Patrick Ballantyne is a busy man. The singer-songwriter’s other occupations include C.E.O. of the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario, as well as Board Chair at the Songwriters Association of Canada.
Raised in Windsor on a steady sonic diet of legendary AM station CKLW, Patrick the kid picked up a guitar and started teaching himself in his teens before joining forces with his friend Gordie Johnson to write songs together. Ballantyne cites prog sounds in general and The Beatles in particular as lifelong influences.
Ballantyne and Johnson went their separate ways before Big Sugar happened, with Johnson pursuing music as a career and Ballantyne becoming a lawyer. The pair still continued to write songs together over the years. Patrick’s connection to music and background in law brings both the tenacity and a heartfelt interest in seeing songwriters get their due.
When Ballantyne’s family life and career allowed, he wrote with Wide Mouth Mason, ECMA Award winner Tim Chaisson (“Beat This Heart”), The Trews, and other Canadian songwriters.
In 2008, Ballantyne’s self titled debut album was released. “Days of Rain” came a few years later in 2014. Ballantyne regularly tinkers in his home studio, developing new songs. 2014 also saw him win Now Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Awards for Songwriter of the Year. “I’m not sure how NOT to make music!” is how he explained it to the S.A.C.
Ballantyne’s process, he explained, is basically riffing on his acoustic guitar until a melody comes to him, and then, once the music is laid out, he’ll “scramble for words that fit.”
When asked about writing for specific genres of popular music, Ballantyne, ever the home studio guy, maintains “I write what I feel… the rest is production.”
In 2016, Ballantyne accelerated this method to compose and record a song a month. This yielded the album “Calendar,” the following year.
His new album, “Sky’” mixes both older and newer songs, and the instrumentation branches out across different styles. Still, the songs work together to create an album, rather than a collection of new-to-one’s-audience songs. “The album was very much conceived as a single unit, to be digested in a single listening,” he explains.
Advocating for songwriters’ royalties and rights, Ballantyne believes the music industry, as a whole, should, “whenever possible, speak with a unified voice.” With respect to the Songwriters Association of Canada, Ballantyne is ready to “fight to ensure we are fairly compensated for the obvious and significant value of our songs.”
“Sky,” Ballantyne’s fourth release, launches tonight at The Moonshine Café in Oakville, Ontario.
Don’t forget to check out these Patrick Ballantyne songs as part of our new Spotify playlist episode – https://spoti.fi/2wzTB5b
1. My Favourite Way to Turn You On
Album: Calendar
Performed by: Patrick Ballantyne
Written by: Patrick Ballantyne
Source: Northwood Records
2. The Look of You Gone
Album: Calendar
Performed by: Patrick Ballantyne
Written by: Patrick Ballantyne
Source: Northwood Records
3. Someone You Should Know
Album: Calendar
Performed by: Patrick Ballantyne
Written by: Patrick Ballantyne
Source: Northwood Records
4. What’s a Girl to Do
Album: Calendar
Performed by: Patrick Ballantyne
Written by: Patrick Ballantyne
Source: Northwood Records
