When 16-year-old Adrian Sutherland in the isolated Cree community of Attawapiskat borrowed a harmonica from an Elder, he fashioned a homemade harness using a coat-hanger, two sticks and elastic bands, and set out to learn Neil Young’s Heart of Gold. Little did he know that 26 years later, his own musical journey would come full circle with the release of a music video that not only pays homage to the song, but also the place where he learned to play it.

In October 2018, a production crew of three traveled to Sutherland’s home in Attawapiskat in remote Northern Ontario with 14 cases of gear and one ambitious plan: shooting two music videos in five days. Getting the job done in only four, they used the remaining time to shoot this fun little video for Heart of Gold. You could say it came together spontaneously, magically, and with a little help from some friends…

Heart of Gold was shot and directed by Vancouver-based motion picture cinematographer Cliff Hokanson, produced by Midnight Shine’s manager, RoseAnna Schick, with Sutherland as executive producer. The video was edited by first-time editor and college student Bethany Fontaine, with colouring and effects by Tony Wytinck at White Ink Digital Post in Winnipeg.

TIMELY NEW TAKE ON TIMELESS CLASSIC

Midnight Shine recorded Heart of Gold for their third album High Road. It brings a timely new take to a timeless classic, and is a song that means a lot to Sutherland: “Growing up in an isolated area, I listened to a lot of music, especially once I started playing guitar. Neil Young was one of my biggest musical inspirations, and Heart of Gold is still one of my favourite songs. We wanted to record it, but in a way that’s different from everyone else. That’s how we ended up giving it a little ‘shine’ of our own.”

Midnight Shine’s version honours the heart and soul of the original, yet is distinctly different, featuring heavy drum beat, slide guitar, pow wow singing, and a verse performed in Mushkegowuk Cree. With 2019 having been declared the International Year of Indigenous Languages by the United Nations, the timing couldn’t be better for a song like this cover.

Midnight Shine’s Heart of Gold continues to gain new fans across Canada, into the US, and internationally, with ever-increasing radio airplay and growing streaming numbers. Music critics are impressed, too, with several rave reviews, and accolades from Young’s own biographer: “Quite a fascinating version of Neil’s song. Love the First Nations’ feel of it. Very cool…” — John Einarson, Neil Young Biographer & Music Historian

Heart of Gold is written by Neil Young, with lyrics translated into Mushkegowuk Cree by Sutherland, and recorded with permission from Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. It was produced by Midnight Shine and John-Angus MacDonald (The Trews) at Jukasa Studios in Ohsweken, Ontario, with engineers Jill Zimmermann and Darren Magierowski, and mastered in Toronto by João Carvalho.

A FEW FUN FACTS

• Midnight Shine had to hire a drummer to come into the studio with them to record Heart of Gold, and was more than fortunate to end up working with an incredible talent in Chris Gormley (The Trews).

• Heart of Gold opens with Indigenous chanting and pow wow singing – both performed by Sutherland. He can also be heard on lead vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, and slide guitar.

• It turns out that translating the first verse into Mushkegowuk Cree was difficult to do. Here’s why: “There are Cree words for different types of rocks and minerals, so when we describe gold we say ‘money rock.’ But ‘heart of gold’ really means someone ‘good hearted’ so that’s how I translated it into Cree. A direct translation would have confused people in the Cree communities.”

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My youngest can already fish on his own. His catch totaled 45 fish, a mix of char and trout – impressive for an 11 year old! They both got to see how traps were set, which is something that has almost completely died off in James Bay. It’s important for them to understand the past to help them see the path forward. This trip only scrapes the surface of what their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents would have endured on the land.

My son-in-law and brother arrived shortly after we turned back because Jr. was too cold to continue tracking fresh moose tracks. “We got two bulls!” said my brother with much excitement in his voice. All of us were happy to have fresh meat, so we hurried off to gut and skin the kill.

It’s not easy skinning a bull moose, and it’s twice as hard in winter when everything seems to slow down from the cold. The hide is almost an inch thick in some places and your blade dulls quickly. If you’re not careful to wipe the blood from the blade before taking it to a file, the file ices up and won’t sharpen a blade.

We’re also working against short daylight hours, and a little boss who keeps yelling at us: “When you guys going to be done, and what’s taking you so long?” Sometimes Jr. lacks patience and understanding at his age, so we work our butts off to please him.

Working my butt off has become the story of my life – not only on the land, and at home, but also in my work as an entrepreneur, and in pursuing a career in music. This has not been easy. We have been working hard on the new Midnight Shine album, and sending tracks to a few industry people to listen to. We are excited by the new music, but I’m feeling frustrated by what a few prominent radio trackers said.

Don’t get me wrong, like every other band, I, too, would like to have commercial success.  But let’s face it, if you’re not Coldplay or some other superstar that everybody already knows, it’s very rare that you’ll ever be good enough for a radio trackers’ ears, or for commercial radio to put your music into rotation.

I often to listen to Apple Music’s rock playlist, called ‘The A-List’, carefully studying the production, arrangements and lyrics. I do hear a difference in sound and style between artists, but a lot of it begins to sound the same to me. Something else I’m very confused about is how crappy songs get into regular rotation on commercial radio. It’s like they play the same artists, over and over, no matter if the songs are good or not. At the same time, they don’t want to give new artists a chance. Guess I’ll never understand that whole world.

I’m trying desperately to fit into the industry, but can’t help but feel like an outsider. Maybe it’s all part of building the brand, paying your dues, and starting at the bottom of the totem pole.

I’m chomping at the bit for the music to really take off, but keeping a positive outlook and believing that good things are on the horizon. With the third album mostly complete, I feel good knowing that all the hard work will eventually come to fruition.

It’s been an awesome experience meeting so many people this past year and being in the same company as great musicians like Jim Cuddy, Dallas Smith and Sam Roberts, and NHL greats like Daniel Alfredsson and Troy Crowder. Experiences like this have really boosted my confidence, and remind me that slowly but surely, we are gaining ground.

Looking back now, I can see just how far I’ve come.

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In the days leading up to Bluesfest, I felt pretty good knowing that I’d come all this way from nowhere. My home is Attawapiskat, a remote community in Northern Ontario on the coast of the James Bay. Being in Attawapiskat makes you feel far removed from the rest of the world sometimes. It can be a tough place to live, and an even tougher place from which to launch a music career.

Landing the gig at Bluesfest, I couldn’t help but think… not too bad for an Omushkego (Swampy Cree)! I felt proud, and wanted to play the best show we could, on what would be our biggest stage yet. I remember the first time playing a stage that came close to the size of the Bluesfest City Stage. There was so much space around me, I didn’t know what to do with it. The other guys in the band all seemed so far away. It was a strange feeling, being exposed in front of a crowd like that.

One great discovery though, about professional stages, is that the sound guys and stage manager are top notch. They are right on cue with everything, which helps to ease the nerves. Working with a professional crew sure beats having to fashion up a mic stand with duct tape and a yard rake – something we actually had to do once, for a show up north.

Finally, Bluesfest weekend arrived. Arriving backstage at the festival site early on Sunday afternoon was overwhelming to say the least. There were buses and semis and vehicles moving about, and all kinds of people running around doing their jobs. We felt like rookies back there, but the staff and crew were so nice to us, and treated us like an important band. On that day, in that space, I suppose we were.

They showed us to our ‘greenroom’ – a trailer in the backstage area. We noticed the sign on a trailer just a few meters away: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. They were going to be right there! It was hard not to want to wait around to see if we could catch a glimpse of them. But we had work to do.

Waiting backstage to do our sound-check… I couldn’t help but notice over on the side stage, a workspace full of guitars. There must have been 20 different guitars! I knew they belonged to Tom Petty, and I looked down at my only guitar – a J35 Gibson which I could barely afford to buy five years ago. I thought to myself, I wonder if I’ll be able to make it in this business and one day own that many guitars.

I would have loved to shake Tom Petty’s hand that day, and let him know how much he inspired me. When I was a kid, the jukebox in Attawapiskat had a Tom Petty song: Won’t Back Down. Any chance I got, I’d put my money in the jukebox and listen. It was a song of defiance, and gave me strength in some ways. It was also one of the first songs I taught myself to play on guitar.

We performed our best show for Bluesfest, and the organizers seemed very happy. So did the crowd, who clapped, cheered, and even shouted for an encore. We played in front of about 5000 people that day – our largest crowd yet. We had so much fun roaming around on the biggest stage we’d ever been on. I think we surprised a lot of people with our music and performance that day. We maybe even surprised ourselves a little bit.

Being from the far North can have its disadvantages in more ways than one. On the flip side, it has definitely helped shape who I am today. Knowing what it feels like to have very little can set you on a path of wanting more. It creates an insatiable appetite for kushki-ho-win (success). I’ve never been one to sit around and do nothing, and anytime I have extra time, I can’t bare it.

It’s kind of funny that colonizers once set out to break the Ininiw (Indian). Yet, by attempting to do so, they unintentionally created a hybrid Canadian who excelled – and excels – in Indigenous society, as well as in western society. Ultimately, we have learned to navigate the best of both worlds, which is now very helpful. Today, even more than ever before, I am driven for kushki-ho-win.

After our show, we enjoyed a special reception put on by Bluesfest organizers, and met many Indigenous people and leaders from the Odawa region. Afterwards, we sat back with our friends and family to enjoy Tom Petty’s performance. And what a show! I haven’t seen many concerts in my life, but if I had, I’ll bet this would have been one of my favourites.

As I watched Tom Petty playing up there on that gigantic stage, I couldn’t help but notice each time he changed guitars – the same guitars I had seen backstage. While we hoped to get the chance to shake his hand that day, we never did. And now with the news of his sudden passing, it would have meant even more to us, for that moment to have happened. But now, it never will.

I’m sad to know that the world lost Tom Petty. I’m also grateful that I once got to open for one of the greatest musicians of our time. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

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