Local country music artist Rich Cloke’s soon-to-be-released album has been a long time coming, and he is ready to present Starts Like That, a seven-song EP, next Thursday at the Rivoli in Toronto: and from there, the world.
Much like for other musicians and artists, the pandemic stymied Cloke’s recording plans; one day he’d be recording, then a lockdown would shut down studios — and repeat, ad nauseum. Not a recommended way of recording an album, Cloke says. Nonetheless, the record was completed. Then another wait, suggested by his team, so that he could actually perform it live upon its release. And finally that time is upon us, as people are flooding back to see live music and other performances.
In between the sporadic recording sessions, Cloke decided to try to make the best of a terrible situation by focusing on his songwriting. So he wrote. And wrote. And then wrote some more. All told, Cloke ended up writing some 200-odd songs.
The pandemic also brought inspiration for Cloke in the form of his now-toddler son. His son, he says, “is the ‘why’,” who keeps Cloke wanting to do better, work harder; “I want to inspire my little guy…to aim for the moon…show him, whatever path he chooses, show him that hard work.”
Cloke’s musical inspirations range and vary depending on the day, his mood, what’s going on in his life, or, he says, “when something new hits my ears, [and] it’s cool.” And it is also about what he’s thinking about or working on that day. He gives a current example: with his upcoming album release show, he’s looking at who inspires him as a performer. He lists Dallas Smith and Morgan Wallen (“That guy can outperform everybody.”) as artists he’s currently studying as inspiration, “How they move, how do they work the audience.”
What he is working on is also seasonal: as the year turns, it’s recording time, and putting songs out. In summer, the focus is on performing and promoting, particularly, he says, for country music, as a lot of performing is done at outdoor festivals. Fall and winter tend to be the downtime of the music industry, so Cloke does a lot of songwriting then, and looks to great songwriters to examine how they turn a phrase, and what is inspiring them. And that is not limited to country music. Cloke pulls inspiration from pop, rock, and other genres to keep things fresh; after all, “good music is good music.”
Rock is deeply familiar to Cloke as well; in his teenage years growing up in Hamilton, it was all about hard rock and heavy metal, though Cloke also listened to country even then. After seeing a battle of the band in grade school, Cloke told his parents that he wanted to be in a band himself, so by grade 6, he was getting guitar lessons. He says, though, that even earlier than that, when he got his first toy guitar at age 2, he’d be mimicking Fred Penner’s playing.
Though his parents aren’t musical, Cloke and his sister both gravitated to music; she to the keyboard, he to acoustic guitar. Then came the electric guitar, so Cloke could play that loud hard rock around Hamilton and the rest of Ontario; “That was the scene,” Cloke says.
After the band he was in broke up, Cloke met up with producer Brandon Fehderau, who suggested he try working as a solo artist, and to come in and play, see how he liked it. And as Cloke had an acoustic guitar, why not try country? So he did. Singing lessons followed, as he had “let others do the heavy lifting [singing] before.” And it takes time to build the confidence to sing in front of an audience, though Cloke says all the advice he has heard notes the need for just getting out there and doing it. Over and over.
“You’ve got to do the reps,” was the advice he was given. “Learn how it feels to forget lyrics in front of people, to not do well, then learn how it feels to succeed in singing in front of people.” And though some people may be more naturally comfortable on stage, it is an ongoing learning process: “How do you peel back another layer to be even more free? It’s a life-long journey,” he says.
Since that change to solo country artist, Cloke has not looked back.
Besides the fact that he’d listened to country alongside rock music growing up, Cloke says that he found that he loved the storytelling aspect of country music, and that he is always working to be better at songwriting, trying to be “the best Rich Cloke possible.”
Which brings us back to those 200 songs. Cloke is clearly passionate his craft, and also loves the collaborative aspect that is common to country music songwriting. Though much writing is done alone, Cloke finds he gets his best results after taking his work to another songwriter or two, who then “help twist it, rearrange it, [which] then elevates the song, or improves the melody.”
The gift of time given to Cloke by the pandemic allowed him to find his people, a community of songwriters who connect with each other, who support each other, who push each other to do better and succeed in their “common goal of writing the greatest song possible.”
Then there’s community in the sense of geography. Cloke has lived in Burlington for 14 years now, and has many local favourites that have become embedded in his life. He and his father have a monthly Dickens night out for wings. As a big burger fan, he loves The Works (“That’s my burger joint.”) Another insider tip he has is to pack up a backpack with your drink of choice and picnic blanket, then head to Lugano Pizza for takeout. Then head to the lake and enjoy.
Cloke does note that there is no country music scene locally, with few venues in the GTHA that are country music-focused. Though there are a lot of country artists (shoutout here to another Burlington country music artist, Hayley Verrall, interview to follow), there are not many places to play. Clokes says, “There’s no Nashville in Canada — that’s why so many folks go down there.”
With that said, and the fact that there are not many tickets left for Cloke’s April 13 release show for Starts Like That at the Rivoli, if any intrepid venue owner reading this is looking to do something different: consider country music. You can get a taste of Rich Cloke’s music over at richclokemusic.com, on streaming platforms, or if you score a ticket, at the Rivoli next week.
