An Interview With The Musician, LeE HARVey OsMOND About His Third Album, “Beautiful Scars”, His Musical Upbringing And More!

“BEAUTIFUL SCARS” is the latest album out now via Latent Recordings with distribution by Megaforce/RED by LeE HARVey OsMOND. It marks the third full-length album release from him.

The album was produced by Michael Timmins of Cowboy Junkies and spotlights the 2016 Contemporary Roots Album of the Year Juno Award-nominee’s unique story of discovering at age 55 that his cousin was actually his mother and of Mohawk heritage, not Irish as he was raised to believe.

 The “beautiful scars” concept also infuses Wilson’s large-format paintings, lecture circuit talks and his upcoming Beautiful Scars memoir which will be published by Random House/Penguin. Beautiful Scars has also inspired his latest collaboration with filmmaker Jeth Weinrich, a short-film trilogy titled Where the Dirt Ends the Love Begins …

Learn more about LeE HARVey OsMOND in the following All Access interview: 

Thanks for your time today! So, how’s 2016 been treating you so far? What were some of the highlights of 2015 for you and your music? 

This year has been full of new creative challenges.. I mean what else can a man striving to be an artist ask for after 40 years but new creative challenges..

The cold blue silence of Canada in January allowed me to wake every morning and continue writing my 1st book for Random House/ Penguin .. It’s a daunting task and one that I have to (and excuse me for using this term),”CHIP’ away at… Let’s just say it’s coming along…

I’ve also spent my time at home putting together a new art exhibit that will be unveiled in 2017 and inspired by the deep rooted Mohawk culture and the energy of migrant workers who traveled  up to Southern Ontario to work the tobacco fields throughout the long summers of the 1960’s called THE MYSTIC HIGHWAY..

 So, tell me me, why did you decide to give yourself a moniker and not use your real name? 

There’s one too many Tom Wilson’s out there running’ around doing things I don’t want to be doing, so I thought it might be wise to separate myself from those jokers.. There’s also several dead ones out there too… I certainly don’t want to be confused with them.. There of course is Tom Wilson the record producer who I wouldn’t mind being mistaken for except that he too is dead…

LeE HARVeY OsMOND represented the loss of childhood innocence in the 60’s.. The monsters of my youth (Hitler, Frankenstein, war and Lee Harvey Oswald were countered by that miserable fucker Mickey Mouse, The Brady Bunch and The Osmonds…

The shiny things that were manufactured and placed to counter our nightmares were almost as damaging as the scary monsters of our youth…

The devil does not come in a silly red suit with horns and a tail..

The devil shows up and gets the job influencing great God fearing people…

Right???

Your newest album, “Beautiful Scars” came out at the end of March via Latent Recordings. How is the sound on this third collection of yours different then anything else you’ve released?

 LeE HARVeY OsMOND has stayed in the kitchen table hypnotic groove for 3 albums so far and will remain in that groove till I throw dirt on it and lower it into the ground…

LHO is folk music with bottom end..

Folk music is fearful of bottom end ya know…

Afraid that some hips will shake and some cocks will get hard…

So we make folk music

Folk Music that sounds like it’s made by stoners when the strongest thing we indulge in is cups of tea and hummus ..

Can you talk about the subject matter for “Beautiful Scars”?

I must admit that I let the spirit move me and lead me to writing in the themes that i do..

Addiction, Native Land  Rights, Burning Beds, and One Legged Lovers all come around to the cutting board..

I drag everything into the present..

The present , the Now, allows some distance between and time and turns my work away from being shear documentation. It allows them to be writing instead of just typing…

As an example.. I found out I was adopted and 3 years ago just before I started writing BEAUTIFUL SCARS and even though I have not written  directly into the mouth of  this experience the impact of this discovery has been running though me constantly and my blood is in the songs so I guess this journey I’m on is in every song on BEAUTIFUL SCARS..

Along with this record, you also have created large format paintings, you lecture circuit talks and you have written a memoir as well. Where did this onslaught of creativity first come from? 

I decided when I was a kid that I wanted to be an artist and I’m happy to say that I have spent my life tearing down that road trying to get there…

If I walk out into the street here in Porstsmouth, New Hampshire this afternoon and get hit by a car I will die closer to that childhood goal than I have ever been..

That to me is a successful life…

So the creativity has always been there for me.. In fact it’s there inside all of us… All we have to do is get the churches and governments and corporations out of our way to be able to recognize that we stand alone and that we have something to give the planet that will make it a better place.. That’s our creative energy…

Rave On ..

You also have a short film trilogy with the filmmaker, Jeth Weinrich coming out called “Where The Dirt Ends The Love Begins…” Can you talk about this project and how it relates to your music?

The film trilogy is all about trust…

Trust in your fellow artist…

Jeth Weinrich and I produced some commercial music videos for my band Junkhouse in the 90’s.. We were pretty successful I suppose.. We got lot’s of MTV and Muchmusic exposure and won awards and Juno’s and such for a video we make for a song called BURNED OUT CAR. Sarah McLachlan joined us for this song which was created to not only sell Cd’s but also raise awareness in the early 90’s about the growing homeless epidemic in Canada..

I handed my music over to Jeth and let the spirit move him.

I could not wait to see what he came up with and he worked from his present living condition and the community that surrounded him..

It’s funny that some folks think that art is to be controlled. Some folks who call themselves artists believe that their vision and having control is more important than allowing new eyes and ears to have their own interpertation..

Fear should not rule art..

It’s not like bugging the shit out of your contractor when you’re getting your bathroom renovated..

There’s no point looking over the shoulders of people you trust…

You’ve written for some incredible acts like Billy Ray Cyrus, Mavis Staples and others. What songwriting experiences have meant the most to you over the years? 

That’s a tough question for me..

I’m often asked what my favourite song is…

My answer is the song rolling around in my head right now.. the song I have not sung yet…

Will you allow me the same answer to you on this question… It’s the most honest answer I have…

Although writing and singing IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU with Lucinda Williams was pretty fuckin’ cool….

Who are some of your favorite artists? Who have been inspiring your since you started writing music? Is there anyone that you would still love to work with in the future? 

When I was a kid, Bunny Wilson had some great records that were not all heard on the radio anymore.. She was an older woman  and her record collection included everything from Big bands to Enrico Caruso to Nat King Cole and Jimmy Rogers… So when I finally hit the street and got and earful of AM hit radio my tiny 4 year old mind was blown… The British Invasion came pouring in..

My mother also brought folk music into the house.. Bob Dylan, Ian and Sylvia, Peter, Paul and Mary and Fred Neil .. Of course Johnny Cash was everywhere.. Bunny hated Johnny cash so it made life particularly challenging on her. Trying to keep JC out of the air in the 60’s was like her trying to fill the hole in the dike with her index finger…

So I guess this is where I walked in…

Later Canadian songwriter WILLIE P BENNETT opened up a world of possibilities for me and that’s what we want to do as artists.. Open up possibilities…

Willie P Bennett… God Bless his Soul…

At the end of the day, what do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope listeners take away from your songs?

As artists it’s our job to bring things to life that will make this a better planet… I’m from a Blue Collar neighborhood in a Steel Working town.. I’m all about coffee and smokes right??/

I’m no hippie but I do believe that if we open our hearts and show the love we have inside us everyday to everyone we meet that we can make this a better planet for our children , our grandchildren and generations to come…

It’s that fuckin’ simple as far as I can see…

So as an artist i must contribute to people wanting to do that.

If I open up my heart than maybe the people who find their way to LeE HARVeY OsMONd will too…