By Charlene Tebbutt

P.A.-raised musician collaborates on award-winning album, documentary

Apr 4, 2018 | 5:00 PM

A Canadian musician, raised in Prince Albert, has been recognized for his work on a new album and documentary set to air tonight.

Aaron Young grew up in Prince Albert and graduated from St. Mary High School in 1995. He left the city shortly after to pursue a career in music and is now based in Calgary, where he works teaching music, running his own studio and playing music. Young’s work on a new album and accompanying documentary by the Blake Reid band has recently been recognized with a host of awards, both in Canada and internationally. The documentary No Roads In is set to air tonight on the CBC’s documentary channel.

Young produced the band’s new album, No Roads In and wrote the score for the documentary of the same name. The documentary won more than a dozen awards in 2017, including best music and special mentions for outstanding edit and outstanding cinematography at the Manchester Film Festival. The documentary has also been recognized at the Amsterdam Film Festival, The Scruffy City Film & Music Festival and Asbury Park Music & Film Festival, among others.  

Young said work on the new album and documentary was done inside an abandoned 100-year-old home in the middle of a wheat field in Alberta. There were literally no roads in, he said, and the experience was an interesting one. Without the luxury of a studio, they had to work with what they had, Young added, and there was no “auto correct” to fix the sound.

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“In most cases, you want there to be quiet, you want secure power, you don’t want wind blowing through the house … and we had none of that,” Young told paNOW. “I walked in and there’s plaster all over the floors (and) we literally had to get a bunch of birds that were nesting out of the roof because they were so noisy.”

The Blake Reid Band features music with a swampy, bluesy feel, Young said, and recording the album took the band back to the “salt of music.” He said there was no shortage of inspiration while writing, although the location of the recording venue added a bit of pressure.

“Fortunately, we have a terrific band, these guys are world-class players,” Young added. “They were coming in blind, they hadn’t even heard some of the songs … me and Blake were finishing them as the cameras were rolling on us.”

Young’s next collaboration includes a tour across Saskatchewan with his band Ghost Boy. The band is expected to make a stop in Prince Albert sometime in October.

“It’s really a mixture, but I’d say it’s as country as the Eagles and as rock as Blue Rodeo,” he said of the band. “There’s an award-winning, six-time award-winning violinist in the group that is also one of the lead singers alongside me … real amazing fiddle work and lots of big harmonies.”

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt