Luke McMaster, famed Canadian singer, songwriter, and producer, is stopping in Humboldt to perform live on Oct. 9 for his All Roads concert tour. A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to the local SPCA.
"I try to get involved with that stuff as much as I can because no matter what your level of success is, it's never too early to give something back," said McMaster. "Whether it's helping prevent animal cruelty or helping educate children in Africa, we can all contribute in some way."
McMaster started his tour in Dryden, Ont. on Sept. 30. He'll be making his way west and performing a concert almost every day at a different location. Locations were chosen based on where Golden West Radio stations are. They are presenting McMaster's show and promoting and sponsoring his tour.
"Golden West is very community-based, for smaller communities," said McMaster. "We wanted to get the word out there, that this is going to support a good cause and a Canadian artist."
At 37 years old, McMaster has been performing and producing in Canada almost his entire life. He lives in Toronto with his wife and three-month-old daughter, but travels frequently on tours and business.
His early years began in the western part of the country, in the city of Brandon, Man. His mother is a businesswoman and his farther a university professor. He grew up as the second oldest of four boys.
"There are pictures of me when I was about three years old, snapping my fingers to anything with a rhythm," said McMaster. "When I got older, I went out and bought a guitar. I started getting really obsessed. I taught myself how to play."
Oddly enough, McMaster's music career seemed to have somewhat prophetic origins.
"When I was young," he said, "I had a dream that a kid from my school was belting out a beat on a piano and singing a song in the back of a pickup truck. It wasn't a song I had heard before. I quickly jotted down words I had heard and grabbed a tape recorder for the melodies."
This dream is mirrored in one of his 2012 music videos, entitled "Good Morning Beautiful." According to McMaster, he had nothing to do with the script for that video.
"I was so shocked when they told me I would be driving a truck while Jim played in the back," he said. "It was the weirdest thing. I had a dream about this."
McMaster kept quiet about his musical inclinations at first, not wanting his family and friends to know about his passion.
"I was kind of shy about it. My brothers are very scholarly and into sports," said McMaster. "In my mind, I'm like, 'I'm writing all these songs about love and heartbreak. I don't want to show my older brother that, he'll beat me up.'"
To avoid that possibility, McMaster had a super-secret compartment hidden under the floorboards of his room. It was there that he stashed his forbidden tapes and lyric sheets.
"I felt like the black sheep of the family for a while," he said. "Now that diversity between us is cool. My brothers are fans and supporters, and they try to go to every show."
He was initially enrolled in an English major at Brandon University, but left after about a week to enroll at the Professional Musicians College in Winnipeg (the school went under over 15 years ago).
"I showed up for a week, said, 'I can't do this' and left," he said. "It was a bit of an issue with my parents, but they started caring about what I was working on. Luckily, they liked my songs. They went from allowing me to do it to becoming my biggest fans within the span of a couple of years."
McMaster had a lot of passion and determination. He soon formed a band called Double Vision with fellow musician Sean Miller. In the beginning, he didn't have much to prove his worth except his own hard work.
"I was a busker, kind of like a street performer. I played at cafés and schools-called it a music workshop but really just ended up playing a bunch of my original music," said the singer.
Eventually, in 1994, McMaster booked time at a recording studio, where fate pushed him into the path of a producer: Dan Donahue.
"My whole career I've been a bit impetuous. I ask at the risk of receiving. I went up to (Donahue) and said 'I want to give you a tape of my songs, I want to be a professional.' I think he liked the fact that I was confident."
Donahue helped McMaster with his work and soon McMaster was touring around Manitoba doing a bunch of shows. He acquired a manager by the name of Chris Burke-Gaffney, who was able to hone his skills and team him up with fellow singer, Rob James.
"(Burke-Gaffney) really taught me so much about music writing and he introduced me to a lot of other people," said McMaster. "Thanks to him, I learned the craft of songwriting from the greats and I learned how to be myself."
Following his stint in the duo, McMaster & James, the artist's career began to take off. He and James went their separate ways, with McMaster ending up in Toronto.
The singer soon found himself performing, writing, and producing for not only himself, but also other famous artists and bands. He worked with big names such as Rihanna, Chantelle Kreviazuk, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, and Nick Lachey. Despite his work with other artists, there are still some songs he writes that only he can sing.
"My new song, 'All Roads'- it's a very personal thing to me, it has so much about my life. It's about how all roads lead you back to what's important. I couldn't imagine not performing it myself," he said.
The young artist said his main goal is to connect with people through his music. It makes him happy to bring other people joy through his work.
"I think so many people in today's society lose sight of things. They really don't celebrate the small successes," he said. "I got a letter about a song from a mother whose child was having heart surgery. She said her daughter was obsessed with the song, that it helps her stay calm. It felt like, to me, that it makes what I'm doing worthwhile and I felt really great about it and that it helps them."
According to McMaster, that's the same way he feels about concerts. It gives him the opportunity to connect with people, especially because he's playing in smaller communities.
"I think the artistic endeavor is a roller coaster. There's so many unknowns, you don't know what the crowd or the venue might be like my songs are my babies, but if you don't connect with someone, it's really tough, but that's life," said McMaster.
He wants to involve the audience, especially in his concerts.
"I like to get people to about what I was thinking when I was writing it. I lose myself in the song and I like the audience to come with me and lose ourselves together."
Before the concert, McMaster will be holding a workshop for young songwriters to help them develop their abilities.
Humboldt's local radio station, 107.5 Bolt FM, is assisting by finding writers.
"It's a collaborative thing. I would tell them what I would do if I was writing," said McMaster. "It's always a really cool experience."
As for advice for young musicians, according to McMaster, the best thing is to be open to collaboration.
"Writing with other people really opens you up," he said.
