Island songwriter Dennis Ellsworth shares the stories behind his songs

Island singer-songwriter Dennis Ellsworth will share the stories behind his songs in a performance at the Victoria Playhouse Monday in Victoria-By-The-Sea, P.E.I.  

After a show I do like this they'll often come up and really thank me for that insight.- Dennis Ellsworth

"It was an idea I had a little while ago. I've been doing a lot of songwriting around the world with other writers," he told Mainstreet P.E.I.

Those writing sessions produced a whole other set of songs that Ellsworth hasn't recorded and may never release, but he said they inspired the idea for a special show dedicated to the art of songwriting.

"I thought maybe it would be a good opportunity to shed a little light on that process." 

'There's some pretty heavy moments'

Ellsworth said he will talk about the songs he wrote, why he wrote them and where he was in the world he was when the song was created.

"There's a couple of songs that I wrote in Amsterdam right after the Paris attacks," he explained.

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Ellsworth said it was strange feeling being in airport after knowing what happened. In Amsterdam, he wrote a song with a performer Yori Rain called Walk in the Rain.

"It is mostly just dedicated to the idea of mostly what's going on, why is this happening. There's some pretty heavy moments like that."

Cryptic lyrics

Ellsworth said some of his lyrics can be very cryptic, allowing the listener to guess what he is talking about in the song.

"Sometimes I feel like it's good for me to hear what I wrote this song about too. I like explaining it and I like telling the story."

Asked if there was one song in particular that he has written that touches something in others, Ellsworth said there was one song from an album, Love Knows Love he made a few years ago.

The song Ellsworth referred to was one he wrote for his late cat, who lived to be 16-years-old.

"It was a rough time and I even tell the story of how he died which is a little heavy, but when they hear that story … people really connect to that."

Ellsworth said he recently had the opportunity to play at the wedding of a couple who had sent each other songs he wrote when they first met eachother — Electric Stars and Star Dust In My Head.

"So the other day I got to play both of those songs for them as they had their first dance. It was pretty cool."

Ellsworth performs at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $28.50.

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