At One with the Boreal Forest Blues

Nick Sherman Shines with the TBSO

It’s a blustery Saturday night in November and people are filing into the DaVinci Centre, picking out their seats among the round tables in the banquet room. It’s a small venue for an orchestral performance, so there’s not really a bad seat in the house.

At the same time, members of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra take their seats and start warming up. It’s a soft cacophony of chaos, much like the chatter in the audience. Then, the guest conductor—Vancouver’s Janna Sailor—takes her place and the musicians are silent. After a musical prelude, Sailor welcomes singer-songwriter Nick Sherman.

Sherman establishes an easy rapport with the audience. He’s as much of a natural storyteller between songs as he is during them. He talks about spending time with his grandfather on his remote trapline north of Sioux Lookout, hanging out with cousins off-grid and unplugged (except for an hour a day when his grandfather would fire up the generator). He reflects on people he met working the graveyard shift at Robin’s Donuts in Sioux Lookout, the morning when he was working with CBC and news of a missing Anishinaabe high school student came in, and missing his wife and children while touring—stories told with insight, respect, and optimism.

In the span of two hours, Sherman played songs from each of his three albums. Although his songs are powerful on their own, being backed by the TBSO playing incredible scores, arranged by Justin Sillman and Ted Vaillant, brought a new dimension to the music. It was obvious that the conductor and musicians had worked hard to perfect each note.

Sherman is clearly the kind of guy to give credit where it’s due—he thanked Sailor, the symphony, sound engineer Rob Nickerson (who can make any room sound like a concert hall), and his friend Alan Cranton, who lent Sherman his beautiful custommade guitar for the show. At the end, the audience rose to their feet with applause and polite cheers, so Sherman and the TBSO came full circle and replayed the opener, “Northern Ghost.” I’m sure I’m not the only one who had that chorus playing in my head for the rest of the weekend. Borest Forest Blues featuring Nick Sherman was part of the TBSO’s Northern Lights series, which continues on January 20 and 21, featuring Sara Kae. For more information visit tbso.ca.