Page 13 - BiTS_03_MARCH_2023

Then my other brother listened to Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, AC/DC, and Ozzy Osborne. Than
all my cousins and friends kept me schooled on all the pop and R&B stuff! So yeah, all styles!

LL: Have you studied music, or did you pick it up by ear?

CS: I picked it up by ear at first, but my parents encouraged me to learn theory and proper voice
technique.

LL: Has being Canadian First Nation helped your music career?

CS: I don’t know if it
helped me as I was
constantly being told to
stay in the Indigenous
music scene and
discriminated against
all the time. I guess it
has helped in the way
that it makes me stand
out. I’m definitely
unique, as there’s not
many of us on the
mainstream circuit.

LL: You began your
recording career as a
Country artist. Please
tell us about how
your first record label deal came about and what that was like.

CS: I was playing for tips on Broadway in Nashville, and just built a buzz and scored my first
publishing deal, then a production deal then came the record deal! I learned a lot from the best
in the business, they taught me how to be a better artist, and I also learned I wasn’t a country
music artist at heart, rather a blues singer.

LL: So why leave that success and larger market music for the blues genre?

CS: Because for me singing the blues is like letting a bird out of a cage, no holding back, I can just
fly.

LL: As an indigenous Canadian has it been difficult to be accepted by the American blues
community?

CS: It’s been difficult for sure, but I don’t know if it’s because I’m indigenous or because I used
to sing country music, but I’ve been rejected my whole life because of who I am. The upside to
that is I got tough skin. I don’t need to fit in. The longevity of my career was built by my fans, and
they don’t pay attention to that. It’s all about the music for them.

LL: Let’s talk about your new release titled Midnight Blues. Would you tells us your concept
and vision for the album please?