A young Manitoba farmer is getting noticed across the country, including having his face recently appear on a giant billboard in Toronto.
Zackery Wiebe has recently released his second single, "Do Your Worst" which was promoted on a billboard in Toronto through Amazon Music. His first single, "On the Edge" has garnered over 7 million plays on Spotify and he has gained over 160,000 subscribers on TikTok in the last few years.
Wiebe, who simply goes by the stage name Zackery, shares where his love of music comes from.
"My grandmother and grandfather on my mom's side were really, really involved doing music. My grandmother was a piano teacher, and my grandpa Frank sang in a lot of quartets, and I think a lot of people may know him in the area. He taught me to love music and my grandmother as well. And as I grew older, I learned to love both (music and farming) and was trying to balance this music and farming. I really never thought the music thing was going to be a thing that I could pursue, it kind of just happened out of nowhere."
Wiebe played around with his range in choir at school where he discovered his unique falsetto, which is his signature sound. Manitobans may recognize him from his involvement in the young adults' worship events and collective known as Bread We Break.
Wiebe, who farms north of Morden, Man., has a manager from London, UK and has connected with a distribution label AWAL which has led to the connection to the promotion from Amazon Canada.
He thanks his early fan base who has been patient with him as he has grown into his talent.
"I really believe in getting your reps in and writing a lot of bad music. You know, they're not going to be good. They might be good at the start, but for me they weren't, and it just takes time and persistence. I think you can see hints of great stuff and then it develops as you go on. There might be the hint of or this sound, this piece of this song sounds really great, or I really like this chord progression, or I like this lyric."
He says he wants his music to connect with the audience and wants the listener to feel something.
"Absolutely. I think the aesthetic I really want to pour into, that's a big thing with my visuals as well. I work with my cousin Kelvin Dalke a lot and he did my first two videos and does a lot of my visuals. Where I'm from is unique and the circumstances I come from are unique. So, I really want to push that and show people what Manitoba is like and what the farmer life is like."
Dalke's latest visuals show him walking through fields ready for harvest as he sings "Do your Worst." Both of his singles are about love.
He responded to seeing himself on a billboard in Toronto.
"Yeah, very crazy, very crazy scene. It's cool, really cool to see a farm kid from Manitoba on a billboard. It's wild and I never expected that. I just really hope people like the music. I got some songs that are coming yet that are some of my favourites. So, I'm really excited. If you, like, 'Do Your Worst' and you like 'On the Edge' I think you'll really like the next stuff."
You can hear Zackery's full interview with Golden West Reporter Robyn Wiebe below: