Today, JUNO award-winning artists iskwē and Tom Wilson (Junkhouse, Lee Harvey Osmond, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings) release their new single “Blue Moon Drive” featuring trumpeter Chuck Copenace with Red Music Rising. LISTEN HERE. Stay tuned for the lyric video due out on November 12th. The collaboration began as a gig at the 2020 Indspire Awards. “We happened to be asked to perform together at the Indspire Awards in Ottawa. We had never sung together so until we actually stepped up to the microphone and started to sing we didn’t know that we had a little bit of magic going on between us;” shares Tom Wilson. “We are able to now share that magic with you.” iskwē adds; “It is a beautiful song, and it was a nice way to find our footing with US. The song was written awhile ago, and it had its home, and now it has a new home, and it feels very much like a new energy has been infused into it. This is just the beginning!”
iskwē & Tom are Red Music Rising’s first multi-artist collaboration. Matt Maw (Director, Lead Artist Manager) shares; “We are beyond thrilled to release iskwē and Tom’s rendition of “Blue Moon Drive” featuring Chuck Copenace. This release exemplifies what Red Music Rising stands for now, and moving forward; collaboration, community, artistic eminence, and Indigenous excellence.”
The song was recorded live off the floor with an incredible group of musicians from Jukasa Studios in Six Nations, ON. The magic of trumpeter Chuck Copenace sprinkling in his notes, fluttering in the air, in space, and contributing a different breath to the song was all captured in Winnipeg. The single is an incredible collaboration of not only three amazing artists, but also the celebration of four Indigenous nations uniting together to celebrate their art – iskwē (cree, Métis), Tom (Mohawk), and Chuck (Ojibway).
What’s The Story About iskwē?
iskwē | ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ is, among many other things, an artist – a creator and communicator of music and of movement, of pictures, poetry and prose. And through it all, she’s a teller of stories that have impacted our past and will inform our future. acākosīk | ᐊᒐᑯᓯᐠ is the culmination of her creation and collaboration to this point. It’s a collection of seven sonic explorations that not only blur lines between sources and styles, but also between the actual and the ideal, the real and imagined. But by extension, it’s also the star around which immersive worlds of live performance, video, and visual art revolve.
acākosīk has received critical praise since the release on November 8, 2019. The video for “Little Star” garnered a JUNO Award for Best Music Video in 2020, the album was nominated for Adult Alternative Album of the Year, and “Breaking Down” was nominated for a Prism Prize and SOCAN Songwriting Prize.
Building on the foundation of potent, cross-cultural electro-pop established on her self-titled 2013 debut and confidently cemented on her heralded 2017 Juno-nominated and Polaris Music Prize Long-Listed follow-up The Fight Within, acākosīk incorporates more intense and urgent tinges of alternative, post-rock, and even industrial. The cohesive-yet-combustible result tips a cap to modern innovators like Florence + The Machine and FKA twigs while simultaneously borrowing sounds accumulated over centuries by iskwē’s cree and Métis ancestors.
Virtually every song is laced with traditional Indigenous sounds, showcasing the beauty of the artist’s culture and inviting others to experience it first-hand. As such, the album is a masterclass in dynamics, sometimes reaching out like a tender hand in a velvet glove and hitting like a fist wrapped in razor wire at others.
Her message is arguably most impactful when delivered from the stage, where it’s not uncommon for people to leave in entranced contemplation or even in tears. Music merges with dance, multimedia, and more in a completely engulfing and cathartic experience – again, one meant to bring people together and celebrate that which unites over that which divides.
What’s The Story About Tom Wilson?
Tom Wilson is a Canadian music legend, famed storyteller and visual artist. Wilson’s memoir, Beautiful Scars published by Penguin/Random House has become a national bestseller. In his memoir, Wilson reveals the impact of discovering his indigenous heritage after a chance encounter with a stranger caused him to question everything he had always known about his past. The book offers a profoundly moving and humorous look at family, his hometown and identity.
Tom Wilson’s extensive career and tireless efforts as a musician has bestowed upon him numerous nominations and awards from the Hamilton Music Awards to the Polaris Prize to the Juno Awards, including certified gold and platinum records. His songwriting has seen his works recorded by and with artists such as; Sarah McLachlan, City and Colour, Jason Isbell, Colin James, Lucinda Williams, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mavis Staples, The Rankin Family, as well as his own bands Lee Harvey Osmond, Junkhouse, and Canadian treasure, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. Lee Harvey Osmond was awarded a 2020 Juno Award for the album “Mohawk”.
After the success of his show at the Art Gallery of Burlington Beautiful Scars: Mohawk Warriors, Hunters and Chiefs, Tom’s paintings are now on display in various galleries across Canada.
In 2020, Tom established the Bunny Wilson Indigenous Scholarship fund at McMaster University, supporting year one indigenous students from Ontario secondary schools completing an undergraduate program in any faculty.
