Having performed as a member of one band or another since the age of 15, Nova Scotia’s Tye Dempsey is undergoing a metamorphosis of sorts as he finds his footing as a solo artist. For that, he’s finding inspiration in a model that’s a clear example of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and turning to some of the greats of heartland rock.
Dempsey’s latest video, “Spirit of the Street,” pays homage to the likes of Tom Petty, Bob Seger and Springsteen with a tip of the hat to the small towns they resonate with.
“I wanted to write a song that speaks to people who grew up in rural towns, like myself,” says Dempsey. “Places where they’ve made so many memories and how those memories will forever be connected to the streets and sidewalks of those towns and cities.
“I feel like every street could tell a story about someone or something. The song really hits home with my own hometown where I made a lot of memories that helped inspire the song.”
Filmed by local videographer and photographer Fallon Fraser in Dempsey’s hometown of Windsor, Nova Scotia late in the summer of 2019 along with some additional shots from nearby Halifax and Wolfville, the video captures the energy of those streets.
Armed with a Rickenbacker guitar and a 1975 Cadillac, Dempsey says they hit the streets and started filming, with only some loose cinematics ideas for the video and an eagerness to experiment on the fly. Admittedly, the Cadillac is a bit of a show-stealer.
“We tried some really innovative techniques to get the shots we were picturing,” says videographer Fraser. “I think we did really well considering it was a completely independent endeavour. We did really well with what equipment we had too.”
Instead of the solitude of a barren highway, “Spirit of the Street” contains an energy that can only ever be found behind the dash of a car long after most people have gone to sleep. As cliché as it is to make comparisons between songs and road trips, this might be one of the rare exceptions where it’s actually appropriate.