Berk Jodoin grew up in the small, northern community of Pierceland. A town much like all the other picturesque towns throughout Canada. But in this community started the incubation that would become the back bone of Berk’s stylistic writing. “I write what I know, and I write what I see, not many fairy tales go into my songs.”  

Berk developed a way of looking at things that allows him to weave his stories into song. His carefully crafted songs bring the listener into the story emotionally. He fuses his influences like Steve Earle and Waylon Jennings together to bring a sound of his own to the world. Soulful storytelling with the right amount of gravel.    

As a Metis roots music artist from Saskatchewan, Jodoin has experienced throughout his life much of what he sings about. After a promising hockey career was derailed by life-threatening alcoholism, Jodoin turned his life around in his early thirties with the help of a B.C. treatment centre. He then took up boxing, but after realizing that injuries were tempting him to return to his bad habits, Jodoin turned to music as his therapy, inspired by heroes like Steve Earle and Waylon Jennings.

Through his friends’ encouragement, Jodoin began recording his songs, and with the support of an SK Arts grant, released his self-titled debut album in 2020. Jodoin followed that up in 2022 with Half- Breed, which earned him a Saskatchewan Music Award as Indigenous Artist of the Year, along with a 2023 Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year.

Now partnered with Toronto-based Merilainen Music, Jodoin is sure to expand his audience with Fly Away, an unflinching collection that also presents a pathway toward change. “All my songs are true,” Jodoin says. “I basically just take stories and write them, as I did with songs I wrote for my grandfather, who was a Cree man. The story of him surviving residential schools is a true story that needs to be told. We all have a platform. I use mine to raise awareness of things, which will hopefully inspire people to take action.”