Bio

"Hey, you kinda sound like Ray Lamontagne"
                                - guy that saw Artie play last year

 

Artie Balkwill is a roots and blues artist who bridges traditional and indie influences. Born and raised in Ogema, Saskatchewan, a farming community of only 250 people, and later relocating to his current home city, Regina, he was 21 before he ever picked up a guitar. He laughs, reminiscing on his youth and his default reply whenever he was asked what kind of music he liked. “Anything but the blues.” 

And yet, he now finds himself drawing from the Chicago blues greats like Mississippi John Hurt and Howlin Wolf along with soul singers like Charles Bradley and Etta James. His modern take also gathers influence from song writers and story tellers such as Josh Ritter, Damien Rice and Gord Downie. 

While he isn’t busy playing venues in and around Regina,  Artie has been performing at events such as Aloha Fest, Vintage Vinyl’s 25th Anniverary show, the Global morning news show, and the Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Tyme music festival. 

He has also followed his passion for music around the world. Which included a two-week span in Granada, Spain, the birthplace of Flamenco guitar, where he spent the majority of his waking hours in a literal cave, studying flamenco techniques. 

In 2018 he released a 5 song demo EP. It is rich with stories of home and abroad. The single 3 Lifetimes In 40 Days recounts a backpacking journey across Morocco, Spain and Portugal. More recently, while preparing for the recording of his first studio album, he has also a released the EP "Live at The Exchange", recorded live in the venue where he worked while growing a passion for the local music scene. He is currently hard at work writing his debut album to be released next year