When he was young, Thunder Bay based singer-songwriter and guitarist Nick Sherman’s grandfather would pick him up in the wee hours from his parents’ place in Sioux Lookout and drive up the winter highway to North Caribou Lake First Nation. It was there that Nick accompanied his grandfather while he tended to his trap-line – and also where he heard his grandfather sing and play guitar.

Nearly three decades later, the spirit of those times informs Nick’s own music.

The whole album was co-produced by electric guitarist Matt Wiewel (Pistol George Warren) and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Danyliw (Murder Murder) at Sudbury’s Deadpan Studios. It features Murder Murder’s Steph Duchesne on drums and Geoff McCausland on strings.

It also features a new recording of Nick’s song “Winterdark” from his album Drag Your Words Through because the song is about young Indigenous people being forced to relocate to larger urban centres for high school. It is sadly still relevant today, Nick said

“There were a lot of issues with young Indigenous people dying in Thunder Bay, being found in the river here. It’s nine years later, and that’s still happening,” he said. “Every fall, plane loads of kids get flown into this city, and they still come here with this threat, worrying about what could happen to them.”

See Nick live:

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