it, but kids have the strength. I don’t know if kids even know they’re sick, they just have the sense of strength deep within them, they’re resilient.
We can learn a lot of things from children because they still possess innocence and we can also learn a lot of things from the elderly people because they’ve lived long enough to know better.
For me to be able to give back to the kids it was amazing, it was a tough experience but a beautiful one in the same sense.
GN: Some reviewers have compared you to Rod Stewart on the new album Fire It Up. How do you take those comparisons?
JR: I love them. I don’t know how anyone can take them negatively. When anyone compares me to Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, Joe Cocker, Tom Jones, Bryan Adams, I’ve heard so many, these are all multi, multi million selling artists, I have to take it as a compliment.
GN: Speaking of Joe Cocker, rumour has it he recorded Fire It Up.
JR: Amazing. I got a phone call to say ‘Johnny, would you be okay if Joe Cocker records Fire It Up?’ and I went ‘What do you mean would I be okay?’ Absolutely. Are you joking me? I get up listening to Joe Cocker and to get that kind of news was incredible.
GN: What is your reaction to those who say you are getting away from your country roots and becoming more mainstream?
JR: I’ve never called myself a country singer, I’ve never called myself a rock and roll singer, a blues singer or a soul singer. I’ve always just sang my songs the way I sing them and the way I play them and it’s a simple as that.
GN: Where did you get the inspiration for Dance with Me?
JR: My wife and I left university and she was working full-time and I was playing the bars and we saw each other, it wasn’t that much but come Sunday, we would have time for each other. I remember just simply dancing with her, just her and I and our two Golden Retrievers, and we would just get up and dance.
It was a song for me to say to my wife, let’s just leave the world outside and dance with me, let’s just get back to the basics because life can become very complicated sometimes.
GN: Did you ever think it would become such a huge hit at weddings?
JR: I did, I knew as soon as I wrote it that this would either be a father and daughter first dance or a bride and groom. This song is simple, this song is about romance, that’s what this song is about.
GN: Let’s Go Higher.
JR: A song of motivation. Take a look around yourself, look how far you’ve already come, let’s go higher.
GN: What’s next for Johnny?
JR: We have a bunch of shows booked in for Europe and America for the end of 2012 and basically into 2013. I don’t see myself touring Canada again probably until the fall of 2014, spring of 2015 just purely based on the calendar.
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