A charity single about a provincial public health officer leading the fight against a virus with 鈥渁n ungainly moniker鈥� has given Juno Award-winning Qualicum musician Phil Dwyer one of the most unlikely hits of his career.
The past week has been a bit of a rollercoaster for the Order of sa国际传媒 member, whose decorated career as a saxophonist and composer dates back to 1983. He can now add The Ballad of Bonnie Henry to his resum茅, after penning the song in honour of the sa国际传媒 provincial health officer who sits at the forefront of the government鈥檚 battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. It鈥檚 the second song in recent weeks, following one by Sidney couple Gordon and Diane Campbell, that has been written about Henry.
The Ballad of Bonnie Henry began as a poem that Dwyer wrote and posted to Facebook after a bout of inspiration. After several friends commented that his words should be put to music, he quickly wrote music to fit the cadence of the poem. He enlisted some friends and family to add touches of their own, and within a day he had uploaded the folk ballad to the music streaming site, Soundcloud. 鈥淭hen it kind of took off,鈥� Dwyer said.
鈥淚t was 48 hours from the time I started writing it to the time that it was actually published and on the air.鈥�
Dwyer knew he couldn鈥檛 do it alone, so he asked some friends and family to help him with the recording. 鈥淚 got the same response from everybody, which is: 鈥楤onnie is great. Sign me up. I鈥檓 all in.鈥� 鈥�
The individual parts of the song 鈥� which has been played more than 40,000 times since April 1 鈥� were recorded remotely by singer and banjo player Tina Jones on Gabriola Island, fiddler Daniel Lapp on Pender Island and Dwyer鈥檚 bass-playing son, Ben, in Toronto. After the digital recordings were exchanged between collaborators, Dwyer took the tune to Nanaimo music producer Rick Salt for final editing.
The result is currently Dwyer鈥檚 most-played song on Soundcloud. 鈥淢y next closest song for an original piece of music is 588 spins,鈥� he said with a laugh. 鈥淎nd that took me a year to write and record, and cost $40,000 to make.鈥�
It was during his Facebook livestream concert on March 29 that Dwyer, who is also a lawyer, first thought of asking fans to pay their respects to Henry. After he dedicated a song to Henry and the work she is doing, he felt a sudden sense of emotion.
鈥淚 found myself fighting back tears, which is something that was unexpected and relatively uncharted territory for me in concert,鈥� Dwyer said.
鈥淔or me, and I would imagine many, many other people, there鈥檚 an emotional component to the current events, which we may or may not be acknowledging fully.鈥�
Dwyer watches Henry鈥檚 daily updates on the virus. The Ballad of Bonnie Henry is his way of saying he appreciates her efforts.
鈥淚 think people need a rallying point,鈥� he said.
鈥淧eople need a common touchstone, something that we can agree on as a society. Over the last period of time, there seems to be fewer and fewer things that we can agree on and I think in this case, we are lucky we have the right person doing the right job and doing it in a way that is being universally recognized as a job well done, and done in a forthright but compassionate manner. Fortunately, her message seems to have really caught on, and it seems to be working.鈥�
Dwyer is asking those who enjoy The Ballad of Bonnie Henry to donate to the through the fundraising site sa国际传媒Helps.org.
