Singer-songwriter Séan McCann is setting out on a road trip to find his own musical "Northwest Passage" and the first leg will bring him through Parksville on June 7.
The recent rhetoric coming from the U.S. government and "51st state" talk prompted McCann to cancel his U.S. tour and pivot to the "Great Big Canadian Road Trip", which will see him drive across much of the country and play in small communities he's never visited before.
"It also kind of forced me to rethink my business model. So now my business model becomes Canadian," said McCann, a former member of Great Big Sea. "Like I automatically become less dependent on America, which is what we'll all have to do now."
It's been quite a while since he drove across the country, and McCan joked he had a "much bendier back then."
He will play concerts in small towns like Fort Frances, Ont., Gimli, Man. and Swift Current, Sask. on his way to B.C.
"What I'm doing is just not really done. People don't because it flies in the face of reason. So what I've had to do was invent. I'm playing in places which have never had a concert," McCann said. "There is no venue or theatre in many places where I'll have to stop just to break up drives. So, I've rented small community halls or like wedding event centres or churches, prayer halls, like wherever I think my little PA will sound good."
McCann loves to perform, even with the financial stress that streaming platforms and the internet have put on musicians.
"I've managed to have a life where I literally do what I love for a living," he said. "I so love, love, love, being in a room with people, physically together, face to face, eyeball to eyeball, singing together."
Growing up in a small town in Newfoundland, he said he knows what it's like to have bands skip you over on a Canadian tour.
"This is the opposite of that. This is me playing pretty much everywhere I can across the entire country."
He's looking forward to finding new inspiration on the road, and will have his notepad and trusty dictaphone handy, to sing melodies into when inspiration hits. McCann is hoping he has found a new and sustainable way to tour the country, especially the places that don't normally make it onto a national tour.
"I may have found this Northwest Passage — this way to actually tour this vast country once or twice a year or once every year or once every two years," he said. "To be able to do a national tour and survive as an artist in Canada,"
His brother will fly out mid-trip and the two will explore the Rocky Mountains together. He also looks forward to seeing his friend, Olympic speed skater Clara Hughes, who lives on the Island.
McCann started to focus on his solo career after his departure from Great Big Sea in 2013. Since then has released albums such as Shantyman (2021), as well as co-wrote a memoir One Good Reason with his wife, Andrea Aragon, which discusses his exploration of the root causes, and recovery, from alcoholism.
He has been recognized for his work as a keynote speaker and mental health and addictions advocate, and was awarded the Order of Canada in 2020.
McCann will perform at Knox United Church (345 Pym St.) at 7 p.m. on June 7. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $45 and are available online via Eventbrite and with cash at local retailers Close to You Boutique, Edge Outdoors and Fireside Books.
