by WGO staff
Ten years ago, the launch of The Gordie Sampson Songcamp, created a new and unique Nova Scotian songwriting experience – one that brought together exceptional and established songwriters from Canada and beyond, to work with Nova Scotia’s young and up-and-coming writers.
For the past 10 years, Grammy award winner Gordie Sampson has returned home to Cape Breton Island each summer, to host and participate in a week long immersive songwriting camp, with the exclusive goal of helping young artists develop a strong voice and build skills that would allow them to contribute to the international songwriting industry.
The success of the Gordie Sampson Songcamp, can be seen not only in the immeasurably strong and supportive community it has build, but the remarkable achievements of the camps alumni, which includes but is not limited to: JUNO nominee and SOCAN Songwriting Prize winner Mo Kenney, international touring and chart topping band Port Cities, star of CTV’s The Launch T. Thomason, Cymba Music Publishing signee Reeny Smith, named “One to Watch” by Rolling Stone Magazine Makayla Lynn, Sonic Publishing inaugural signee Dave Sampson, Canadian Radio Music Award Winners Neon Dreams, and Canada’s rising rap star Quake Matthews.
“The idea was born as a way to expose young Nova Scotia songwriters to collaborative songwriting and as a way to share some of the things I’ve learned along the way to help foster a broader songwriting network within the province,” says the Songcamp’s namesake. “The focus has always been to never ‘teach’ one how to write a song, as I’ve never believed that to be an example of good mentorship, but rather create a peer environment, where the already rooted art form could flourish dramatically and quickly. My manager Sheri Jones and I started a discussion on board a plane ride one evening about it and the following summer we had our first humble camp of a small group of writers.”
That first camp included Sampson and Slowcoaster’s Steven MacDougall leading the way for young songwriters Barbara Cameron, Brandon Johnson, Carleton Stone, Jenny MacDonald, Mark Boutilier, Mo Kenny, and T. Thomason. More than 50 songwriters have participated in the Camp since then.
When asked about his favourite part of being involved year after year, Sampson says, “Undoubtedly it would be seeing the young writers get ‘hooked’ on the process. There’s an obvious summer spirit that happens during camp-time but when I hear that they are still collaborating in February because a ‘fire has been lit’, it’s the most rewarding for me personally. There are some very strong bonds between writers that are made in general and now that we have been doing this 10 years we are seeing those writers have used the connections in exponential ways over this period.”
The Gordie Sampson Songcamp, with the support of SOCAN, the Province of Nova Scotia, FMAV, and Music Nova Scotia, has been able to fulfill its mandate of giving songwriters the opportunity to grow, build relationships with their peers, promote learning in pursuit of artistic excellence, and to discover more about who they are as artists and how they can contribute to their music communities through collaboration.
