Musician and city councillor James Gordon has launched his most ambitious project yet.
Ark of the Oven Mitt is a novel intertwined with 36 original songs that tells the story of a Canadian country/roots rock touring band, led by a fictional songwriter who writes songs as they travel across the country.
Gordon would often tour the country as a musician prior to the pandemic. But the past year he says only exasperated the conditions of an already struggling industry.
“We always forget that the pandemic has been a really poor time for people in the music business but it was in pretty deep crisis before that,” says Gordon who has released 40 albums in his music career.
“This band is travelling and kind of realizing that maybe the way of life they’ve had for a generation is maybe coming to an end and they’re trying to figure out what comes next. I’ve been on the road for years and years and the pattern has totally changed. People don’t buy CDs anymore. The travel costs are higher and the venues get smaller.”
Ark of the Oven Mitt will come in two forms: an audio book, which has the music intertwined, and a hardcover copy that will come with a code to download the music online.
Gordon is currently working on the narration for the 300 page-book. He says he plans to launch the audio book this summer and the hard copy in the fall.
With help from a $10,000 grant from the Ontario Arts Council, Gordon was able to employ several local musicians for the project and cover studio fees.
“One of the benefits of the funding was to provide employment for musicians that have been out of work over the last year,” says Gordon. “None of that money is for me. It goes toward all the musicians in the studio.”
Joining in on the project will be Jeff Bird on bass, Randall Coryell on drums, Geordie Gordon on electric guitar and organ, Anne Lindsay on fiddle, and singer and songwriter Katherine Wheatley. It will be produced and engineered by Evan Gordon. The group is unable to record together in a studio because of pandemic safety measures and will have to layer the soundtracks.
Gordon began writing the novel four years ago when he was still performing in concerts and his fans pointed out that his songs have a common tone within them.
He says as he was writing the book, he realized adding music would make for a unique experience, and would be fitting for the kind of story he was trying to tell.
“About half the songs were already written and I just dropped them in when it felt appropriate to the story or sometimes the song itself would give me an idea for part of the plot line and the rest were written as I went,” says Gordon.
He was able to complete it in the last year because the pandemic meant more time at home.
Gordon shares the story behind the name of the novel which comes from an incident in the book where the team sits down in a musical festival and tries to come up with a name for a utopian society.
“Someone says what about the ‘Ark of the Covenant,’ and a little kid says ‘What did they say? I don’t know, I think they said Ark of the Oven Mitt,’” says Gordon.
"So then everyone says we like that name, let's call it that."
He says that scene in the book was inspired by the Hillside Festival where he served as an artistic director in the past.
“It's been so successful 'til COVID hit. I once attended a seminar and people said ‘Why can't we live like it's the Hillside Festival all year round?’ There's that spirit of collaboration and celebration,” says Gordon.
“There’s a lot of humour in it, it’s whimsy, so that title kind of makes it curious I think.”
