Music has been a big part of Donjames LeBlanc’s life for as long as he can remember.
He loves writing songs, performing on stage and sharing his talents with listeners.
You Knock my Socks Off, the 11th album in his musical career, will be released soon. Enjoy the Little Things, the first song from that album, was released on Aug. 1, through the Digital Music Distribution System.
“This CD, I recorded it in my own home studio,” LeBlanc said in an interview from Regina.
He arranged all of the lyrics, performed all of the songs and produced the album from his Regina home.
He said he has already received some favourable responses to Enjoy the Little Things. It was originally supposed to be the name of the album, but he opted for You Knock My Socks Off because it was catchier.
“I tried to get something that might attract some attention,” said LeBlanc.
Still, Enjoy the Little Things is one of his favourite tunes from the 15-song album. It’s likely the catchiest song, he said. Imagine all the People will likely best the next song released.
“I’ll likely release a couple of singles or a few singles before I release the album,” said LeBlanc.
Then there’s Brown School, which is a tribute to the school he attended in the Estevan area when he was growing up. Fried Chicken Trot is another song based on his youth, since his family had chickens on their farm when he was a boy.
“We always had a bunch of chickens, so I wrote this song,” said LeBlanc.
Straw is Flyin’ is another song about agriculture, as it brings together themes of farm life and love.
“If you can’t evoke emotion in a song, nobody is going to like it. At least that’s my opinion anyways.” Donjames LeBlanc
He looks forward to touring to promote the album. He’ll be in Alberta soon, and he’ll be at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Saskatoon next month. Once the weather turns cold, he’ll travel to Nashville to pitch the album to different labels down south.
“I know quite of the big name artists in the States, like Alan Jackson and Kenny Rogers,” said LeBlanc.
LeBlanc came from a musical family. His mother played the piano, and she taught her children to sing and to play instruments. He remembers how he and his mother would play I’m a Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch. From there, he learned to play the violin, taking lessons at the age of eight.
Then he moved over to guitar, an instrument his brother Ross LeBlanc also played.
“I learned my first chord from looking at the picture in a … magazine, and looking very closely at it with a magnifying glass to figure out what the chord was,” said LeBlanc. “I figured out that was a d-chord.”
Eventually he settled on the banjo and lead guitar, started releasing albums, and toured all over the country.
He has released 11 albums, including two classic guitar albums and two bilingual albums, and he has penned more than 400 songs. Of course, not all of the songs he has written have made their way to an album.
“I’m kind of proud of my classical guitar,” said LeBlanc. “In fact, I’m leaning more and more into classical guitar, because that genre of music kind of satisfies my emotional fulfillment and spiritual nature. But there are still lots of songs I like locally.”
Regardless of what he’s performing, though, he wants to be himself.
Before the CDs, he released a few 45 RPMs, which he laughingly said is a reflection of how old he is. He has also tried a few different genres, ranging from adult contemporary to country, and pop to rock.
He decided to start performing under the name of Donjames LeBlanc because there are a lot of people out there named Donald LeBlanc, and he wanted to differentiate himself from them, so he added his middle name to his recording name.
LeBlanc said he tries to sit down and play something every day. When he doesn’t play, he feels like something is missing.
“Music is all about emotion,” said LeBlanc. “If you can’t evoke emotion in a song, nobody is going to like it. At least that’s my opinion anyways. There’s kind of an emotional satisfaction for me, a fulfillment, and I can’t leave it alone. I guess I’m going to have to one day.”
And he still continues to get a thrill from song writing.
“I’ve got a whole bunch of song ideas,” said LeBlanc. “Here I’m walking down the street, and I get a song idea. Always, for me, it hinges from the title. The title suggests what the song might be about. And then I try to … write down a bunch of words that could be associated with that title.”
From there, he’s trying to come up with some sort of melody. But the song has to make some sort of logical sense.
LeBlanc admits he’s not fond of some of the country music he hears on the radio these days, but there are others he enjoys.
But he suspects the music industry will remain an important part of his life for some time to come.
