Songwriting challenge produces flood of new tunes from Yukoners

When the pandemic shuttered most of the music industry, artists had to find new ways to connect, and new ways to make money.

Scott Maynard, the executive director of Music Yukon, thought it made sense to re-purpose some funding and bring artists together.

The Bell Songwriting Challenge has been around for a few years, and in the Yukon the money was used to host songwriting workshops at the Dawson City Music Festival. The pandemic shut the festival, so Maynard took the cash and used it to create a program that paired up emerging songwriters with industry veterans.

"There aren't that many programs around here that support the generation of new material," said Maynard.

"In the pandemic, all of the musicians have been basically out of work for coming up on two years now. So really, what I was trying to do was also generate work opportunities in the territory."

Tara Martin is in demand on the Yukon music scene as a drummer, and she's also been writing songs for years. She saw the challenge as an opportunity to see what she could do. She was paired up with producer, and Whitehorse neighbour, Jordy Walker.

"As a songwriter, you always want the song to sound the way you hear it in your head," she said. "That can be a challenge, but I did not experience any of that working with Jordy."

Martin's song No One Else tells a very personal story about her brother, and finishing the song had an unintended result.

"I'm really happy with the way it turned out and it ending up sparking a very emotional and really beautiful conversation with my brother — and I could not have hoped for more than that."

For Dalton Moore, who performs under the name Mobb Diggity, the songwriting challenge gave him a chance to work with Yukon producer Jeremy Parkin, someone who has inspired him for years.

Moore said he feels getting his music before a wider audience has taught him about himself, and the role he could play inspiring young people in his community of Haines Junction.

"It's a dream come true for people to understand my music and see me for who I am," he said.

Sarah Ott and Kelvin Smoler have worked together in the past when Ott would submit lyrics and melodies to Smoler, who would turn them into tracks for the Borealis Soul dance performance.

But working on Ott's song The Bridge together, along with producer Jim Holland, showed her how much effort it takes to actually get a track completed. Especially since the song is important to her.

"Me and my best friends, we always had this thing if there was something going on, we were having a bad day or whatever, there was this bridge out of town heading towards Haines Junction," she said. "We would drive there and sit and talk it out. Instead of having to explain what we had going on, we just had to say 'the bridge,'" Ott said.

Sophie Noel is based in Dawson City but actually participated in the songwriting challenge through the music industry association in Prince Edward Island. She was paired up with a songwriter in Charlottetown and a producer in Toronto, and that provided some important connections during the pandemic, when connections have been hard to make.

"I got a foot in the door in two really wonderful music communities, so it was really neat to make those connections," said Noel, who wrote a song called Donna.

For Gabrielle Plonka, being part of the songwriting challenge was actually a musical icebreaker. She's a reporter, the editor of the Yukon News, and a poet, but she doesn't even consider herself a musician. But she still got her song finished, thanks to songwriter Calla Kinglit and Jordy Walker.

"This song is basically the only thing I can play on the piano," Plonka said.

"I remember going into the studio and saying, 'I've never done this before.' I don't think I had ever sung standing up before. [Walker] kind of paused and said, 'You can sit down if you want.'"

Kevin McLachlan also came to the challenge through P.E.I. and wound up being paired with songwriter Andrew Waite and Juno-award winner producer Harold Redekopp. 

"It was really great to collaborate with two guys who have so much more experience than me," said McLachlan. "I hope that in turn my unique perspective, whether that's my inexperience or living in this corner of the world, brought something to them."

For Dawson City's Dawne Mitchell, just finishing a song was a dream. She's been a lifelong fan of music, and has  participated in songwriting workshops at festivals in Dawson and Keno City, but the challenge gave her the push to get her song finished.

"It was such a gift, just accomplishing something I always wanted to do," she said. "It was like being thrown a lifesaver during the pandemic."

Roger Gabriel used the challenge as a way to get back into music after taking a break to raise three children.

Ironically, he wrote his song By My Side years ago, when he was thinking about leave the territory.

 "I think I didn't give it a chance when I first moved up here," he said. "But now, I've made some wonderful friends and worked with some amazing people. I'm here now and I love it."

If you would like to check out the songs created by Yukoners as part of the Bell Songwriting Challenge, check out Music Yukon on Soundcloud.