Ron Hynes

As a Newfoundlander Ron Hynes knows firsthand the old story of the East Coaster drawn to the bright lights and fast pace of life in Toronto. This archetypal Canadian tale is the backdrop for Get Back Change, and the title track captures this familiar story as aptly as "The Streets of Baltimore" did a not too different one. Throughout Get Back Change, Hynes balances the two geographies of the tale — the outports and the city — both musically and in narrative. Folk country tracks like "Dark River," "A Western Tale," and "My Old Man" capture life in small towns, the Old West and the Atlantic Ocean respectively while "From Dublin with Love," "Record Man" and "Cape Spear" find love and hardship in the big city. But it is the closing track, "No Change in Me," co-written with Murray McLauchlan (recorded for Gulliver's Taxi), that has already become one of this county's enduring classics. As the story of a heartbroken Newfoundlander forced to leave his homeland to find work, "No Change in Me" is not only the leitmotif on "No Change Back," it cuts straight to the heart of one of Canada's ongoing sociological tragedies. Songs like this are the reason Memorial University gave Ron Hynes an honorary doctorate.