Yellowknife musician ‘Baby’ Brian Weadick will hit the NACC stage with a fresh set of twangy tunes on Friday night.
Weadick, along with a five-piece band, will be playing some of the singer-songwriter’s well-known and loved songs as part of the Northern Scene Series.
“But a little more low-key, a little more pretty,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot more stripped down, kind of quiet, more folky.”
Much of the music Weadick will be playing is from his forthcoming debut album, Talk with the Honky Tonk Psychiatrist.
That album doesn’t have a definite release date yet, but will probably be sometime in the next couple of months, he said.
“Most of these songs I’ve kind of picked up stories about people I’ve met over the years and I’ve turned their stories into songs,” said Weadick.
Those stories come from people he’s met and gotten close to over the years in the North, back east and during his travels across Canada.
“They detailed parts of their life and I kind of used that material to turn into songs,” he explained.
Initially, Weadick thought he would go back east and record there, but he decided to do it all locally.
“Through the NACC mentorship program I was able to access NWT Arts funding and link up with a local record engineer,” he said.
The new album pulls in a variety of sounds like fiddles, electric guitar and even some jazzy piano.
“It is kind of a nod to more old timey kind of country, there’s a lot of acoustic elements like the standup bass giving it that kind of a sound,” said Weadick.
“It’s kind of an amalgamation of folk, country, Americana, jazz kind of sounds.”
In Weadick’s words, the album “definitely has a honky-tonk feel, like an old-time western cowboy-era, bar kind of sound.”
But the album takes its name from one of ‘Baby’ Brian’s many other nicknames. Weadick said he was bestowed with the title of 'Honky Tonk Psychiatrist’ early in his musical career, in part because of where he finds inspiration for his songs.
“One of the first bands I played with in town here, they kind of dubbed me that because I’d be talking to people about their feelings as opposed to doing band rehearsal,” he said.
“It was like c’mon Brian, quit getting into the details of people’s lives, we have to get down to practising.”
Band practice psychiatry sessions aside, the show will be a lot of fun, Weadick said.
“The guys and gals I play with, we take a lot of pride in at least making it a little bit humorous for our audience,” he said.
The show starts at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night at NACC. Tickets are $10 for seniors and youth and $15 for adults.