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Jay Gilday previews new album to sold-out crowd

Jay Gilday
Jay Gilday will preview his album The Choice and the Chase on July 18. Emelie Peacock/Cabin Radio

Musician Jay Gilday is back in the NWT, previewing his soon-to-be released album at a sold-out concert Thursday – to be aired in full on Cabin Radio.

Gilday will play songs from the album, The Choice and the Chase, on Thursday evening at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre’s café.

Following on from his 2016 record Faster than Light, Gilday’s upcoming album is much more focused on his solo show, he told Cabin Radio.

“It’s just going to be me,” said Gilday, who also fronts an eight-piece rock band. “I decided with this record that I wanted to make something for people to listen to that they would recognize from my solo show.

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“I wanted something that people could recognize from the folk music that I play.”

Gilday earned the Western Canadian Music Award for Indigenous Artist of the Year in 2017, as well as Singer-Songwriter of the Year and Artist to Watch at that year’s Edmonton Music Awards.

His new album is released online on September 1 and a separate release event will happen in Edmonton, but coming back to Yellowknife beforehand was important to Gilday.

“I just decided that I needed to give Yellowknife a little love,” he said, “because a lot of the songs have to do with my origins here and where I branched out from.”

Tracks on the album will also touch on being a public figure and his personal life. “I have a big family to take care of and they’re my number one,” he said. “Music wants to take me away to different places and I’m trying to figure out how to balance that.”

If you missed getting tickets to this sold-out show, Cabin Radio will broadcast the Yellowknife pre-launch in full on Wednesday, July 24 at 8pm MT.