In our early 20s, most of us are just figuring it out – getting started and finding that path.
At 20, Lucas Chaisson is winning awards, recording with Canadian music’s elite and playing major festivals.
Chaisson said he was given his first guitar at age three and started playing seriously by the time he was 12. At 14, he was touring with his own original material and by 16 he was playing the Edmonton Folk Fest – a bill that artists sometimes wait years to get on.
When he discussed his beginnings he fondly recalled CKUA radio regularly playing in his house growing up.
“I guess it is starting to be a little while,” said Chaisson with a bit of a laugh thinking back to when he first started. “Not as long as a lot of people, but a while.”
At the time of the interview, Chaisson had just finished playing the Vancouver Island MusicFest in Comox B.C. with artists such as Bonnie Raitt and The Mavericks.
“It sure is a nice part of the world,” said Chaisson as he talked about the Island festival.
Chaisson grew up in Cochrane, another area he considers to be a nice part of the world, and said it has definitely influenced him musically.
“Growing up in the Foothills, right next to the Rocky Mountains, is a pretty inspiring place to live,” he said. “Alberta, as a whole, is very good at supporting their artists. It has been a bit of an easier ride than if I had grown up in another part of Canada.”
Chaisson did, however, recently move to another part of Alberta. He relocated to Edmonton in February and it was a decision he is happy with.
“It’s got a really great music scene,” Chaisson said of Edmonton. “It is kind of a special thing that’s happening. It’s not a huge city, but there seems to be an endless supply of great songwriters and musicians.”
Chaisson’s last album, 2012’s Growing Pains, was produced by Calgary based artist Lorrie Matheson, who has produced acclaimed albums by Rae Spoon, Ghostkeeper and Jay Crocker.
The album won Chaisson the 2012 Canadian Folk Music award for young performer of the year.
For his upcoming album he is continuing to work with Canadian talent. Colin Linden will be producing his next release that is tentatively titled Ghost Stories and is expected to be released early April of next year.
Linden is a member of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and played guitar with Bob Dylan in 2013 – Chaisson described him as a very cool guy.
He said he feels more confident as a performer since his last album and has been able to draw from more life experiences.
This is something he said is reflected in his songwriting.
Chaisson said he just finished recording those songs in Nashville and the experience of recording somewhere that he had never been took him out of his comfort zone – something he really liked.
“I think it is kind of a cool thing to be a little bit uncomfortable when you are making a record,” he said.
He said that there was something about playing his songs live with musicians he hadn’t really worked with before that added spontaneity to the recording process.
“A lot of these records these days are made phrase by phrase, kind of putting it together like a puzzle,” he said. “We really took the other route where we did very much a live record that we just recorded in a recording studio.”
Chaisson returns to Cochrane July 19 for a performance at Legacy Guitar and Coffee House, where he will be joined by fiddle player Braden Gates and bass player Dean Kheroufi.
