There’s magic in music.
It gives a soul to the universe and expresses those things that can’t be put into words.
Hawksley Workman knows those fundamental truths and, for 25 years, has shared the music in his soul with the world.
“Making music is the life that chose me, I didn’t choose it,” Workman says. “At the end of the day, I suppose it’s about the craft but, sometimes, when I sit down and write a song, it transcends that craft and becomes more.”
It’s why, while Workman has an appreciation of contemporary music and musicians, his playlist on the road tends to include music by iconic musicians of the 20th century.
“I’m a child of the 20th century, after all. My formative years were in a world that was very simple, before the internet. In the ‘80s we thought we were at the height of modernity. We flew before 9/11 and we took our music with us on a Walkman. There were newspapers, Much Music and commercial radio. It was before our culture became this categorized, a la carte thing.”
Workman’s 2020 album, Less Rage More Tears, is indicative of his approach to music.
In it, the two-time Juno Award-winning Canadian multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter took us on a tour of his early days in the business with a mix of indie rock, pop, techno and dance music, mixed with soul-warming rhythms and lyrics.
His 2023 release of Obsessed was born when Workman was last in B.C. on a month-long tour and grew from his collaboration with Steve Bays, a musician who Workman described as “a creative genius of ridiculous proportions.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the modern music of today, but I sometimes wonder whether any of it is going to be part of the cultural architecture of the future,” he says.
“I know that I have to keep a realistic feel to the music I make. I see young people today working toward overnight virality (on TikTok) and it has nothing to do with music. It’s all about identity – identity long before they have the music figured out.”
Workman’s own musical journey has had enough twists and turns to allow him to hone his sound into a unique genre-defying style. It strings together folk, pop, cabaret and more, and its subject matter ranges from the weather to love, to heartbreak and tales of the end-times.
And although he has seen both amazing periods of massive popularity and times of deep depression, he’s learned from it all, and it’s reflected in his music.
“Time can whiz by so quickly, and I know that I’m a different person now than I was in the past. There were times when I was on the road, surrounded by alcohol and stuff, when the road could be a very dangerous place,” Workman says.
“There was a lot of pressure on me back then and, at times, I didn’t handle it well. I’m not that person now, and, for me, the road is a very productive place. I’m actually a better person on the road now than I am at home.”
The truth of that assessment can be found in the astounding music that Workman has delivered in recent years and his sustained popularity in Canada and around the world.
Describing himself as a lucky person with the greatest job in the world, Workman says that performing in front of live audiences is the best part of the music business.
“I just finished an East Coast Tour, and I came back from Europe and the UK, and now I’ve just started another tour, and I love it,” Workman says.
Island performances:
Nov. 8: Sidney, at the Mary Winspear Theatre
Nov. 9: in Cumberland at The Waverly
Nov. 10: in Nanaimo at The Queens.
Find a full list of tour dates, plus ticket links and more information at hawksleyworkman.com
