By Richard Flohil

There's a bit of Jay Aymar in all of us. Ordinary sort of guy, on one level; generous, warm-hearted, funny and kind on another, and - rather surprisingly - an inspired songwriter who can tell his story and tell yours at the same time.

There's no pretension whatsoever with this man; this is the fourth album of what he cheerfully calls "home-made songs" and it’s his best work yet.

Not that it seems like "work" for this man from Sault St. Marie - just songs about the good times and the bad that he’s lived through, which are pretty well like the good and bad times we've ALL been through.

Jay's had crummy jobs, disappointments, and relationships which didn’t work out (sometimes badly). He’s also had close friends, a support network, and relationships that did work. Most of all he has a sense of humour about it all - and he's had his music all these years as his daily companion. After all, this is a new CD from a guy who called one of his earlier efforts Got a Bit of a Voice … and I Can Write.

A classic Canadian hockey song Ian Tyson covered

Among the songs he'll sing for you and your friends is "My Cherry Coloured Rose" - in which he imagines himself in the shoes of Don Cherry, who, after the death of his wife, followed her instructions, put his game face on, and kept going. The song is a classic, covered on his last CD by the legendary Ian Tyson.

And there's a lot more here. The opening track, intimate and confessional, is "Gonna Love You Anyway" - and haven’t we all been there more than once? "Apple Pickin'" is a light-hearted childhood memory - the equivalent of Guy Clark’s classic "Home Grown Tomatoes." And "This Town Ain't Big Enough" is based on a western movie cliché - but this song has lovers, not gunfighters. "Rock On" is his memory of a university girl friend who liked heavy metal while Jay was an unrepentant folkie.

Songs about change, hope and seeing ourselves clearly

But the songs aren't all about love lost and found again; they're about making change, about hopelessness and hope, about wrecked lives, and trying to see ourselves with new clarity. Listen to "Crow" and "Carry Me Back Home;" they are about uncomfortable truth.

Jay Aymar - like the rest of us - is halfway home. As Dylan put it, those of us who aren't busy being born are busy dying. The knack - the task - is to make the remaining time better than the time that's gone. Just like the man in his song, Jay's put his game face on, as we all have to do every once in a while.

And he's going for it.

His new album Halfway Home is the proof.