Recently, Manitoba's Joey Landreth was featured at the Back 40 Folk Festival, closing down the event known for keeping homemade music alive.
There with his family, enjoying the music of local musicians in the Morden Park Bowl, Landreth took some time to reflect on where it all started for him.
"I grew up in a very musical household. My dad was a working musician when I was a kid, and my mom is also a very musical individual and we just sort of grew up on their record collection. So, it was everything from Boss Skaggs to John Hiatt to Bonnie Raitt to Little Feet and Little George and Rye Cooder and... the list goes on and on and on, but a pretty eclectic record collection informed by childhood in term of influence."
He had dreams of being a musician as far back as he can remember.
"My first sort of professional gig was when I was 15 and I started playing with a guy named Jon Buller. He fostered a group of young musicians and gave us our first gig and gave us a taste of working as a musician in a professional environment. I started travelling with him around the age of 15-15 1/2 maybe. As soon as I was 18, I had a full-on gig that was travelling around. As soon as I was able to, I was doing it."
He and his brother Dave of the Bros Landreth won a Juno this Spring for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year on the heels of hearing a thank you from Bonnie Raitt at the Grammy's. She won Best Americana Performance for a song written by the Bros Landreth.
"It seems she always takes very good care to prop up the people that are around her. And so, if she wins a Grammy for something, she's thanking everybody around her, so we weren't necessarily surprised, but it was a career highlight, like #1 highlight for sure. And just to see how excited our friends and our community were for us was also really, really tremendous. It was this insane moment. I wasn't convinced that it was gonna go that way. I think you just sort of sell yourself short so as not to be disappointed, but when it happened, it was like ahhhhh!"
The opportunities keep on coming for Bros Landreth as in September they are in the lineup to perform at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, a fundraiser for an addiction treatment center in California.
"Aside from the good nature of the event, it's also star-studded. Every guitar hero I can ever imagine is going to be there. So, we're terrified naturally. I'll be able to say I was looking forward to it, once it's over. Once the shock of shaking Eric Clapton's hand sort of wears off."
After walking through his journey from a boy listening to records in his family home, to learning the ropes from Buller, and working hard with his brother to make some money doing what they love, Landreth feels a sense of validation from all the support they have received over the years from people who believed in them and supported them.
"When I was growing up. I didn't really see anybody doing anything, so I think it's just cool to be able to do something like this and to show other up-and-coming people, 'Yes, absolutely, shoot for the stars.' Go for it!"
