A year in song: B.C. musician looks back on 2021 floods, fires

Last year was a tough one for many people in B.C. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 saw a deadly heat dome; wildfires scorched hundreds of thousands of hectares of land, all but completely decimating the village of Lytton; and flooding destroyed crops and livelihoods in Abbotsford, Merritt, Princeton, and other B.C. communities.

But it also brought out some of the best in people, as British Columbians came together to support restoration efforts. John Henry Ramsey was one of those people. While helping his hometown of Merritt rebuild after it was flooded in November, he decided to remember the devastating events in song.

“Just witnessing the hard times everyone was having, I just wanted to capture it and have a memory of it.”

Ramsey, who is the lead guitarist of the Coquihalla Coyotes, has been writing music since he was eight. He was inspired to write ‘The Year of 21’ after witnessing the floods and fires in B.C.

Ramsey has a background in carpentry which he utilized to help in the clean-up and rebuild of Lytton and Merritt. He says he and his friends were blown away by how crazy the year was and music was his way of remembering it. The song wasn’t a complicated production, as it was made on his phone in Ramsey’s home workshop.

“It’s actually a very rough demo, it’s not professional at all. I just kind of did it myself just to get it out there before somebody else did it.”

Ramsey created a video to go with his creation, which consists of videos from friends and news coverage of the damage done to the communities. The song was posted online and resonated with locals who praised his lyrics. It has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook.

Given there aren’t many songs about his hometown, Ramsey says he “thought it would be cool for all the local people to have a song that they could relate to.”

Although the song is about the more tragic events of last year, it has an upbeat tone to it. Ramsey says this was done on purpose, as he wanted the song to be a look back on the year with optimism. Part of his inspiration was Canadian country artist Stompin’ Tom Connors, who also wrote songs about sadder events in a more upbeat style.

Despite it being his solo creation, Ramsey’s band mates play the song with him at their shows. Ramsey says he feels like he’s “barely” in the music business, but his song has made a positive impact on people in the communities affected by tragedy in the last year.