Lance Russwurm tells us about his early exposure to music with his parents Lynn and Laura performing country music, learning music in high school, playing in Lynn’s band, how Lynn wrote and submitted music, Lynn’s collaboration with Hank Thompson, and the song “I Cast A Lonesome Shadow.” He tells us about the CKNX Barn Dance, on radio and as revivals through the years. Lance produces the Elmira Sunday Night Concert Series at Gibson Park in Elmira. And Lance tells us about his artwork, and trading art for airplane rides.
The interview starts at 3m45s.
Lance appeared in a three-part episode of Musician’s FAQ with Stuart McKie in January 2021.
Lance tells us about his first exposure to music: Running around in the aisles while his parents played on stage, listening to The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, meeting Ian Tyson, and listening to Gordie Lightfoot and Joni Anderson. Playing in Jimi Hendrix and Steppenwolf in high school, dropped out, and started to play in his dad’s band, all over Southern Ontario. Lance was shy, and had to be coaxed into singing by his dad. Lance had no formal music education, but that was common for many musicians. Today Lance does recommend getting a formal musical education. Mike Slauenwhite, a violinist with the KW Symphony Orchestra, moonlighted in country music bands playing fiddle because that paid better. He’d play with The Ice Capades because he could sight-read music. Lance’s dad Lynn Russwurm had piano lessons when he was young, and wrote out the sheet music for his songs when he sent them out to publishers. Lance can pick up things by ear, but has to try every possible chord to find the right one.
11m02s
In the 1970s people started submitting music on tapes instead of sheet music. Lance remembers Lynn would be in the basement making demo tapes. Lynn wrote a lot of music that was recorded by other people. One such musician was Hank Thompson who recorded “The Wild Side of Life”, about a guy stuck at home with the kids while his wife was out hitting the honky tonks. Then Kitty Wells recorded the answer to that, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”. That’s a genre of country music called “Honky Tonk”, which became popular when Lance was playing. It’s about cheatin’ and drinkin’ and truck drivin’. Hank Thompson bought a song from Lynn Russwurm outright, so that Lynn gave up the copyright and royalties, something that wouldn’t happen today. After that Lynn and Hank co-wrote a number of songs, sharing the credit.
14m35s
Lance particularly remembers one song, “I Cast A Lonesome Shadow”. It was on a number of Hank Thompson albums, but it was never a hit, probably too weird for the country musicians of the time. Merle Travis, the inventor or finger picking or “Travis Picking” plays on the song. There were some royalties, not much, and the song appeared in collections from time to time. But then in 2003 (not 1999) it was covered by Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, and suddenly the song made some wild royalties. Lynn and Hank Thompson had no idea who Depeche Mode was, but got a kick out of it. Later “I Cast A Lonesome Shadow” became popular with rockabilly bands, and then a recording by Sonny Crockett was used on the TV series “American Gods.”
Lance says “The song has legs.” Lynn sold a number of songs to other musicians as well. Lance reminisces about Lynn and Laura performing on “The Barn Dance Show” on CKNX radio. Lance played on some Barn Dance shows in the 1970s. Lynn did a revival in the 1980s, and with Earl Heywood revived the live performances in the 1990s. There are still occasional Barn Dance revivals today.
24m30s
Lance talks about the start of the Elmira Sunday concerts. Lynn started playing in the Elmira Gore Park gazebo, at first to a few dozen people, and eventually to hundreds of people who were spilling out of the park and blocking the road. Lance took over in 2016, but shut down because of Covid in 2020. Then the concerts resumed in 2023 in Gibson Park where there was more room. It’s the only place where you can get real Country music these days.
Talking about songwriting. Lance has written about 25 or 30 songs, but Lynn wrote over 700. Lance talks about his CD, about one third his dad’s songs, one third his songs, and one third classic country songs.
35m45s
Hot Gen!Music was not Lance’s full-time gig, he was a commercial artist. Specializing in old mechanical things, old house, old airplanes, old trains. One print that’s well known in the area of the old Kitchener city hall at Christmas time. Lance has a lot of art in the Hamilton Warplane Museum. It’s not an art gallery, but a museum where they restore old planes. Lance was selling his art out of a gallery in St. Jacobs, where he met some people from the museum which rekindled his interest in old planes. An old school friend who became a pilot now flies the Lancaster bomber out of the museum. Lance hasn’t just painted pictures of planes, he’s painted the planes themselves — nose art and engine art. Lance tell stories of flying in those planes.
42m39s
Lance has also painted murals all over Southern Ontario, starting with the firehall in New Hamburg. He’s trying to be retired, so he’s turned down some jobs for murals. He wants to concentrate on other hobbies, like model trains. Between both art and music, Lance feels he’s spread too thin, not an expert at either. He enjoys blending the art and music, like making the cover for his CD.
Analyzing the musicology of Bob Dylan’s music. The phrasing of his songs is the way people talk. Jimi Hendrix and Mark Knopfler sing with Bob Dylan’s phrasing. Bob Dylan had a huge influence on music. Lance relates his progression through musical genres.
52m25s
Lance gives a recap of the Elmira Sunday Night Concerts. Lance does some Travis Fingerpicking to play out the show while Bob gives the credits.
CKMS Community Connections airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 from 3:00pm to 4:00pm on Mondays.
Subscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!
See all CKMS Community Connections shows!
Creative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders. The theme music is written and performed by Steven Todd.