ELORA – In the 1970s, artistic prospects for those “coming of age” in Elora were as plentiful as the trees in the gorge.
Because they lived in a community of “hippies, artists, musicians and eccentrics,” said singer-songwriter and former Elora resident Nathan Sloniowski.
They were generous with their knowledge, talent and time. What drew these creative individuals to Elora?
“The same thing that drew AJ Casson to paint there: its utter beauty,” said Nathan.
“And on Mill Street, unlike now, cheap real estate. Mill Street was very run-down in the 70s and the locals knew it as an industrial versus residential area.
“So, the artists and alternative people came in and colonized it and as always happens, the gentrification followed ‘the cool kids’.”
Beginnings
Nathan’s new album, The Lost Love Letter to a Small Town, is dedicated to Elora and “to all the small towns I’ve lived in – Wakefield, Almonte, Calabogie, Carleton Place.”
Nathan moved to Elora from Kitchener in 1974 with his parents and his brother Chris. They lived above The Iroquois Hotel (Elora’s flat-iron building) for a few weeks while their home across from Elora Gorge Park was completed.
He recalls the first night when his parents went out for a walk. Alone in their room on a Saturday night, the boys, aged 12 and six, could hear a live band playing at the Legion across the street.
“People were milling around on the sidewalks,” and Nathan recalls they could hear a band playing “‘Proud Mary’ down through the floorboards below,” when “all of a sudden, two men came bursting through the plate glass windows of the bar.”
Nathan and Chris were delighted.
“There was music. There was action. And there were characters,” he said.
Over brunch recently at The Box Social in Elora, Nathan and his wife Glenna Watts (“a Fergus girl” and the muse behind the song “Secret Power”) reminisced about the 70s.
Glenna recalls that Nathan was the “new-not-boring guy who played guitar” when she was in Grade 7 at Elora Senior Public School.
Friends knew him then as Nathan Rudyk. In honour of his mother Claudia, he uses her maiden name Sloniowski for all his musical projects.
Claudia was a singer and a “true hippie. She taught yoga and was involved with the Edison Singers and the Three Centuries Festival.”
With a catch in his voice, Nathan recalled, “When I was as high as her keyboard, she taught me songs. She would play and I would sing.”
His love of music has never left him. At seven years old, around a group campfire on a family camping trip to Quebec, a French-Canadian woman was singing songs like “Quand Le Soleil Dit Bonjour Aux Montagnes” (The French Song.)
The spell was cast – Nathan knew then that he wanted to be a musician.
The sounds of love – Nathan performing in Almonte. Submitted photo
Two years later he got his first guitar.
Nathan recalled some of the gifted teachers he had at Centre Wellington District High School (CWDHS) who nurtured students’ creative spirits.
Like “Ray Johnson, who utterly transformed the CWDHS music department and took our concert and stage bands to England. Robert Lyon, who taught us Latin and Greek as well as English literature, and ran a university-level literature program for Grade 13 students.
“Mr. (Jim) Wilker made history come alive and Ms. (Linda) Balser who allowed us to present songs instead of essays in her contemporary Canadian literature class.”
In Balser’s class, Nathan and classmates Jaime Hill and Justin Hollands created a comic strip with a fictional punk-rock band, Herbert Trench, that they decided to bring to life.
Those around at the time remember them playing a long-standing gig in the Den at The Village Inn (with Hollands on drums, Hill on bass and Nathan on guitar.)
At that time, venues like The Café Flore (famous for Reggae Nights), The Desert Rose and Elora Sound (Bill Mathers’ recording studio) were places the young crowd could gather and learn from our “hippie” mentors.
Nathan notes that Herbert Trench recorded at Elora Sound, so did Loreena McKennitt, Jeff Bird (Cowboy Junkies) and Rush.
Nathan recalls Herbert Trench’s infamous “final gig” at The Iroquois Hotel where, once again, a fight broke out in the bar and “two men hurtled through that plate glass window. It was a beautiful bit of symmetry.”
Nathan moved away from Elora in 1981.
Over the years, with a break from playing when he and Glenna’s three children were young, Nathan has continued to play, sing and write songs.
Along with solo albums, he is co-founder of a “neo-psychedelic folk-rock outfit” The Ragged Flowers, and The Maywoods, a John Prine tribute group.
Coming home again
In early 2019, Nathan and Glenna were living in Almonte (another thriving artistic community located near Ottawa) when they decided to take a one-year sabbatical. Glenna suggested Elora.
To test it out, they spent a weekend, staying at an Airbnb on Mill Street. Strolling down West Mill, Nathan was drawn to the sound of music drifting from The Café Creperie.
He was beckoned from within to join a circle of musicians sharing music, stories and friendship. Once again, Nathan “fell into the embrace of Elora’s artistic community.”
Elora became their home until early 2020, just before the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Back in Almonte, Nathan felt drawn to write a book about his experiences in Elora. After one chapter, he realized he needed to tell his stories through song. And The Lost Love Letter to a Small Town was born.
Studio magic
Nathan recounts how producer-friend Ken Friesen’s long-standing connection with The Tragically Hip (and to a “who’s who” of Canadian musicians) led to “studio paradise”.
The Lost Love Letter to a Small Town was recorded in April of 2022 at The Hip’s Bathouse Recording Studio near Kingston.
Blue Rodeo’s Jimmy Bowskill (guitars), Red Rider’s Davide De Renzo (drums), The Jim Cuddy Band’s Steve O’Connor (keyboards) and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings’ John Dymond (bass) joined Nathan for the “three magical days and nights” it took to record the entire album.
It was a family affair, with both of Nathan and Glenna’s sons involved. At the Bathouse, Gabe played chef to the hungry group and assisted in engineering the recording. Later at Toronto’s Pet Shop Productions studio, he worked on vocal overdubs and mixed the whole album. Aaron created the album cover art and Nathan’s website.
There is a beautiful purity to the music. The melodies and lyrics flow with humour and wit – “The pick-up runs fine I guess, it don’t need to have doors” – as well as reverence and love – “Baby you are my secret power, the reason I am a kinder man.”
Musical heroes like Bruce Cockburn, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, John Prine, Serena Ryder and Bill Withers have influenced his style, which (when pressed) Nathan says could be called “Roots-Canadiana”.
“Bury the Hatchett” is a playful story about the legendary rivalry between the “teetotalling temperance ladies” of Fergus and the “whiskey-soaked rounders” of Elora.
Archie’s Good Night tells the story of Archie Smith, a local elderly gentleman who died while dancing at Le Café Flore in Elora. Nathan’s warm voice sings “You gotta get up and dance now. Celebrate your life.”
“Kathy’s Café” was inspired by Café Creperie owner Kathy Sullivan (who sings harmony on the song).
“Build an Ark” is a song that tells the story of Glenna’s grandparents, Edna and George Piercey, who fostered many “troubled” youths in the community.
“One thing we had right from the start, in this weird little town, you could build an ark,” the now-adult “lost” boys reflect on their time living with Edna and George.
Play it forward
A musical love letter – Album art for Nathan Sloniowski’s latest album. Submitted photo
Nathan is grateful for “the uncompromising originals who always find a way to do their thing, and who encourage kids like I was to do our thing.”
He added, “If you’ve never lived in a weird little town of beautiful souls who nurture each other, The Lost Love Letter to a Small Town is your chance to visit.
“And if you’re lucky enough to make your life in a small town you love, these songs offer a chance to ignite new human dimension and connection.”
Nathan will play a (sold-out) show on March 16 at The Café Creperie in Elora, and at Elora’s Knox Presbyterian Church on June 8.
Local band Madison Avenue will open for the Knox show, and local musicians Adrian Jones and Mark Ostrowski will join Nathan on stage. Tickets for the Knox show will be available at https://nathan-sloniowski.ticketsplease.ca/product/nathan-sloniowski-the-lost-love-letter-to-a-small-town/.
The Lost Love Letter to a Small Town is available on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music. CDs can be purchased online and at The Café Creperie.