Dave Gunning: Road Stories & Songs in the Age of AI

In this episode of A Chat With Heart, host Christina Martin welcomes singer-songwriter Dave Gunning. They chat with heart about the making of Dave's new album 'Field Notes', touring with Stompin' Tom Connors, Dave's illustrated book, and the impact of AI on creativity. The conversation flows through personal stories, Dave's incredible touring experiences, and the importance of community. They also share fun anecdotes and insights about their careers, collaborations, and the challenges they face as humans.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to A Chat with Heart
• 6:11 The Journey of Self-Management
• 10:38 Introducing Dave Gunning
• 15:00 The Making of Field Notes
• 20:05 AI in Music: A Double-Edged Sword
• 25:06 The Power of Personal Stories
• 29:58 Touring Tales and Collaborations
• 34:46 Stompin' Tom Connors: A Legendary Encounter
• 39:54 Navigating Life's Challenges
• 44:50 The Importance of Community and Passion
• 49:49 Quickfire Fun Questions

Transcript

Christina (00:00.206)
Hi, welcome to a chat with heart podcast. I'm your host, Christina Martin. I'm a singer songwriter. I live on a dirt road in rural Nova Scotia with my best friend, Dale, and our Calico cat, Olivia. This podcast is totally just a chill chat with her. As soon as you tune in here, I consider you one of my little heartbeat listeners. I love sharing these personal stories and recording these episodes are great practice for me to try and calm the fuck down.

just be myself. If we just talk about it We can shut away, we can break a day off day If we just talk about it We can cut away, we can make a better day

Christina (00:55.79)
Hey everybody, welcome back to A Chat With Heart. I'm Christina and I am so happy you're here listening. Thank you so much. I don't know what you're doing, if you're driving or cleaning the house, one of my favorite things to do. Maybe you're on a jog or a walk. What do you do when you listen to A Chat With Heart? Let me know, send me an email, christinamartinmusicatgmail.com or you can call the Heartbeat Hotline, that line is still being paid for. It rarely is used.

But when it is, we do play messages on the podcast. But you can email me voice messages if you're not in Canada, because I think calling the number does cost. Or if you're on WhatsApp, I suppose you could add that number on WhatsApp. I'm not really sure. No, don't do WhatsApp. Probably won't even catch it. But I would definitely catch an email or if you call that phone number on the Heartbeat Hotline, which you hear at the end of this episode.

I still haven't memorized it after five years. A few quick updates before we dive in. Big Shiny Tunes is coming up. I managed to squeeze in a bonus episode kicking off. This is technically season five of a Chat with Heart podcast. I was chatting with my friend Steph Purcell, who's one of the producers of the Big Shiny Tunes. And she's been a longtime friend of mine and supporter of all things music in our community.

And Big Sonny Toons is truly one of my favorite nights of the year. I gotta say, I was first terrified to participate. I think I turned down the ask at first. I was coming out of the pandemic and I I was high anxiety. I don't think I'd started my SSRI yet for depression and anxiety. And I wanted nothing to do with it. Nothing. No, I just also, I didn't know if I could pull it off.

Like I just didn't know if it was the right thing for me, but I'm looking back, glad I said yes when I did. And I'm so grateful because they don't ask artists to come back every year. Like this could be my last year. Who knows? It's not up to me. So I'm just going to give it my best again this year. There's so many incredible musicians. The bands are hot. The singers are hot. The audience is incredible. The staff is great. It's usually a packed house. It is a packed house.

Christina (03:21.974)
So yeah, it's an incredible ensemble of musicians from all over the province and actually from around the Maritime sometimes. Listen, anyway, I say this every year and I stand by it. Best night of the year. So tickets are on sale for that. Also February 14th, Valentine's Day. I don't know what your plans are. It's a Saturday. I will be with my best friend, Dale, and our other bestie, Hannah Malonson. We're gonna be playing a show at Patchwork.

house concert series in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Tickets are about 50 % sold now, so there's still tickets. You can get them on my website, christinamartin.net. Come be cozy, come feel things. Come hear some of my songs live. We got a few new ones we're gonna throw out there. wait, are we? Only if they have the word love in them, because that's kind of the theme. And other than that, lately I've been...

We were looking after my mom's cat, Lola, and her and our cat, Olivia, have been having some good healthy play and then some rough play. The longer Lola stays with us, the more she seems to like us and our cat. And we love having her. She's never going listen to this, so I don't even know why I'm bringing it up. But anyway.

Other than that, honestly, it's a weird time of the year. I'm really excited and happy and feel great. the other side of it is January is always like the worst for like admin stuff. I've been doing one of the most boring tasks of being a self-managed artist is registering your works with the royalty organizations. It's not that it's hard. It's just so tedious and yeah, it's just annoying.

And anyway, the upside is that we own 100 % of our material and there's no middle people taking cuts from our earnings. So yeah, it's boring to do now, but it matters and it can pay off. I could pay for a new recording, let's say, or a gas on a tour. Yeah. Who's kidding? Who am I kidding? Who's kidding? Nobody is kidding and I'm not kidding.

Christina (05:45.902)
when I say that royalty streams do slow down when you stop touring, that's for sure. Okay. But I guess, was that a perfect segue to today's guest? I don't know. I feel like I ended on a negative note. Let's get positive. I am so grateful to be self-managed and to be still making music and to be supported by so many people.

including a lot of you little heartbeat listeners out there. Thank you for being my patrons on my Patreon page. Whether you're a free member or a paid member, it's all helpful because it means you want to stay in touch and keep up with what I'm doing. And I can't wait to share pictures of like, if some of you have not heard this before about when every year we plant trees based on how many paying members we have on Patreon.

So some years we've had like 80, some years 70, some years, but I usually just plant a hundred trees. So we have hundreds of trees planted all over our property in Port Howe. And of course they start out, you know, it's slow, slow growth. It's sort of like, was thinking of comparing it to basically your career as a musician or your, you love, your small business, whatever. It's a lot of work, a lot of time.

feed and water it and blah, blah, make sure it doesn't die. And eventually things start to bloom and the trees starts, those motherfucking trees start to grow. And so I think last year was really exciting as now you can look out and see like basically a forest. And I think this is going to be a major year for growth. And I just, to me, it's a huge reminder of that, you know, making music is great. We'll continue to make music, but...

to have a way to make a living doing what you do, even just a little bit of that living. We can't do it without music supporters and music listeners and lovers and venues and promoters. it's, yeah, it's not possible. So I'm so grateful for that love and support for what we do. Now that was a perfect segue. To introduce my buddy, my guest today, Dave Gunning.

Christina (08:07.022)
because he's been a huge inspiration for me over the years as a friend, as a writer, I deeply respect, and a singer as well. He's got a beautiful voice and someone I really hope to do a lot more co-writing with and maybe some work in the studio too. Recently I sent Dave a song to work on together and he was instantly present, thoughtful, was full of ideas. He was so quick and generous that I had to...

ask him to wait for me while I caught up. I also had this great opportunity to tour with Dave in Ireland, Dave Gunning and Dave Carroll and Terry Penny. I think this was back in 2010. every time I'm around him, it's just so grounding and fun and inspiring. He really is the bomb. So if you don't already know Dave, he's one of Canada's most respected folk singer-songwriters. He has deep roots in Pictou County.

That's where he lives now. he's known for his songs about real people, real life, real work. He's funny, he's thoughtful, he's empathetic. Not pathetic, empathetic. He's the opposite of AI, which we get into. Hey, and his second single from his new album Field Notes is out now. It's called Blue Heart. Check it out, it's gorgeous. Go listen. And the full album Field Notes drops this February, 2026.

And in this chat, we get into the very cool story behind the making of the record, the place, the process, the people, the heart behind it all. So this conversation feels like sitting down with an old friend, which is exactly what it was, except we did it remotely. Lots of fun, beautiful memories. Dave's an incredible storyteller. He's really lived a very interesting life and he shares that and some of the people in it. So stick around, enjoy the chat.

And let's see, what else? send me a message, send me an email, ChristinaMartinMusic at gmail.com. Let me know what you do when you are listening to this podcast. And if you have any questions or comments, drop me a line. You can also call the Heartbeat Hotline. Eventually we check the messages and sometimes we play them on a podcast. Okay, here's my chat with Dave Gunning.

Christina (10:38.19)
I'm glad you're here and you are my first guest for, technically this is season five. This is the fifth year of doing this podcast, A Chat with Heart. So welcome to A Chat with Heart podcast, Dave Gunning.

Thanks for having me on.

You look ready. You look ready for a good...

Well, I don't know. What?

What's with the chair behind you? that a chair with a history?

Dave (11:02.978)
people come and sit there.

I like the pattern.

You're welcome any time to come to my chair. Sit there, yeah. Sometimes the dogs come in and they kind of watch me recording or doing whatever.

and just sit right behind you.

Christina (11:19.746)
Nice. Are you in your home studio?

Yeah, I'm facing the desk, so like all the gears to either side of me kind of thing.

Sure, we'll pretend there's gear there. You don't actually have any, you? No. Nowadays there's no gear. It's all just like, are you using AI now to produce? Is that what, is that?

Yeah.

Dave (11:39.662)
Yeah, that's my style. I'm a big AI guy.

I figured, I mean, it's just bound to get the best of everyone eventually. I'm going to run this episode through AI after, no, I'm not. But someone did suggest that I do that at one point and I was like, I'm not going to do that.

It's not a good idea, probably.

No. Well, I mean, I guess you can use AI as a, I do use it. I have an online job, a part-time online job, and we use it. I use it to help formulate difficult responses. but I always like, you know, when it's a customer and they're really upset and you want to do good by them. And, but I always put in what I want to say. And then I'll be like, can you make this not sound like I'm an asshole? Like, you know, cause and

I find it can be used as a tool like that, like as if you're working with an editor for that particular job, I don't care. But I don't want it to interfere with the precious things like in my creative world. Yeah, I don't know if you've ever used it for anything or had tried to have just...

Dave (12:52.823)
Yeah.

Dave (12:58.51)
People have been sending me, know, here's a song that I've written with AI, you know, what do you think of it? Or here's a song that I think would suit you written with AI. I, you know, when I look at these, at the lyrics, I find that they're so generic. There's nothing really fresh and like, it's just spitting out stuff that's already been done before. And especially, you know, when you see photos and videos done with AI, you can

You can tell it's really sterile. Maybe that will improve over time, but at this point, I think it fools a lot of people, obviously, and some people can look at AI art or AI lyrics and think, wow, that's really nice. Where, I don't know, I find that if I, so far, what I've seen from AI lyrics or AI art, I don't find it, I just find that it's really generic looking, like a,

I don't know, like one of those Hallmark Christmas movies, you know what mean? Like it feels sterile and just regurgitating cliches and whether they're visual cliches or lyrical cliches. So I haven't been really, yeah. So far, and there's a local artist that just released a single. You can tell it was done with AI and the video was done with AI.

But people are commenting, congratulations.

Yeah.

Dave (14:31.118)
I don't know, to me it's not, I don't really enjoy it, but I went to Australia in June to record a new record and we recorded it outside of the recording studio, sitting on a porch with one microphone under a gum tree. Mark, who produced it for me, he said, mate, this is the opposite of AI. We're going for something that's just so raw in a world

Yeah.

Dave (15:00.876)
where we just don't know what's real sometimes anymore. People know that this is real because it has scars and little warts to prove it.

This is your new album, Field Notes, it's coming out February 20th.

Yeah, that's yeah, and so yeah, I recorded it back in June and It was done really quickly just outside no headphones no click tracks or anything just me sitting on a a ports with old guitars that he had collected from Flea markets and things over the years Actually all the guitars had nylon strings. I don't think there was one steel string Guitar, but yeah kind of a and I think that maybe because of all this AI stuff it felt

incredible.

Dave (15:46.776)
kind of liberating and somehow to do something that's totally not that.

Yeah, well, I think there's going to be like a resurgence of artists, know, craving wanting to do that. know Dale and I have had a lot of discussions about AI and how can we basically avoid not we don't use it in our own in our creative work, but even just in other parts of our life. How do we, you know, minimize it or try not to use it and just use our, you know, use our own voices like there's certainly

I like using AI for things like work related things that I just hate to do that like maybe a manager would do or, you know, it can draft like a basic plan for you if you're, if you don't want to spend six hours or whatever trying to come up with a marketing plan and you want some kind of an outline and then you go in and put your human voice in it, to it. I can see it. I personally,

Yeah.

Christina (16:50.56)
appreciate using it like that because I don't particularly, I don't feel like that's my strength or want to even, you know, it does save time and I'm doing a million different things, but there's certain things in your life you keep precious. And so what you've done with that album, think more artists are, and audiences I think are, there will, I think there will always be, at least I want to believe this, audiences that want to know is this AI or not? I want to support the real deal, the human

connection and touch. I'm really excited about this. And the single that's out now, Going Nowhere Tonight, that's on that album, right? And is that a song? I love the title, but to me, I was like, is this about our lives living in the middle of nowhere in rural Nova Scotia because there's nothing to do going nowhere tonight? I listened to the song and it's beautiful. tell us about the song and why you picked it as like a first.

Yeah.

Christina (17:49.546)
single or if you even had a choice in the matter.

Well, Mark really loved that song. was one of the last ones I wrote for the... Before I went to Australia, I wrote it just kind of... I wrote it for Sarah. People have asked, have you written anything for your wife? And obviously she makes an appearance in quite a few of the songs, but this was one that... I don't know, it was more on the nose, I suppose.

Yeah.

Amazing. I wrote it for her and she likes it.

I was going ask you if you've ever finished a song and thought, yep, I'm in trouble with this one. But clearly not that one. That one got you some points at home. But have you ever written songs where you're like, ooh, this one could put somebody in jail or I don't know. That you're like, this one's going to be, I might have to explain something. I don't know.

Dave (18:49.166)
Yeah, no, no, for sure. Obviously, we write what we know and sometimes what we know might be personal or it might involve other people that we don't want to reveal or whatever the case may be. So yeah, there's a few that might approach the danger zone, but I'm pretty definitely safe with that song. And I think all the ones on my new record.

Now, here's going back to AI. What if you wrote a really personal song that you do like, I'm not singing this, like no one's actually gonna hear this. Then you put those lyrics in AI and say, could you disguise this so that it'd be a song that I could actually perform? I actually, I'm all for, now that I think about it, artists like using, like being upfront about it, but maybe using AI in a wacky way like that. Say like, I wrote this song.

put it in AI, I gave it these prompts, and this is what it came up with. And the result being a ridiculous, like hilarious, I don't know, like my grandma murdered my father, married my cousin Bob, and then had me as a child.

Yeah, okay, AI, change the names and places.

Yeah, believe that's all it could do. Hey, did you know that people do impressions of you?

Dave (20:15.34)
Yeah, there's a few good ones around. Mingo especially, he's right on the nose. JP is a pretty good one. Does he? Yeah, and it's sort of a culture that in some ways I suppose I helped create because I've done impersonations and impressions of other people, friends and heroes and things like that. So yeah, it's actually pretty damn flattering.

Well, I've got one right here for you if you don't mind listening. Okay, hold on.

Christina (20:51.95)
Dave Gunning, dude, Dave! He'll like do Dave Gunning, but like, you know how Dave is so nice? Yeah, he's coming on the podcast in January. perfect. Yeah, okay, it's gonna be great. Anyway, so... my god, Dave! It's so good, I'm surprised he's here! He showed up early! Hey, I hear, my goodness, this is freaking me out! If I close my eyes, so I hear you've done a book and Megan illustrated it, Dave. yeah!

It's about time there, Christina.

Dave (21:08.312)
I gain some followers, I think.

Dave (21:17.998)
Yeah, I was on her all the time. She had to get it. I was like, me? Get those paintings done now. This is something she would never say in a million years. He's like an alter ego, Dave. He's like aggressive, angry Dave. That's a demanding, conceited Dave.

That's right.

Christina (21:37.59)
Yeah, he was saying in the episode that we, we launched in December that he likes to do, like he likes to do Trump, like say think complete opposite things that people wish Trump would say. Okay. He never would. So that's well that's what I think that's what his strength is. That's, that's his, his, his gimmick with his

What? Get going.

Dave (21:58.84)
But I... Your was unbelievable.

Yeah, know, Megan sent me a message on Instagram one day and then I guess Mingo did you, but I thought it was you. I thought she was with you. And the reason why is because I just read that you had done this beautiful book that I have in my hands to be with you. so this is a book that has the lyrics to your song and Megan did all the artwork.

I thought, it's totally plausible that Megan is hanging out with Dave Gunning. then when they did the podcast, they're like, that was just Jason, not you. And I was like, I feel like I was just fooled by AI. this is, I'm concerned, but I don't even, yeah. So this, so hey, segue to this book. Like what, is this something that's been on your mind for a long time or did somebody suggest to you, Hey, you ever thought about doing a book?

Megan, I did a book quite a few years ago, probably back in 2013 or 2012 with my song, These Hands. A great song. I had already had some experience doing a children's book and that original book for These Hands, that was actually Sarah's idea. She's a school teacher. She sees through the lens of being a childhood educator.

Yeah, we have that other song to be with you that I kind of joked that I wrote with my dog one time when I was drinking beer. so we it's song that's been kicking around. and I think I sent the lyrics to Megan and just asked her opinion about it. And she thought, my gosh. Yeah. And she'd she came up with so many great ideas for it. She's an artist artist. She's unbelievable.

Christina (23:55.766)
Yeah, she is.

like in every way. And so, and so is Jason. He's an incredible musician and producer. Yeah, so it was great. I was really happy to get to work with her again on this book. with Nimbus publishing too, I've never worked with a publisher before. That was a different experience. Like it moves, that world moves pretty slow, but it's worth it. know, they're,

They've got checks and balances and their quality control is pretty high. They're a great company. They've worked with lots of authors over the years, especially children's books.

Yeah.

Christina (24:41.644)
The book is beautiful and I love the song. I've heard you play it live. It just gets in your bones. It is really lovely to be in the audience and instantly you can sing along. I know you always help people along, but I like that your songs are... This song in particular...

It's just easy for everyone to feel connected and sing along. And then people are smiling when you play the song. And what I love about the illustrations is like, it's just, there's a softness to it. Like it's a really, I feel like it's a very sensory friendly. So it makes you feel like calm. It makes me feel calm when I look for.

Her artwork is absolutely beautiful in that book. The way it starts out, at the beginning of the book it's nighttime and then it's early morning light, it's daylight and then it becomes evening again, like through the course of the book.

Yeah.

I got mine on Amazon. Is that where you want people to buy it from? do want them to go?

Dave (25:50.898)
Yeah, that's I guess Amazon or you can buy directly from Nimbus maybe too. I'm not sure but Yeah, I can well dig up a link for that

Dave (26:04.492)
Yeah. There's probably a link on the site that would direct you to the place. Yeah.

Speaking of working with your friends, you have a really interesting history of touring with friends. I know you toured solo. Do you like touring solo? I do not.

Well, I like some things about it. There's a certain sort of freedom with it, I suppose. It can be a bit lonely. I think that's why I enjoy the co-writing aspect because I've toured solo for so long and so many years. I think I enjoy collaborating with other friends and artists with writing. And I enjoy touring with others.

just the way it's been. As a singer-songwriter-storyteller, you do end up traveling alone a lot of the time. just the way it works. Yeah, guess I don't mind it, but it's nice to have a blend. I find it does get lonely, and then I enjoy getting out on the road with other people.

Yeah. So if I throw some names at you, can you come up with a fun road story?

Dave (27:21.344)
Maybe.

Okay, JP Cormier.

Oh gosh. Unbelievable. There's so many with that guy. Yeah. I mean, he, he, and I had been, uh, close friends and collaborators since 1994 or something like that. Like, um, the first time I met him, I hired him to play fiddle for my band, for a pub band in Halifax. We were playing, was actually Fleur Mainville was our fiddle player and McKeel was forming. she, he canceled the night before the guys were rehearsing and

I don't know, for some reason she canceled the night before the gigs three times in a row, like over a period of about a month, because they were trying to get this new band rehearsed and things, and they had asked me to join the band in the beginning, but I of stayed on my own. yeah, so think Dave McKisick filled in for us one time, and then Sheila Cameron from Pictou County, lives in Scotland now, teaches fiddle there, I believe. She filled in...

the second time, then the third time, I like, I don't know any other fiddlers. I'd gone through, every one of them. I called John Meir and Pecto and he said, there's a fellow that just moved back from Alabama named J.P. Cormier. I think he plays a little bit of fiddle and maybe some other instruments. No one knew, I didn't know anything about him. So I called him, had just gotten home, he was in Shetty Camp, said he was just eating Kraft dinner. He called and...

Christina (28:47.19)
Love it.

Dave (28:51.496)
I called him and he, I said, would you play fiddle for us? He says, is it a pay, is it a paying gig? I think actually I didn't want to put pressure on him. I do you know anybody that might do this? And he says, is this a paying gig? said, yeah, yeah. You know, paid a couple hundred bucks a night or something. He said, I'll do it. And he showed up and of course we had another line for a guitar and a vocal mic and stuff. He's saying all the third part harmonies.

my God, he's such a-

We hit it off. He had a little cassette recorder and he recorded the show. And I just remember him saying, like, I really like your voice. It's unique. You don't sound like other people. And I like your songs. And if you record someday, you know, I'll play fiddle on the record for you. And then so he did do that. And then I saw him showcase in Charlottetown and was blown away by his songs. and

I said, man, this is unreal. you and I are going to tour together. Because he was releasing his record another morning. So I went out and I toured with him for the release of that record, sort of as a special guest where I was singing a bit. his cousin was playing bass. And two weeks before his first ever Cross Canada tour, his cousin quit the band. So he hired me to play bass guitar for that first Cross Canada tour in 1997.

Yeah.

Christina (30:13.249)
Whoa!

Yeah.

Sorry, how did the Kraft dinner is still on my mind. How did you know he was making Kraft dinner? Is that just?

That's what he just said. He said, I've been living on Kraft dinner. I went down to his house to learn the songs on the bass, practicing, whatever. There was a pot, something boiling in the pot. I looked in, it was a rabbit. was the last time that rabbit walked through my yard.

my God. actually, really like growing up, my parents often had wild rabbit, like wild rabbit pies and stews and stuff. that's that I can. I wonder if he ever had the like combined the Kraft dinner and the wild rabbit. That might be good. I just bought some Kraft dinner, actually. It's funny. It's funny the things you don't need to buy. I'm not that hard up that I need to buy Kraft dinner, but like I still get a craving for

Dave (30:59.598)
I'm sure.

Dave (31:11.246)
We upgraded to the Annie's in the Oregon. It was on sale for $2 a box or something at Sobe's. We bought a bunch of that. It's a healthier alternative. It's pretty good.

Look, I would take your Yucca app and scan barcode because I believe that Kraft Dinner might be safer to eat than Annie's. Don't quote me on that. yeah, I've got this app called Yucca. I'm obsessed with it. I scan everything, cosmetics and food, and it breaks it down. It tells you exactly what additives are in it and why they're harmful or not. And it scores each item. And so you want to try to get cosmetics or like shampoos and foods that

Obviously you're in the 70 to 100 range, but there is so much crap out there. Anyway, I don't want to get in trouble or be taken for slander, Annie, but yeah, check it out. Yucca app. It's free. It's free and I make a donation every year like 11 bucks so that I can search for products that don't scan.

Items have a barcode. Yucca, I'll send it to you later. Y-U-K-U-C-A. don't know. anyway, JP, love him. I got to get him on the podcast and I got to do a co-write with him. I want to desperately. Yeah, he's just such a gem. And how cool is that? You guys do a yearly, it seems like yearly holiday season tour.

Check those.

Dave (32:47.808)
Yeah, we do that as a, we started doing that about nine years ago. I was sort of doing Christmas shows around here. I would do a few leading up to the holidays. the reason we teamed up together, we love to hang out together, number one, but also we realized that if we booked a Christmas tour every year of Atlantic Canada, then that would mean that our booking agent wouldn't send us somewhere far away.

So it guarantees that we'll always be home for Christmas.

I think that's wise. That's right. I your family loves that.

We love doing it too. It's a lot of fun.

Christina (33:27.902)
okay. What about, I know you've toured with Stump Tom Connors and I would love for you, because I know a lot of my audience will already know you and possibly know this story, but I have some listeners overseas and scattered about the US and I would love for you to share the story of Tom interviewing you for the gig to be in his band.

Yeah. So, um, JP toured with Tom, I think in 1991, um, with Tom Gallant. think Tom Gallant was the opening act. Um, so I think Tom's regular band was, was taking a break or something. And at that point, uh, Tom was touring every year and, um, you know, Tom isn't

wasn't well known outside of Canada, obviously not in the States or anything like that. he, I remember he sold over four million records in Canada or something crazy. But yeah, a real character, well known for his kind of traveling around the country, hitchhiking in the younger days. Like he was orphaned in St. John, New Brunswick. I think his mother was living on the streets and she had to give him up for adoption. He was adopted by a PEI potato farmer.

and constantly was running away from the farm looking for his mom. Heartbreaking story. So his whole life and eventually he found her and I don't know if she was doing that well at the time. But yeah, quite a character. He was shaped, he was interestingly shaped by a lot of hard things that happened to him in his life. But a beautiful guy, he treated us really well. He had certain protocols and things on the road.

I kept the contract here. It's actually on the contract that you had to stay up and drink with them until five in the morning, I think it was. it was really late anyway. I have the time here.

Christina (35:23.768)
Couldn't do it.

Christina (35:29.868)
Like until he, until he decided, did he ever cut it short?

It was either four or five, but it was on the contract anyway. you... Yeah, it's no fewer than one or two musicians must accompany Tom until... Wow. So for the first three nights on the tour, I stayed up till 9.30 in the morning with him and Brian Edwards, the tour manager, was waiting outside the hotel room and said, Dave...

You must hang out with me.

Dave (36:02.356)
You can't do this anymore because there's too much money on the line and we can't afford to be canceling shows. And if you and Tom get into this routine, it's going to turn into hard liquor and it's going to go in a different direction and I will lose control this and we'll all be out of some work.

Interesting. So it was all on you.

Yeah, so I said, well, he said, listen, all you got to do, it's on the contract, just say, Tom, I'm tired, I'm going to bed. Like, just leave the room at that time. He goes to bed, you go to bed, and we all can, this has to be sustainable.

wow, so...

So, but Tom, when Tom called me, I, JP had told me that he might have wanted me to play electric guitar or something, like the tele parts and, you know, in his band. And then a few months went by and I hadn't really thought of it. And then all of sudden the phone rang and it was Stomp and Tom. He actually left a message and he said, I'm gonna call back in an hour.

Dave (37:05.216)
Ontario time or something. He told me the time I'm to call it 730 Ontario time. I waited. He called and Hello, this is Stomp and Tom Connors calling. Look for Dave Gunning. And I was like, yeah, this is me. And it I thought is it somebody playing a joke? I wasn't really sure. But he just went on to say, listen, JP, JP says you played the bass guitar pretty good, but I want to know if you drink. And I said, I

Yeah, is this.

Dave (37:33.723)
I like to have a few beers, know, and well that's good because we're not a bunch of preachers out on the road.

Okay. Don't care about the bass playing. Can you dream?

Yeah, exactly. then I saw so as he said, well, listen, I need to know one more thing. And it's really important. I need to know if you can handle your liquor. And I said, yeah, I guess like I get drunk like anybody if I have too much or enough, depending on my goal at the time, I suppose. But I'll make sure I'm there to the last notes played. I won't miss a gig. Yeah. That's what I want to hear, boy. I just want to make sure you weren't one of them fallsy downsies. This meant are you going to get drunk and get messy and

pass out and not be able to do this. Yeah. And I remember the first night on the road with Tom, when I got to Ontario, I think it was Brockville, Ontario, he was playing Scrabble with his with his son, Tommy Jr. So he got JP and I in on the game. And at one point, Tommy Jr. and JP were outside having a chat about something. And it was just me and Tom in the hotel room just by ourselves. I'm sitting across the table from him. And like I had just

Yeah, no.

Dave (38:42.73)
I had never played upright bass in my life. I bought the upright bass two months before the tour and learned to play it. So JP, I tried to call Tom back and get out of the gig because I don't play upright bass. And JP says, don't you dare call him. Go buy the bass and learn it. I wouldn't have stuck my neck out for you if I didn't know you could do it. So shut up, buy the bass. I don't want to hear from you until you do it.

Amazing!

So I went to Halifax, bought the base on my way back, stopped into the Irving Big Stop and bought like six Stompin' Tom CDs that had just been released with Michael Rycraft and all the beautiful artwork with the leaf on it and stuff. I had these CDs and the cashier looks at me and says, you're a big Stompin' Tom fan. said, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. So I just, I bought the gas, the CDs, went home, straight to the Picto Liquor store after that, bought a case of beer.

started practicing it was it was kind of like I sort of felt like was like training for the Olympics or something because

Like you're not only practicing upright bass and you're teaching yourself a new instrument, but you're also training in terms of drinking alcohol.

Dave (39:54.062)
I was drinking the beers and learning the tunes at the same time because I figured that's the world I'm gonna be in. That's the game. They say when you're in university, if you study when you're under the influence of alcohol, that certain things will come back to you again under the influence of that same substance. I don't know if that's true. I did test it on the Tom tour and it certainly worked. So Tom and I are sitting across the table like

tried it, never.

Christina (40:18.232)
Good, okay.

Dave (40:23.214)
The first night I met him and he's smoking his cigarettes and just looking at me like he's staring into your soul. Extremely smart guy. He studied every single form of religion he gets his hands on and he saw the world in numbers. But he was staring at me and I was getting nervous. I said, gee Tom, I'm pretty thrilled that you asked me to do this tour and geez, you're a hero of mine.

I don't know if JP told you, I just, I've only been playing the upright bass for a couple of months, so I'm wondering like before the show tomorrow night, are we going to get a chance to rehearse or anything? And he went...

Dave (41:07.733)
you talking about?

I thought he was going to fire me and send me home. He says, you don't need to worry about mistakes, about making mistakes on my show because I'll be making more than you.

Nice. I thought he was going to fucking hit you.

He just said, there's no pressure, don't worry about it. Basically, grab another beard and once you relax.

That is not what I expected.

Christina (41:33.942)
Nice. That's a that's well at that point, right? At that point, I mean, it's probably in his best interest to make you just relax as a leader.

I don't think that was on his mind. think he was just wanting to... He knew that I could do it. JP told him I was a real good bass player. So he wasn't worried about that side of it.

I seriously thought I was going to hit you. thought this story was going somewhere really dark.

No, but it could have. It could have. It went through the tour with some of the characters on the road. I bet. He and JP had an altercation on the second night, I think. I that he was tired to send home, but it worked out okay.

Maybe I'll ask him about that when he comes on my podcast.

Dave (42:20.846)
Well, he may or may not remember it all. if the JP has a way of some of the bad, I think because of self-protection over the years, he has a gift for forgetting some bad things.

Yeah, well, I memory is

He protect his own well-being because the poor guy had a hard upbringing in times himself, right? He'd always had no good in the end. We had a great time and that was a great experience. Tom and I kept in touch over the years and I went to visit him at his house. He had a beautiful spot, like a nice bar inside his house and a workshop with all his tools and things. Quite a guy.

is destructive.

Dave (43:09.39)
And his office was just one typewriter on the desk.

Pretty neat.

Incredible. I'm so glad you shared that because it's just fascinating. think it's incredible. mean, he's just such an iconic human. And that you have these stories and that it was such a part of, you know, molding you too into the musician that you became and that you are now. what a gem to have these rock and roll stories, really.

He's a, could tell you, I'll tell you one more. He had this letter. He was invited, he was one of 50 Canadians invited to meet the Queen. So when I was visiting him at his house, he showed me this letter that was in his, on his desk. And I said, are you going to meet the Queen? He says, well, let me tell you the story here. Here's my response to Rideau Hall. And his response was, thank you very much for the invitation. I'm flattered that you would invite me to go, but I wear a hat and I know in the presence of the Queen, I'd be required to remove my hat and I'm not comfortable doing.

that so I respectfully decline the invitation sincerely Stomp and Tom Connors and I said you're not going he goes well I'm not done telling the story yet but and he shows here's here's their response to me so he got another response from Rita Hall saying we've consulted with Buckingham Palace and the Queen would like to meet you meet Canadians as they are and Stomp and Tom wears a hat so please leave the hat on and just so you know how we're getting around protocol

Dave (44:42.464)
your hat will be considered a religious headdress for the evening's events. And that was in the letter. He was so proud of that. Amazing. when I flew home to Nova Scotia, I watched CBC News World, the recap, know, Peter Mansbridge, had events that had happened that weekend. And of course, they were covering the Rideau Hall thing. And it's all these famous Canadians meeting the Queen. And there's Tom, obviously.

easy to spot because he had the big black hat on going through the lineup and nodding. so I thought, that's amazing. So Tom only ate ham sandwiches with white bread and just mustard. That's about all he'd eat. We took him for a pork chop dinner at one point or liver and onions or something. And he complained about how lethargic he felt the whole night. so he ate just like he liked his ham sandwiches, white bread, just mustard. I called him on the Monday after seeing the recap.

And I kind of teased him a little bit. I said, wow, what was it like? It looked like, he says, well, it was pretty swanky. I said, well, the food must have been amazing, Tom. Not really, no. Looked like seagull shit or some damn thing on the plate. There were all these little piles of stuff. And he said, but Brian called and arranged to have a ham sandwich made for me, white bread, just mustard.

Oh wow, that's really something.

Yeah, yeah, pretty funny. my God. hope you which tray was coming to our table from the distance, because it'd the only tray with a bottle of moose head green on it.

Christina (46:16.754)
my God, that's hilarious. I'm gonna update my rider. Right now there's just like glass bottled water, which by the way, no one can ever find and it stresses people out. So now I'm stressed and I'm like, just don't worry about the water. Just give me tap water. I thought like I would be doing everyone a favor by just putting glass bottle, cause I don't want to encourage plastic bottle.

I stories all day about that.

Dave (46:41.774)
for sure it's not healthy either.

don't put glass bottle water because you don't want to put people out. That's a good way to put people out. Yeah. Dave, I've got another question for you here. Do you know how to hold them and when to fold them? Like in your career, in your life, have you at times had to really sit yourself down and go, you know, these things are coming at me, but I just have to learn. Like, how do you decide for yourself what

what to keep in your life, what to let in, what to say yes to and what to say no to, or do you just say yes to everything?

No, I don't say yes to everything, but...

Are you comfortable saying no?

Dave (47:22.582)
Right now, I'm in a good spot. I'm in a good place. It was a rough, over the last 20 years, there were some patches of time where it was too much. the work with the pulp mill that we did here, that took a lot of time. That was basically a full-time job.

started back in 2009, well really 2007, but really the heavy lifting started from 2009 until, you know, 2019 or something like that. yeah.

What was the result of that Dave? Can you talk about?

Well, the was we were able to... So we... The mill has shut down and that wasn't necessarily the goal. But that's where we're at now. But we started a group way back and my brother said, we don't want to be activists, we want to be factivists, which is going to take a lot longer. And so we ended up assembling a group. mean, we had some prominent business leaders on our group and we also had...

pulp and paper experts on our group. had two former scientists that had worked with Environment Canada on our group. Like we had a group of about 14 people.

Christina (48:46.306)
And this is in Pictou County for listeners.

And one of the guys on our group was so high up in the pulp and paper industry that the vice president of Paper Excellence Canada that was owned by the Asia Pulp and Paper, but the vice president of their organization in Canada based out of Vancouver used to be, was a former employee for Our Guy. Our Guy was his old boss. So we would FOIPAP documents from the government

wow.

Dave (49:18.83)
and their public domain technically legally because they're paid for by taxpayers to do these studies. The mill would do studies and firemental assessments or whatever the case. We would foipop these documents and the documents would come back redacted with all the juicy stuff blacked out, right? But when we knew what we were looking for, because of the people on our group, because of the high caliber

people on our group, we were always able to get the unredacted versions of those reports. And then when we had the unredacted versions, we would surface that information to the public. So we weren't necessarily saying, this is really bad, and you should feel this way. We were surfacing facts and letting people decide for themselves how they felt about it. And that becomes more cemented. That's why it took so many years.

Amazing.

Dave (50:12.374)
It took that many years to gain the trust of the government too. So we learned a lot about how government works and my role on the group was I was almost the liaison between the pulp and paper experts and the scientists and the community or the government. So I would prepare presentations for

for the community or for the government or for business people, but taking it from the technical documents. So it was lot of heavy lifting because I'd have to try to paraphrase things. And then after I would reword these scientific documents or rework them so lame, so people can understand it, I have to take all my work back to the experts to make sure it was still factually correct. So it was a lot of work.

And but I don't regret it But do I know when to hold them and no one to fold them? Well, I say man I got sucked into that and they you know Once I knew how bad it was. I couldn't ignore to turn my back on it It involved the only First Nation community here picked a landing First Nation. They were getting Disproportionately dumped on like all the effluent was getting dumped into their backyard basically and there were other

Non-native people that lived right next to it too, it wasn't just affecting them, but disproportionately it was affecting them. So there was an element of environmental racism and they were poisoning the community and it was heavily government subsidized and there was just so many things wrong about it. But I get pulled into that. I'm very cautious now when people reach out to me.

whether it's a gold mine or whatever it is, or something that's happening that people are concerned about, I'm reluctant to kind of jump, I don't just jump in and get involved because I would need to know the facts. If I'm getting involved with something like that, want to be able to be backed into the corner by an engineer from that company and be able to talk.

Dave (52:33.71)
and argue my way out of the corner. It takes a lot of time to educate yourself to that level where you can do that. I know more about Bleachcraft pulp mills than I do about folk music.

Yeah.

Christina (52:49.774)
I can't wait for that book on that topic.

Well, song's written about it. And I was also worried that now I'm not going to be able to write. I'm going to have writers block because I'm so passionate about this issue. Shit, my songwriting's going to suffer now. And then all of sudden, songs started to come. I mean, I think I don't know how you feel or how you think of this, but my way of understanding it is that a passion fuels creativity.

So if you can become really passionate about something, whether it's love, anger, or fear, whatever it is, if that extreme passion can fuel creativity. And so that's how it ended up happening. of course songs, these hands, I never would have written that song without that being in the middle of that fight. it all worked out. But I think now,

family time had suffered, you know, and so I think I place more of a priority these days on family. And just because I let that slip, looking back on that whole experience, and I remember you were very supportive. I appreciated that. When that, I remember you reaching out.

a few times when that was happening, the mill fight.

Christina (54:22.092)
Really? Good. I don't remember.

You offered help, is there anything I can do?

good. I'm glad I wasn't, to not remember. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm typing in the chat for Dave to just say these things about me.

Good friend.

Dave (54:39.246)
But yeah, and I think I don't regret it like looking back it was there was some sacrifices with it but the other thing about that, you know being passionate or you know when you meet other people that are also very passionate about the same thing then the bonds that you form with those people feels more sick more They feel stronger like the friendship like of course we did make some enemies locally. There's no doubt of that

But we made friends locally and the friendships that formed locally were formed by that shared passion. And so we still have some very close friends here because of that fight. But yeah, there's nothing wrong. It feels good to be back and just focusing on music and family, of course.

Yeah. And I mean, the message to, I think is a message to share is that, I recognize this for myself, is that if you don't take care of yourself, then you won't have the energy to help other people when the time comes. I've got some before I let you go, which I don't ever want to do, but I will. I will drop you Dave Gunning. Quickfire fun questions.

I understand.

Christina (56:02.444)
I like to ask my guests, what is a fun fact about you that your fans don't really know about you? Or maybe I probably don't know about you. Is there anything weird or wacky about Dave Gunning that you are happy to share with my little heartbeat listeners?

I'm not sure if there's anything I've been hiding. I'm wondering if there's some little fun thing that I don't talk about. But I talk so much and I can't hide much. I would say that I love tractors, but I've probably talked about tractors at my shows.

Yeah, well, and that could be something that we assume of you. You know, I sucked my fingers until I was 11. I these two fingers and had indents in them. I might still have some indents. Yeah, I sucked my fingers until I was like 11 years old and I had to burn my baby blanket. I had to burn it and I kept the ashes in an ice cream container. I was that attached.

have satin around the outside or...

No, it was just like, I don't, was, it was certainly was soft.

Dave (57:14.83)
I had one, sat around the outside that he used to...

Did you suck your fingers?

my thumb i think

and you smell it at the same time? Do you remember that? You smell the blanket and you suck your thumb. Did you do that?

I my thumb at the same time.

Dave (57:32.718)
No, I think I smelled the blanket.

getting ready. That's what I was becoming about me. I'm just trying to lure out like a weird fact about your. Okay, so I've just embarrassed myself.

I'm trying to think if there's anything I sort of keep quiet. I'm not sure if there is.

Do you have any weird tics?

yeah, like I scratched my eyebrows like this.

Christina (57:58.882)
There we go. Yeah. There we go.

I feeling of the hair under my fingernails. I don't know why that is. I'm start doing that now.

Interesting. Just eyebrows. Yeah, well, I don't have very much hair there, but yeah. Okay. No, I'm not going to start doing this. This isn't pleasant for me. What's gone wrong on tour? That was definitely not in the plans that you just did not expect. I'm trying to think. Actually, something happened the other day that wasn't on tour, but I went to sell something.

and a weird

Christina (58:34.838)
a monitor screen on Facebook marketplace, met up with this person. And they're like waving at me and I'm like, all right, this is the person. And they come over to the car and I've got my friend's three boys in the car and roll down the window. The guy hands us eight dead mice. He just hands, he's eight dead mice in a plastic baggie. And I'm like, what is going on here? I'm supposed to get money from this person and then give them the monitor. And this guy's just handing and the kids are like, is that guy trying to sell you drugs?

And he just, I was the wrong person. was there selling mice to people who had reptiles. And I parked next to him and he's like, hey. And he thought I was this Janet person. So he comes over and he's just handing me these dead mice. I'm like, dude, am not Janet. I'm not, I do not. But it took me, I was so thrown off. Anyway, that's not a tour story.

you

Dave (59:28.59)
Well, the only thing that I think that's gone wrong in the last couple of years would be JP getting some kind of deal on rooms that aren't so good. I think we stayed at one, it's like all these bikers showing up at all hours selling drugs and like a used rubber in the garbage can.

Okay, this is where you do not try to get any deals. You don't take any cuts on the rooms. That's disgusting. I could have a chat with him.

Wicked deal in a room.

Dave (01:00:03.842)
Yeah, yeah, get a killer deal on these rooms.

Yeah, because they're fucking covered in semen and who knows what else. my God. Do you have any?

I slept with all my clothes on and my socks over my jeans. It was in... Cernia.

Where was this? I mean, you don't have to name

Christina (01:00:28.076)
Is that a place where there's not other options nearby? Cause I would gone on thebooking.com and booked another. I've done that before. We've stayed at places where there were bed bugs and the middle of the night, like someone, our friend woke us up and was like, our room is infested. Let's check yours. And then we were like, let's get out of here. It's 2 a.m. I find, I book us another hotel. get there by at like 3.30 a.m. but like it's, yeah.

There are all kinds of great places there.

Dave (01:00:55.724)
I had to sleep with the lights on because when I shut the lights off all the silver fish and stuff.

God, that's disgusting. Okay. I'll have a chat with JP.

turn the light on and you'd see all these things scurrying

want me to book your hotels for your next tour with JP?

Yeah.

Christina (01:01:15.722)
It's my favorite thing to do, book planning for a tour. Okay, worst piece of advice that you've been given about music or the music business, the worst piece of advice.

This is interesting. Yeah, because I remember starting out like back before 2002, say. So I mean, I was playing pubs from 1993 and on kind of onwards. But around 2000, I was applying to do the Songwriters Showcase at the ECMA every year. of course, I wasn't getting invited to do it.

I didn't think there was anything necessarily wrong with the songs. I'd written a song called Time Slops Away and Here She Comes a-Running and songs that I thought were good songs. But they said the advice I was being given by the music industry here at the time, which wasn't necessarily bad advice, but looking back, it was probably bad advice. But I may have given the same advice to somebody if I was in their shoes, but-

They said like, your songs are too regional. You'll never make it outside of Atlantic Canada because your songs are too East Coast sounding. Like nobody cares about Twitter the Clown in Europe or whatever, right? Or the Prince of Pecktoe or all these characters you're writing about. That's too regional. Your songs are too regional. So you'll never have a sustainable career outside this region because you're only singing about this region. Now...

What's interesting is that I finally did get invited to do the Songwriters Circle in 2002. And I sang Here She Comes a-Running, and I sang Prince of Picto. And I got booked to play the Strawberry Folk Festival in California and the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. And I was a bit surprised. And I said to Dallas Allen and Charlie Cran, the program directors, I said, why? My songs are pretty regional. How is this going to work when I get

Dave (01:03:25.043)
California or get to Texas with your audience and they said we got lots of characters in our hometowns too. Yeah.

There you go. I know in Europe, they love the idea of anything you can present to them that helps them visualize a place in Canada that they might visit. People dream of coming and living here and want to hear the stories from here. I think it's a huge benefit, but it's so awesome that you just...

Well, I mean, all I could really do is just write what I know and keep doing what I was doing. And the more honest I've been in life, the better shit seems to go. so I just so looking back now, I think that that was bad advice from the music industry people back at that time. But how would they have known? I mean, it was in a way, it's kind of good advice. They were saying, write stuff that sounds like it's more universal that it could.

Okay, well that's a different type of thing. That's like if you're gonna mainstream universal type artists, but I'm a folk singer. My audiences are nosy. They wanna know the details about characters and they wanna hear the stories and that's what I do. And so it was bad advice for what I would eventually become, but they wouldn't have known that at the time.

Mm-hmm.

Christina (01:04:37.742)
specifics.

Christina (01:04:52.448)
Yeah, also, think, know, I think from that folk artists that there's more money in folk music, to be honest. think it's not that it's not hard, you know, to just be there in a hard times and everyone has to find their own way. But I do think if you want to break into like a mainstream, whatever, or do pop or mainstream rock,

I think it's harder than, you know, like just singing from your heart and sharing your stories and learning how to be more yourself in front of people.

Yeah, I guess that world that you're talking about is like buying lottery tickets. It's like going for the gold ring, jumping and trying to grab the gold ring as you're falling down. And the folk thing is small, but sustainable. Yeah.

But it can also be big, there's a big audience around the world that loves folk music. And Americana, which is kind of a mesh of a lot of genres, right? But with the heart of it is the storytelling, you know? And you do it so well. So well, Dave.

Well, I, I, I, and her, audience, or your audience, cause I'm talking to you. Her, her. But I love your voice so much and you don't, nobody sounds like you. have an instantly identifiable sound. Thank you. You can kind of like, I like your voice in the same way. I love Amy Lou Harris.

Christina (01:06:19.618)
Let's talk about her. He's pointing at me.

Dave (01:06:41.006)
It's just a classic sound and I'll always be grateful for you singing on my John Allen and Cameron Tribute records. It was such a cool thing. John Allen was such a folk icon, such an important figure for me and for so many others and having you come into that world. The color of your voice, that tone of your voice on that record is so beautiful.

Thanks, buddy. Well, thank you for providing that opportunity and I'll sing on anything you want. will scream sing, I'll whisper sing. But I look forward to, you helped me out. We did a co-write recently and I look forward to doing more of that in our lifetime. And that's kind of the phase I'm in now is where I actually want, where there were so many years where it was just like...

I don't know, just blinders on and you're just trying to make it work and you're on the road and you have no time. But as you tour and you're at music conferences, you meet these wonderful people, you make friends as we've been friends for so long now. But I didn't allow time to co-write with people. I wasn't even interested in it. I didn't think I could do it. And now I'm loving it. But I want more collaborations. It is so fun.

to be able to do that with such talents. It's just my dream to just do more of that.

hope we get to write some more songs. You and I are old. That awkward first date stuff. mean, we we drank Tullamore Dew in the back of a van in Ireland. That was awesome. Yeah, that was. was fun tour.

Christina (01:08:19.512)
Remember that?

That That was really great having you there. And then what a great bunch. I remember it was you, Dave Carroll and Terry Penny. And I honestly, it was so good for me to have such like y'all were such gentlemen. And it was just like hanging out with my friends, like my good friends. we had, I think with each one of you, we had, we were able to have like serious talks, not serious talks. And it really was just hanging out with like cool, cool best friends.

yeah, that was great trip.

My little heartbeat listeners are going to check out your tour dates because you do have some around Atlanta, before you head off to Ireland. People will go check out your website also to order the book to be with you. Words by Dave, Art by Megan Smith, davegunning.com. And you can pre-order your new album Field Notes. It's out February 20th from your website as well. And in the meantime, check out the new single, Going Nowhere Tonight.

And is there anything else you want to plug Dave before I kick you off here?

Dave (01:09:25.143)
I think there's a second single coming out this week or maybe on the 9th, I think.

Great, okay, so I can share that when this comes out.

I believe it's called Blue Heart. Yeah, I love your hearts on your sweater, by the way.

heart. Love it.

Well, it is a chat with heart podcast and thanks buddy. Yeah, you got to stick with the theme of love. It is really the most important thing and everything I do in life, I try to come at it. Even if it's a tough conversation, especially come at it with love. It makes it a little bit easier, you know? But I love this chat. I love you. And I look forward to collaborating more because we're going to like, we're going to live for like at least another 50 years, I think.

Dave (01:10:01.42)
Absolutely.

Dave (01:10:11.616)
Yeah, well, send me that app, so.

yeah, you Yucca app, Gotcha.

Yeah. Yeah. Love to you and Dale and great to see you.

You two say hi to Sarah and the boys and the dogs and the chickens?

The chickens are, we don't have chickens anymore. During the pandemic, was good when I was home, but busy again. One of the dogs, when he was a puppy, he was playing aggressively with one of the hens. So we had to give the chickens back to the neighbor that we got them.

Christina (01:10:46.999)
Your dog ate them, ate the hen, didn't he? Okay, we're gonna end this podcast episode with that.

No,

Dave (01:10:53.112)
I just shook the hen and the hen did die. But I think its little neck got broke. In hindsight, maybe it's a great idea for us to give squeaky toys to dogs and say, good dog, know, because it was like a real life toy. And he's looking at me like, dad, why is it squeaky anymore? Yeah.

Okay.

Christina (01:11:13.75)
You've encouraged this. Yeah, that's true. OK, well, remind me never to bring my cats over.

No, they won't hurt the cats. Are you sure? have cats. These are poodles. They respect cats.

I'm bringing the cats.

But the chickens, they're so fun. They're like a real life squeaky toy. They make funny sounds, they flap and yeah.

Dave, you gotta know when to hold him when to fold him.

Dave (01:11:39.973)
they don't, yeah. Yeah.

Okay bud.

Christina (01:11:52.404)
Say goodbye

Christina (01:11:59.22)
I don't wanna say goodbye to you

Christina (01:12:07.886)
Welcome to the Heartbeat Hotline, 1902-669-4769. I'm the host of a Chat with Heart podcast, Christina Martin, and I'm so excited you called. Leave me your question, a suggestion for the podcast, or a comment about this episode. Please be aware your message may be used on the podcast and social media. Tell me your name, where you're calling from, and it's also fine if you want to remain anonymous. Thanks for listening.

Have a great fucking day. Hey, thanks for listening to a chat with heart produced by me, Christina Martin, co-produced and engineered by my partner in life and sound, Dale Murray. Dale's not just a wizard with knobs. He's also a killer singer songwriter, session musician, and music producer. Go snoop around his world at dalemurry.ca. The podcast theme song, Talk About It, and I Don't Want to Say Goodbye to You were written by me and recorded by Dale. Want to support what we do?

You can snag CDs, vinyl, digital music, and some weirdly delightful merch like custom puzzles and temporary tattoo packs over on my bandcamp. If you're into keeping indie art alive or just want good karma, become a monthly or yearly member on my Patreon. It's a platform that helps creators get paid to keep making stuff we love. I swear by it. Sign up free or paid at patreon.com backslash Christina Martin. If this podcast made you laugh,

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