September 3, 2025 • 29 mins
Will Gillespie – Singer, Songwriter | Episode 26 | Sudbury Interviews | September 3, 2025 | Host: Dani Star (Canadian Idol, Season 5) | Find us on Sudztown and join the conversation | If you would like to be a guest on the show, please reach out | Listen on: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Pocket Casts | Amazon Music | Audacy | Audible | Listen Notes | Overcast | RSS Feed | Website: https://sudztown.com/show/
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(00:00):
Hi everyone, welcome to Sudbury interviews.
Today we have Will Gillespie andhe's a long time classic player,
singer-songwriter. I used to watch him at the
townhouse and he has at least 21albums recorded in the studio,
possibly more. He says he lost count so I
(00:21):
counted the albums on his band camp and there's at least 21
there. Before we begin, you can find us
on Suds Town and join the conversation.
If you would like to be a guest on the show, please reach out.
Hey Will, how you doing? Oh, I'm doing great.
Nice to talk to you. How you doing?
Very well. And thank you for coming on.
(00:42):
I know your name. I mean, I used to watch you
probably 20 years ago at the townhouse when, when I, you
know, turned 1920 and your voicewas always, so you know what I
like most about it, it, it always calmed me down.
It was calm and I loved it. I love it because of that so.
(01:03):
Well, thank you so much. Yeah, it's a it's good.
It's great to talk to you. It's like a little bit of a
homecoming. Bring back some memories of
those great times of the town. So tell us about how you started
out in music. This is always the first
question because just to give our listeners a little bit of a
perspective of how it started for you.
Oh sure. Well, if we go way, way back,
(01:25):
the first recording I ever did was Side by Side with my
paternal grandmother at the piano.
We did a little home recording and it was actually the song
Side by Side and I was like 4 years old and singing some old
show tunes and. But then as a professional, it
was probably around 2001 when I moved to Sudbury at 1st and did
(01:48):
my first big gig there was the was that the Lions Club
Christmas telethon because I hadjust recently kind of dropped
out a theater school to become afull time folk singer And and
there saw an ad for the Christmas telethon.
And you know, I was living in Timmins at the time and I came
(02:09):
in to audition. And then from there my dad had a
friend who lived in Sudbury. And while I was there to do the
audition for the telethon, he brought me around to all the
bars in town. And at the time, there was a
place called Tin Pan Alley, and I booked some shows there and
then. So this was the early 2000s,
just coming off the 90s. And I went into the townhouse
(02:31):
and there was Paul Lowenberg andRichard the bouncer and Brian
McNally, who's a bass player there, and myself.
We all had ponytails and goateesat the time.
They were just sitting around. And yeah, then I started playing
the townhouse and living in Timmins and coming into Sudbury
for for gigs, playing the scene.And then as the months went on,
(02:54):
I just stayed longer and longer as I got busier and busier.
And before I knew it, I lived there.
And that's sort of how I got became a professional musician,
you know, after years of being aself-taught and learning by
doing and picking up things fromthe people I was gigging with.
With this very iconic though, that era of the townhouse for
(03:17):
sure with with Richard working the door and you know, the old
calendars with the black and white book booklet printed out,
your name was always on there. I mean, I remember it clearly.
So yeah. Well, that was a point of pride
for me at the time, you know, that I, I, I managed to, you
know, have it both ways. I got to keep my last name, you
(03:38):
know, because a lot of people would be on the calendar and it
would just be like, you know, Matt or Paul or usually those
would be a guy before the days of of like now, I guess people
doing covers might have a tablet.
Back in those days it was a binder.
So people would have a binder just full of every song they
knew kind of thing. And So what I would always try
to like memorize everything I played and and usually do
(04:00):
original music. So, so I managed to keep my name
Will Gillespie, and, and it was a major point of pride for me.
You know, the goal, it was like the, the Rolling Stone within
the local scene to be, to make it to the cover of the townhouse
calendar. And, and I was, you know, amazed
and moved, you know, the day that my, you know, local
(04:21):
acoustic original band, you know, made it to the cover and
got to play a Saturday night at the townhouse, you know, so.
And you mentioned something in our pre talk about you were you
were constantly bringing in morematerial or there was some kind
of requirement back then for at the townhouse?
Oh, yeah. Well, you see, I think at the
(04:43):
time it was a, it was a beautiful era of the capital of
Bohemia where, Yeah, in at the townhouse, you know, they pretty
much always like 364 days a yearhad live music on the stage and
it was almost always pretty muchexclusively original.
So I, I'll be playing these 4 hour sets and coming in once a
(05:04):
month at least. And, you know, I'd, I'd want to
do like the whole night's worth of my own original tunes that
had to keep up with the covers that other people were doing in
other bars around town. And.
And so you had to write, yeah, like floors worth of catchy,
original material, you know, 'cause that's the place where
everybody came through on tour and that kind of thing.
(05:24):
And yeah, you know, it was great.
Sunday through Thursday was locals and then the weekends was
usually touring bands. So yeah, I got that open for a
lot of different people. And even one time I picked up a
last minute filling gig with a touring reggae band, which is
weird 'cause I'm sort of known as like a finger pick and poke
guy. And luckily enough they had a
(05:46):
two night stand. So the first night I played in
the style of Will Gillespie, thesort of jazzy folk music finger
picking. And then the second night, the
the lead singer told me like howto do reggae, you know, just
very, very yeah, just like, you know, just yeah, you do, you do
lead or rhythm. You do, you know, just just the
chords, just the melody, that's it.
(06:06):
You know, it was like, oh wow. You know, when because I was
used to playing solo and, you know, trying to be a one man
vandal with my right hand, you know, kind of thing.
So. So having to, you know, learn a
different style and simplify everything and just play one
piece of a section, one section of the whole, you know.
So that was cool. Those were great days.
(06:27):
And it was Jesse and Lori over at Innovative Guitar Ideas.
Used to get me a lot of interesting gigs in those days,
too. I remember one time I banned the
Salt Coats. We got to do the homeschoolers
hoedown out in the valley. And yeah, they had a greased pig
contest. So it was like this, this, this
(06:48):
like Piglet running around like greased up and the kids were
trying to catch it. And that was, you know, the and
we were supposed to play a barn dance there and we wanted to
playing outdoors instead. But it was really great.
And you know, we we had like a banjo player, Marco Donato and
and anyway, Chris Swain was in that band and yeah, there was
really good sort of like countryfolk outfit.
(07:10):
And but then Josh Turnbull played jazz drums and trumpet in
that band. So.
So it wasn't, it was like part jazz, part country.
And yeah, we got to do the judgeof the pie making contest.
So we got to taste all the pies the kids made.
And you know, that's the kind ofthing I love about being like a
troubadours. You get you get into these
(07:31):
interesting situations sometimes.
You know what's a great thing about you, Will?
Is that you've stayed true to your folk roots and even way
back then and now nowadays you're seeing artists like, for
example, Taylor Swift, you know,she jumps from the country to
the pop and and they're kind of cross marketing themselves.
(07:52):
But you've always stayed into folk.
So what is it about folk that draws you in, That makes you
that you? You really are the image of folk
music, in my opinion. Oh, thanks.
Well, it's, I think it's partly where I'm from, you know,
growing up in South Porcupine, Northern Ontario, spending a lot
of time alone in, you know, or sort of communing with the, you
(08:17):
know, nature and like looking atthe sky and, you know, just
spending a lot of time playing acoustic guitar.
I think that's partly what, whatmade that happen was just the
instrument at hand, you know, 'cause when I first, first
started out at the early days inthe, at the townhouse, I, I used
to play a lot of shows. The first few years.
I would play piano half the timebecause like I, I was living
(08:42):
back at my folks place and they had a, an acoustic apartment
size piano. And so sometimes I'd noodle on
that and I'd write sort of thesejazzy songs on that.
And you know, listening to a lotof Tom Waits, which was another
big influence living in Sudbury at the time and for years after,
whenever I'd come back to Sudbury to play a show I'd like
listen to like Rain Dogs or Tom Waits early years or whatever,
(09:04):
getting there 'cause like we didthe tribute show in December on
Tom Waits birthday. And I don't know that that
music, you know, was a big part of the scene at the time as far
as covers and, and you know, influences and record you listen
to. So anyway, at the time I was
doing almost half and half pianoand guitar, but then spending a
couple years kind of couch surfing or living on living on
(09:29):
the Greyhound, you know, going from town to town, all that sort
of thing. Just travelling with like just
an acoustic guitar is a big partof how I became such a folk
focused, folk focused player wasjust, you know, and also when
you're staying at other people'splaces, you know, you can't plug
in a electric and, you know, I didn't have a drummer to play
(09:49):
with to be loud anyway. Yeah, like I, I like, I like
rocking out sometimes. But yeah, like I always return
to the, to the roots music roots.
And I think, yeah, it's sort of like the there's kind of like
the sound of Canada that, you know, that there's like a rhythm
that's kind of like this walkingrhythm that that's sort of
(10:11):
common with a lot of folk rock, a lot of which came out of
Canada, like the Neil Young and the band and even to some degree
Blue Rodeo has it. And that's kind of, I don't
know, to me, that's kind of likethe sound of like, you know,
starry sky by a lake, you know, And then sort of it's just kind
of it's in your, you know, it's,it's what's going through your
(10:35):
head as you're going through theday, I guess.
What a beautiful picture. I love that.
So you I asked you how many albums and you didn't know, but
how many songs do you think you've written?
Oh, if not, not quite as many asyou would think, but yeah,
probably like a few 100 over theyears.
(10:58):
Yeah, 'cause like, you know, there was a time when I was at
my most prolific where, you know, as I said, I'd be living
in Timmins and then coming into Sudbury and I'm trying to do at
least, you know, a few new songsevery every month when I come
back and that sort of thing. And then in the last few years
I've written a lot of songs, butI don't really play them in my
live set because for a few yearsin there, I was in Hamilton and
(11:21):
I kind of switched over to, to doing musical theatre for a few
years there where where I had a theatre company called Chasing
Shadows Productions. And we would do like original
musicals. And the first one was like in
the style of a 1960s Elvis moviecalled Still again, there's the
Canadian roots. It's it's called Swinging in St.
(11:42):
John's. It was like Elvis goes to
another island paradise this time, you know, Newfoundland.
And, and so, you know, getting that opportunity, like it's
funny, like it was through goingaway to to go to drama school
led me to become a folk singer. And then through being a folk
(12:04):
singing troubadour in Hamilton led me back into the theater
world. And I found this way of like
sort of doing like 2 kind of talents or passions or whatever
at the same time, the the music and the theater.
And in this case it was like, right.
Yeah. So that one was written like in
the style of an Elvis movie and also borrowing from Newfoundland
(12:28):
East Coast Celtic inspired folk.But you know, the way those
early 60s Elvis beach movies, you know, sort of had that kind
of style where like if it was like in a fun in Acapulco, they
they borrowed from a bunch of, you know, Mexican style music.
(12:49):
And when, when, when it was in Las Vegas, there was a bit more
sort of like showgirl, you know,floor show kind of music and,
you know, so anyway, so that wasthe first of the musicals.
And then from there I did one inthe style of Neil Diamond.
It was like a Prince and the popper kind of thing where I
play Neil Diamond and, and wrotesongs and in several of the
(13:10):
styles that he's known for and, and, but it was like new
original music. And the idea was, you know, it's
amnesia. And then he winds up playing at
this dive bar and in downtown Hamilton, you know, and anyway,
and so, and that was based again, on my own experience from
traveling around Ontario mostly and, and being like a, a
troubadour playing like dive bars and places like that.
(13:33):
And you know, it's all about howthe regulars at the dive bar,
you know, there was a when the big threat to the world or my
world at the time was gentrification.
So, but anyway, so yeah, that was that was that one.
And yeah, we were very lucky. We got the Audience Choice award
at the Hamilton Fringe Festival that year.
And so that was very validating and a great experience with the
(13:55):
with the cast and sort of a way,you know, I just sort of adapted
and pivoted and found another way to write songs and entertain
people, you know, and make them feel things through my words and
music, you know. And then from there, you know,
that led after, you know, a fiveor seven years of of being, you
(14:16):
know, a playwright and and doingthe Chasing Shadows productions
fringe theatre thing. Then I debuted Mind true stories
and legends of the Porcupine Gold rush, which was sort of my
bridge back into being folk singer Will Gillespie primarily.
So there we go. There's the journey that got me
sort of back to though. That's the part you missed, you
(14:38):
know, is was I was in Hamilton doing theatre for a few years,
but still writing songs And, andthat's also what happened to the
why. If it seems like there's a
couple of years of I didn't havethat, you know, as many albums
and singles as a folk singer that well, it's 'cause I was
doing cast albums at the time. And you guys are coming on tour
(15:02):
soon from what I see on your Facebook here 2 Northern
Troubadours. Yes, well, the a really neat
thing happened. I was at the Folk Music Ontario
conference year before last and I met this guy, Brian Trombley,
and he he's another singer-songwriter out of Sioux
Sainte Marie. And I met him there at the
(15:23):
conference and we were talking and trying to figure out figure
out a way to work together. And then I was excited to hear
that he too was about to releasea Northern Ontario history
themed concept album. So he and I both came out with
separate Northern Ontario history themed concept albums.
Mine is mine, true stories and legends of the Porcupine Gold
(15:43):
Rush, which was a fringe show that, you know, I developed into
a into a concept album with a band and everything like that.
And then all written in old timey styles from the period of
the Porcupine Gold Rush, which was 19 O 9.
So there's, there's a bit of bluegrass and there's ragtime
and there's a concert hall and waltzes and a little bit of
(16:05):
polka and, you know, barrel house Blues and, and early proto
swing and, and styles like that.And, and it's all on acoustic
instruments that people may havehad.
The idea was to to do it as whatI call a campfire cabaret where
it's like a storytelling folk musical where I'm, I'm like kind
(16:28):
of in character and in costume and doing styles of the time,
telling stories of the, the lesser known people behind the
legends of the Porcupine gold rush of 19 O 9.
So it's like the Timmins history, northern Ontario
history. It was like another Klondike,
another Wild West that happened right here in Ontario, up north
(16:49):
in the Porcupine camp and what became Timmins where I'm from.
And so and on the way there's some other stories and songs
about people from the Cobalt silver Rush and and the Kirkland
Lake gold Rush. And what's neat is one of the
places we're playing the museum up in Kirkland Lake, the
Northern Ontario, the Museum of Northern History in Kirkland
(17:11):
Lake actually was the Sir Harry Oak Chateau.
So I've got a song about Harry Oaks when he was a prospector
who discovered, you know, one ofthe big gold bonanzas that sort
of made, you know, put that townon the map.
We're actually doing the show inhis house, you know, and that's
the same show that Brian Trombley and I are bringing to
(17:33):
Knox Hall in Sudbury on October 4th, which is AI chose that on
purpose 'cause, you know, Sudbury Saturday night.
Woo Hoo. And so I always, I always try to
play in Sudbury on Saturday if Ican, you know, 'cause you know,
the townhouse, that's where thatsong was written and all that
stuff. And it's like the national
anthem in, in Sudbury. So I, yeah.
(17:55):
So, yeah, I'm going to bring bring Brian Tremblay there and
he's going to open the show and he's going to do the, you know,
like 12 songs from his album about the ACR, the Algoma
Central Railway and other train songs based around his growing
up in Sioux Sainte Marie and hisfamily connections there and
then. So it's, yeah, roots music about
(18:15):
our roots, right? And, and we're playing in each
other's hometown. Like we're going from the Erma
Tinger Clerg National Historic Site in up in Sioux Sainte Marie
all the way to the Timmons Museum.
We're doing the show there. So I I've done different
versions of the of the mind showup at the Timmins Museum.
(18:35):
I even brought to John from murder murder.
He he wound up playing mandolin and upright bass on on that tour
when when I brought him to Timmins and and Cobalt and
Cochran a couple of years ago. But but this time it's yeah, me
and and Brian Tremblay and then Lynn Ecroft is going to be
(18:59):
singing harmonies and playing percussion with Brian during his
set. And then we got Susan Robinson
is like a visual artist and she's painted a lot of Northern
Ontario landscape painting. So we to make it feel
theatrical, we're going to project those behind us.
So it sort of feels like like anold tiny, like a play painted
(19:24):
backdrop, but it's going to be aprojection.
And then on top of that, the Timmins Museum has given us
access to a bunch of historical photos of the real people I'm
singing about, you know, so, so when I'm singing about Johnny
Jones and his sled dogs, you'll see a photo of Johnny Jones.
And when I sing about Caroline Mavenflower, the lady prospector
(19:45):
of the Porcupine, and we'll see pictures of her out there, you
know, with her fancy dresses andher pistol and anyway, and her
sled dog and all that sort of stuff.
So, and now with this tour, the Elk Lake Museum, there was Terry
is the name of the guy who runs that museum.
(20:05):
And he actually sent me a couplea couple books about this fellow
named Jack Monroe. And just last night, I finished
yet another song that's going tobe in the show, and it's going
to be about Jack Monroe, who waslike.
A World War One veteran, a best selling author, a boxing
(20:26):
champion, His dog was the basis of the book and movie Lassie.
And. And somehow I, he was like a
major character that even doing all that, those years of
performing in the research up atthe Timmons Museum somehow
slipped through. But now no thanks to that.
All this travelling. Yeah, it's like an evolving
show. You know, people come up to us
afterwards from the audience. And yeah, one, one photo that
(20:51):
we're projecting was like one ofthe audience members, it was
their grandfather worked in the gold mines at Timmins in the
30s. So he's up there on the on the
screen. So yeah, it's like a every
evolving show. And that's what we're bringing
to Subway to Knox Hall. Yeah.
So it's going to be like a big homecoming on multiple levels
for us and. Yeah, it's it feels so sort of
(21:14):
like I'm speaking with a living,breathing encyclopedia because
of your your knowledge is is is extent is extensive of of all of
this. And on your poster, the same 1,
the same show, it says Gabriel. Are you playing in Gabriel?
Yes, we're doing so it's, it's the one exception cause the rest
(21:35):
of the tour is all gonna be likea like a three hour concert with
like the both of us playing our full albums and they all start
at 7:00 PM. But the show in Capriol is going
to be like an express, you know?So again, using the train
language, we're going to do sortof like a super, like the show's
family friendly the whole time. But in Capriol, we're going to
(21:58):
do like an express sort of bit more geared towards kids,
shorter daytime matinee at the train museum in KPL, as soon as
I discovered the train museum, like, oh, I really want to do
the mind show here. And then we wound up working
with Brian Tremblay, who's doinglike a whole album of train
songs. So we're like, OK, well, we got
to do it here. And then I think in KPL they're
(22:20):
doing at the main Train museum, they're doing like a Halloween
activity even that early, like the 5th of October.
And so, well, they're doing all their spooky events for kids
there. If people go over to the
Heritage Center just about like a block away, a short walk away
from the main train museum will be upstairs in there doing like
(22:44):
a shorter sort of abridged version of the of the show, you
know, just cheap, you know, and again, because most of the shows
on this tour are part of official part of culture days,
most of the performances are paywhat you may so people can
decide what what they can affordto give.
(23:06):
So that's our sort of sub free sub ratio.
The Knox Hall show, because we're renting it, we're doing a
a ticketed show. So that's, but that's, you know,
sort of our biggest event of thewhole tour, so.
So the pay what you May is the Capriol show.
That's it's the Capriol show andthen all the museum shows,
right, which which is in yeah, 11 towns in 11 days, the 1st 11
(23:31):
days of October. 1111. Yeah, it's gonna be a whirlwind.
It seems like a significant number for some reason.
Yeah, right. Yeah.
And then, yeah, that day actually that we're doing
Caprio. So it's like after Knox Hall, we
do Caprio quick little matinee for the kids and then we go over
to shoe swap on the Nipissing. You know that resort that Paul
(23:55):
Lowenberg himself is running now, He does concerts there
occasionally. So we're doing like a house
concert there. And yeah, it's a beautiful,
beautiful spot to spend a coupledays.
So we're gonna do like a house concert there at Shoe Swap on
the Nipissing. It's a very popular place for
people fishing and in the winteryou could bring your sled there.
But anyway, it's like a, it's beautiful sort of.
(24:18):
Yeah. All the cabins are kind of
Bavarian style. And so, yeah, it's gonna be kind
of idyllic, you know, a good wayto break up the show.
And then the second-half of the tour, which is sort of like the,
the Lake Tamiskaming route, you know.
So then we what's exciting for me is like then after that,
we're kind of following the pathof the TNNO or Tamiskaming, the
(24:41):
Northern Ontario Railway that, you know, was the path that they
took up to the Porcupine Gold Rush back in 19 O 9.
So like, you know, we'll be kindof in a car, but like taking the
same route, going to the same places where all these people
were singing about did their thing, which is pretty exciting.
The next question Will is the daily segment and that's a
(25:03):
really odd name for it, but it'sa question I ask every guest.
And I have to mention now that you are not currently living in
Sudbury, but you have lived hereand where are you living now?
Right now, yeah, We moved down South, Yeah, we moved over to
Oshawa. That's where, yeah, 'cause my
(25:25):
partner, Susan, her family, we had to, you know, take care of
the family and that sort of thing.
So now we're working with the Theatre on the Ridge largely in,
in this region. So we're still doing like folk
music and theatre, but helping them out.
And anyway. Right.
So you can answer this question to the best of your ability,
(25:45):
even even with your memories andwhat not.
You spent a lot of time in Sudbury and that's where I first
saw you. So the question is, what is one
thing that you feel would make Sunbury greater?
What would make the greater cityof Sudbury even greater?
Let's see. Well, for one thing, I like what
(26:08):
you're doing here, like more promotion for the local music
scene. And what made it great at the
time that I lived there again, was was the the scene we had in,
in especially the townhouse, butall around, you know, once, once
we started doing that, that up here festival.
(26:33):
And then there was also that. Yeah, I played it a couple
times. The River and sky was great
'cause it was like the whole Sudbury music scene.
Went camping together. It was awesome.
And even people here in Oshawa end up going up there.
So I think what would make Sudbury even greater is in a way
(26:53):
kind of more of the same, more community building, scene
building events and, you know, more encouragement for original
artists in all genres, includingtheater and dance and literature
and art and music to work together and do events where
(27:15):
it's, you know, multimedia and, and promote each other and buy
each other's albums, go to each other's shows.
Put put all your friends who arefellow artists on the guest
list, 'cause it's better to playto a full house than a than an
empty house. And, and the people who are
paying cover coming in, it'll bethe same, you know, it'll be the
(27:36):
same 20 people will come to the show and then just you'll have
more seats and everyone will have a better time anyway.
So that's so that's what I wouldsay to make Sudbury even
greater. Keep doing more shows, write
more songs, and put your friendson the guest list.
So Saturday, October 4th, 2025, you'll be playing Knox Hall on
Larch St. in Sudbury, is that correct?
(27:56):
From 7:00 to 10:00. Yes, from 7 to 10 on on Saturday
the 4th and that. Yeah, that's with Will Gillespie
and Brian Tremblay. 2 Northern Troubadours songs and stories of
Northern Ontario. That's like, so like just
telling the title. That's half the show, yeah.
Beautiful. Yeah, well, this was a lot of
(28:17):
fun. It was nice chatting with you.
Sudbury interviews everyone. Today we were speaking with Will
Gillespie and what a pleasure. It's so calming to talk to you.
I recognized your voice immediately when we when we got
on the call. So thanks for coming on, Will.
Anything else you'd like to add?Well, I'm really looking forward
to being back in Sudbury. Every time I go there, you know,
(28:39):
it's, I feel like Dracula regaining, you know, his powers
from the the soil of his homeland, you know, so.
So thank you Sudbury for having me for all those years.
And every time I get to come back, Yeah, it's a very
rejuvenating. They say there's something in
the water and it might literallybe minerals anyway.
So, yeah, there's, there's one theory that, you know, the the
(29:00):
crater city of Sudbury, you know, the, that that may have
even been where like oxygen on Earth possibly started.
And I'm not sure. Anyway, it's just like it's,
yeah, it's like a, it's a real magnetic place.
And I'm always glad to come backand hope to see you there.
Sounds good, will have a great day and thanks again.
Thank you. Bye.
Bye. Bye.
Hi everyone, welcome to Sudbury interviews.
Today we have Will Gillespie andhe's a long time classic player,
singer-songwriter. I used to watch him at the
townhouse and he has at least 21albums recorded in the studio,
possibly more. He says he lost count so I
(00:21):
counted the albums on his band camp and there's at least 21
there. Before we begin, you can find us
on Suds Town and join the conversation.
If you would like to be a guest on the show, please reach out.
Hey Will, how you doing? Oh, I'm doing great.
Nice to talk to you. How you doing?
Very well. And thank you for coming on.
(00:42):
I know your name. I mean, I used to watch you
probably 20 years ago at the townhouse when, when I, you
know, turned 1920 and your voicewas always, so you know what I
like most about it, it, it always calmed me down.
It was calm and I loved it. I love it because of that so.
(01:03):
Well, thank you so much. Yeah, it's a it's good.
It's great to talk to you. It's like a little bit of a
homecoming. Bring back some memories of
those great times of the town. So tell us about how you started
out in music. This is always the first
question because just to give our listeners a little bit of a
perspective of how it started for you.
Oh sure. Well, if we go way, way back,
(01:25):
the first recording I ever did was Side by Side with my
paternal grandmother at the piano.
We did a little home recording and it was actually the song
Side by Side and I was like 4 years old and singing some old
show tunes and. But then as a professional, it
was probably around 2001 when I moved to Sudbury at 1st and did
(01:48):
my first big gig there was the was that the Lions Club
Christmas telethon because I hadjust recently kind of dropped
out a theater school to become afull time folk singer And and
there saw an ad for the Christmas telethon.
And you know, I was living in Timmins at the time and I came
(02:09):
in to audition. And then from there my dad had a
friend who lived in Sudbury. And while I was there to do the
audition for the telethon, he brought me around to all the
bars in town. And at the time, there was a
place called Tin Pan Alley, and I booked some shows there and
then. So this was the early 2000s,
just coming off the 90s. And I went into the townhouse
(02:31):
and there was Paul Lowenberg andRichard the bouncer and Brian
McNally, who's a bass player there, and myself.
We all had ponytails and goateesat the time.
They were just sitting around. And yeah, then I started playing
the townhouse and living in Timmins and coming into Sudbury
for for gigs, playing the scene.And then as the months went on,
(02:54):
I just stayed longer and longer as I got busier and busier.
And before I knew it, I lived there.
And that's sort of how I got became a professional musician,
you know, after years of being aself-taught and learning by
doing and picking up things fromthe people I was gigging with.
With this very iconic though, that era of the townhouse for
(03:17):
sure with with Richard working the door and you know, the old
calendars with the black and white book booklet printed out,
your name was always on there. I mean, I remember it clearly.
So yeah. Well, that was a point of pride
for me at the time, you know, that I, I, I managed to, you
know, have it both ways. I got to keep my last name, you
(03:38):
know, because a lot of people would be on the calendar and it
would just be like, you know, Matt or Paul or usually those
would be a guy before the days of of like now, I guess people
doing covers might have a tablet.
Back in those days it was a binder.
So people would have a binder just full of every song they
knew kind of thing. And So what I would always try
to like memorize everything I played and and usually do
(04:00):
original music. So, so I managed to keep my name
Will Gillespie, and, and it was a major point of pride for me.
You know, the goal, it was like the, the Rolling Stone within
the local scene to be, to make it to the cover of the townhouse
calendar. And, and I was, you know, amazed
and moved, you know, the day that my, you know, local
(04:21):
acoustic original band, you know, made it to the cover and
got to play a Saturday night at the townhouse, you know, so.
And you mentioned something in our pre talk about you were you
were constantly bringing in morematerial or there was some kind
of requirement back then for at the townhouse?
Oh, yeah. Well, you see, I think at the
(04:43):
time it was a, it was a beautiful era of the capital of
Bohemia where, Yeah, in at the townhouse, you know, they pretty
much always like 364 days a yearhad live music on the stage and
it was almost always pretty muchexclusively original.
So I, I'll be playing these 4 hour sets and coming in once a
(05:04):
month at least. And, you know, I'd, I'd want to
do like the whole night's worth of my own original tunes that
had to keep up with the covers that other people were doing in
other bars around town. And.
And so you had to write, yeah, like floors worth of catchy,
original material, you know, 'cause that's the place where
everybody came through on tour and that kind of thing.
(05:24):
And yeah, you know, it was great.
Sunday through Thursday was locals and then the weekends was
usually touring bands. So yeah, I got that open for a
lot of different people. And even one time I picked up a
last minute filling gig with a touring reggae band, which is
weird 'cause I'm sort of known as like a finger pick and poke
guy. And luckily enough they had a
(05:46):
two night stand. So the first night I played in
the style of Will Gillespie, thesort of jazzy folk music finger
picking. And then the second night, the
the lead singer told me like howto do reggae, you know, just
very, very yeah, just like, you know, just yeah, you do, you do
lead or rhythm. You do, you know, just just the
chords, just the melody, that's it.
(06:06):
You know, it was like, oh wow. You know, when because I was
used to playing solo and, you know, trying to be a one man
vandal with my right hand, you know, kind of thing.
So. So having to, you know, learn a
different style and simplify everything and just play one
piece of a section, one section of the whole, you know.
So that was cool. Those were great days.
(06:27):
And it was Jesse and Lori over at Innovative Guitar Ideas.
Used to get me a lot of interesting gigs in those days,
too. I remember one time I banned the
Salt Coats. We got to do the homeschoolers
hoedown out in the valley. And yeah, they had a greased pig
contest. So it was like this, this, this
(06:48):
like Piglet running around like greased up and the kids were
trying to catch it. And that was, you know, the and
we were supposed to play a barn dance there and we wanted to
playing outdoors instead. But it was really great.
And you know, we we had like a banjo player, Marco Donato and
and anyway, Chris Swain was in that band and yeah, there was
really good sort of like countryfolk outfit.
(07:10):
And but then Josh Turnbull played jazz drums and trumpet in
that band. So.
So it wasn't, it was like part jazz, part country.
And yeah, we got to do the judgeof the pie making contest.
So we got to taste all the pies the kids made.
And you know, that's the kind ofthing I love about being like a
troubadours. You get you get into these
(07:31):
interesting situations sometimes.
You know what's a great thing about you, Will?
Is that you've stayed true to your folk roots and even way
back then and now nowadays you're seeing artists like, for
example, Taylor Swift, you know,she jumps from the country to
the pop and and they're kind of cross marketing themselves.
(07:52):
But you've always stayed into folk.
So what is it about folk that draws you in, That makes you
that you? You really are the image of folk
music, in my opinion. Oh, thanks.
Well, it's, I think it's partly where I'm from, you know,
growing up in South Porcupine, Northern Ontario, spending a lot
of time alone in, you know, or sort of communing with the, you
(08:17):
know, nature and like looking atthe sky and, you know, just
spending a lot of time playing acoustic guitar.
I think that's partly what, whatmade that happen was just the
instrument at hand, you know, 'cause when I first, first
started out at the early days inthe, at the townhouse, I, I used
to play a lot of shows. The first few years.
I would play piano half the timebecause like I, I was living
(08:42):
back at my folks place and they had a, an acoustic apartment
size piano. And so sometimes I'd noodle on
that and I'd write sort of thesejazzy songs on that.
And you know, listening to a lotof Tom Waits, which was another
big influence living in Sudbury at the time and for years after,
whenever I'd come back to Sudbury to play a show I'd like
listen to like Rain Dogs or Tom Waits early years or whatever,
(09:04):
getting there 'cause like we didthe tribute show in December on
Tom Waits birthday. And I don't know that that
music, you know, was a big part of the scene at the time as far
as covers and, and you know, influences and record you listen
to. So anyway, at the time I was
doing almost half and half pianoand guitar, but then spending a
couple years kind of couch surfing or living on living on
(09:29):
the Greyhound, you know, going from town to town, all that sort
of thing. Just travelling with like just
an acoustic guitar is a big partof how I became such a folk
focused, folk focused player wasjust, you know, and also when
you're staying at other people'splaces, you know, you can't plug
in a electric and, you know, I didn't have a drummer to play
(09:49):
with to be loud anyway. Yeah, like I, I like, I like
rocking out sometimes. But yeah, like I always return
to the, to the roots music roots.
And I think, yeah, it's sort of like the there's kind of like
the sound of Canada that, you know, that there's like a rhythm
that's kind of like this walkingrhythm that that's sort of
(10:11):
common with a lot of folk rock, a lot of which came out of
Canada, like the Neil Young and the band and even to some degree
Blue Rodeo has it. And that's kind of, I don't
know, to me, that's kind of likethe sound of like, you know,
starry sky by a lake, you know, And then sort of it's just kind
of it's in your, you know, it's,it's what's going through your
(10:35):
head as you're going through theday, I guess.
What a beautiful picture. I love that.
So you I asked you how many albums and you didn't know, but
how many songs do you think you've written?
Oh, if not, not quite as many asyou would think, but yeah,
probably like a few 100 over theyears.
(10:58):
Yeah, 'cause like, you know, there was a time when I was at
my most prolific where, you know, as I said, I'd be living
in Timmins and then coming into Sudbury and I'm trying to do at
least, you know, a few new songsevery every month when I come
back and that sort of thing. And then in the last few years
I've written a lot of songs, butI don't really play them in my
live set because for a few yearsin there, I was in Hamilton and
(11:21):
I kind of switched over to, to doing musical theatre for a few
years there where where I had a theatre company called Chasing
Shadows Productions. And we would do like original
musicals. And the first one was like in
the style of a 1960s Elvis moviecalled Still again, there's the
Canadian roots. It's it's called Swinging in St.
(11:42):
John's. It was like Elvis goes to
another island paradise this time, you know, Newfoundland.
And, and so, you know, getting that opportunity, like it's
funny, like it was through goingaway to to go to drama school
led me to become a folk singer. And then through being a folk
(12:04):
singing troubadour in Hamilton led me back into the theater
world. And I found this way of like
sort of doing like 2 kind of talents or passions or whatever
at the same time, the the music and the theater.
And in this case it was like, right.
Yeah. So that one was written like in
the style of an Elvis movie and also borrowing from Newfoundland
(12:28):
East Coast Celtic inspired folk.But you know, the way those
early 60s Elvis beach movies, you know, sort of had that kind
of style where like if it was like in a fun in Acapulco, they
they borrowed from a bunch of, you know, Mexican style music.
(12:49):
And when, when, when it was in Las Vegas, there was a bit more
sort of like showgirl, you know,floor show kind of music and,
you know, so anyway, so that wasthe first of the musicals.
And then from there I did one inthe style of Neil Diamond.
It was like a Prince and the popper kind of thing where I
play Neil Diamond and, and wrotesongs and in several of the
(13:10):
styles that he's known for and, and, but it was like new
original music. And the idea was, you know, it's
amnesia. And then he winds up playing at
this dive bar and in downtown Hamilton, you know, and anyway,
and so, and that was based again, on my own experience from
traveling around Ontario mostly and, and being like a, a
troubadour playing like dive bars and places like that.
(13:33):
And you know, it's all about howthe regulars at the dive bar,
you know, there was a when the big threat to the world or my
world at the time was gentrification.
So, but anyway, so yeah, that was that was that one.
And yeah, we were very lucky. We got the Audience Choice award
at the Hamilton Fringe Festival that year.
And so that was very validating and a great experience with the
(13:55):
with the cast and sort of a way,you know, I just sort of adapted
and pivoted and found another way to write songs and entertain
people, you know, and make them feel things through my words and
music, you know. And then from there, you know,
that led after, you know, a fiveor seven years of of being, you
(14:16):
know, a playwright and and doingthe Chasing Shadows productions
fringe theatre thing. Then I debuted Mind true stories
and legends of the Porcupine Gold rush, which was sort of my
bridge back into being folk singer Will Gillespie primarily.
So there we go. There's the journey that got me
sort of back to though. That's the part you missed, you
(14:38):
know, is was I was in Hamilton doing theatre for a few years,
but still writing songs And, andthat's also what happened to the
why. If it seems like there's a
couple of years of I didn't havethat, you know, as many albums
and singles as a folk singer that well, it's 'cause I was
doing cast albums at the time. And you guys are coming on tour
(15:02):
soon from what I see on your Facebook here 2 Northern
Troubadours. Yes, well, the a really neat
thing happened. I was at the Folk Music Ontario
conference year before last and I met this guy, Brian Trombley,
and he he's another singer-songwriter out of Sioux
Sainte Marie. And I met him there at the
(15:23):
conference and we were talking and trying to figure out figure
out a way to work together. And then I was excited to hear
that he too was about to releasea Northern Ontario history
themed concept album. So he and I both came out with
separate Northern Ontario history themed concept albums.
Mine is mine, true stories and legends of the Porcupine Gold
(15:43):
Rush, which was a fringe show that, you know, I developed into
a into a concept album with a band and everything like that.
And then all written in old timey styles from the period of
the Porcupine Gold Rush, which was 19 O 9.
So there's, there's a bit of bluegrass and there's ragtime
and there's a concert hall and waltzes and a little bit of
(16:05):
polka and, you know, barrel house Blues and, and early proto
swing and, and styles like that.And, and it's all on acoustic
instruments that people may havehad.
The idea was to to do it as whatI call a campfire cabaret where
it's like a storytelling folk musical where I'm, I'm like kind
(16:28):
of in character and in costume and doing styles of the time,
telling stories of the, the lesser known people behind the
legends of the Porcupine gold rush of 19 O 9.
So it's like the Timmins history, northern Ontario
history. It was like another Klondike,
another Wild West that happened right here in Ontario, up north
(16:49):
in the Porcupine camp and what became Timmins where I'm from.
And so and on the way there's some other stories and songs
about people from the Cobalt silver Rush and and the Kirkland
Lake gold Rush. And what's neat is one of the
places we're playing the museum up in Kirkland Lake, the
Northern Ontario, the Museum of Northern History in Kirkland
(17:11):
Lake actually was the Sir Harry Oak Chateau.
So I've got a song about Harry Oaks when he was a prospector
who discovered, you know, one ofthe big gold bonanzas that sort
of made, you know, put that townon the map.
We're actually doing the show inhis house, you know, and that's
the same show that Brian Trombley and I are bringing to
(17:33):
Knox Hall in Sudbury on October 4th, which is AI chose that on
purpose 'cause, you know, Sudbury Saturday night.
Woo Hoo. And so I always, I always try to
play in Sudbury on Saturday if Ican, you know, 'cause you know,
the townhouse, that's where thatsong was written and all that
stuff. And it's like the national
anthem in, in Sudbury. So I, yeah.
(17:55):
So, yeah, I'm going to bring bring Brian Tremblay there and
he's going to open the show and he's going to do the, you know,
like 12 songs from his album about the ACR, the Algoma
Central Railway and other train songs based around his growing
up in Sioux Sainte Marie and hisfamily connections there and
then. So it's, yeah, roots music about
(18:15):
our roots, right? And, and we're playing in each
other's hometown. Like we're going from the Erma
Tinger Clerg National Historic Site in up in Sioux Sainte Marie
all the way to the Timmons Museum.
We're doing the show there. So I I've done different
versions of the of the mind showup at the Timmins Museum.
(18:35):
I even brought to John from murder murder.
He he wound up playing mandolin and upright bass on on that tour
when when I brought him to Timmins and and Cobalt and
Cochran a couple of years ago. But but this time it's yeah, me
and and Brian Tremblay and then Lynn Ecroft is going to be
(18:59):
singing harmonies and playing percussion with Brian during his
set. And then we got Susan Robinson
is like a visual artist and she's painted a lot of Northern
Ontario landscape painting. So we to make it feel
theatrical, we're going to project those behind us.
So it sort of feels like like anold tiny, like a play painted
(19:24):
backdrop, but it's going to be aprojection.
And then on top of that, the Timmins Museum has given us
access to a bunch of historical photos of the real people I'm
singing about, you know, so, so when I'm singing about Johnny
Jones and his sled dogs, you'll see a photo of Johnny Jones.
And when I sing about Caroline Mavenflower, the lady prospector
(19:45):
of the Porcupine, and we'll see pictures of her out there, you
know, with her fancy dresses andher pistol and anyway, and her
sled dog and all that sort of stuff.
So, and now with this tour, the Elk Lake Museum, there was Terry
is the name of the guy who runs that museum.
(20:05):
And he actually sent me a couplea couple books about this fellow
named Jack Monroe. And just last night, I finished
yet another song that's going tobe in the show, and it's going
to be about Jack Monroe, who waslike.
A World War One veteran, a best selling author, a boxing
(20:26):
champion, His dog was the basis of the book and movie Lassie.
And. And somehow I, he was like a
major character that even doing all that, those years of
performing in the research up atthe Timmons Museum somehow
slipped through. But now no thanks to that.
All this travelling. Yeah, it's like an evolving
show. You know, people come up to us
afterwards from the audience. And yeah, one, one photo that
(20:51):
we're projecting was like one ofthe audience members, it was
their grandfather worked in the gold mines at Timmins in the
30s. So he's up there on the on the
screen. So yeah, it's like a every
evolving show. And that's what we're bringing
to Subway to Knox Hall. Yeah.
So it's going to be like a big homecoming on multiple levels
for us and. Yeah, it's it feels so sort of
(21:14):
like I'm speaking with a living,breathing encyclopedia because
of your your knowledge is is is extent is extensive of of all of
this. And on your poster, the same 1,
the same show, it says Gabriel. Are you playing in Gabriel?
Yes, we're doing so it's, it's the one exception cause the rest
(21:35):
of the tour is all gonna be likea like a three hour concert with
like the both of us playing our full albums and they all start
at 7:00 PM. But the show in Capriol is going
to be like an express, you know?So again, using the train
language, we're going to do sortof like a super, like the show's
family friendly the whole time. But in Capriol, we're going to
(21:58):
do like an express sort of bit more geared towards kids,
shorter daytime matinee at the train museum in KPL, as soon as
I discovered the train museum, like, oh, I really want to do
the mind show here. And then we wound up working
with Brian Tremblay, who's doinglike a whole album of train
songs. So we're like, OK, well, we got
to do it here. And then I think in KPL they're
(22:20):
doing at the main Train museum, they're doing like a Halloween
activity even that early, like the 5th of October.
And so, well, they're doing all their spooky events for kids
there. If people go over to the
Heritage Center just about like a block away, a short walk away
from the main train museum will be upstairs in there doing like
(22:44):
a shorter sort of abridged version of the of the show, you
know, just cheap, you know, and again, because most of the shows
on this tour are part of official part of culture days,
most of the performances are paywhat you may so people can
decide what what they can affordto give.
(23:06):
So that's our sort of sub free sub ratio.
The Knox Hall show, because we're renting it, we're doing a
a ticketed show. So that's, but that's, you know,
sort of our biggest event of thewhole tour, so.
So the pay what you May is the Capriol show.
That's it's the Capriol show andthen all the museum shows,
right, which which is in yeah, 11 towns in 11 days, the 1st 11
(23:31):
days of October. 1111. Yeah, it's gonna be a whirlwind.
It seems like a significant number for some reason.
Yeah, right. Yeah.
And then, yeah, that day actually that we're doing
Caprio. So it's like after Knox Hall, we
do Caprio quick little matinee for the kids and then we go over
to shoe swap on the Nipissing. You know that resort that Paul
(23:55):
Lowenberg himself is running now, He does concerts there
occasionally. So we're doing like a house
concert there. And yeah, it's a beautiful,
beautiful spot to spend a coupledays.
So we're gonna do like a house concert there at Shoe Swap on
the Nipissing. It's a very popular place for
people fishing and in the winteryou could bring your sled there.
But anyway, it's like a, it's beautiful sort of.
(24:18):
Yeah. All the cabins are kind of
Bavarian style. And so, yeah, it's gonna be kind
of idyllic, you know, a good wayto break up the show.
And then the second-half of the tour, which is sort of like the,
the Lake Tamiskaming route, you know.
So then we what's exciting for me is like then after that,
we're kind of following the pathof the TNNO or Tamiskaming, the
(24:41):
Northern Ontario Railway that, you know, was the path that they
took up to the Porcupine Gold Rush back in 19 O 9.
So like, you know, we'll be kindof in a car, but like taking the
same route, going to the same places where all these people
were singing about did their thing, which is pretty exciting.
The next question Will is the daily segment and that's a
(25:03):
really odd name for it, but it'sa question I ask every guest.
And I have to mention now that you are not currently living in
Sudbury, but you have lived hereand where are you living now?
Right now, yeah, We moved down South, Yeah, we moved over to
Oshawa. That's where, yeah, 'cause my
(25:25):
partner, Susan, her family, we had to, you know, take care of
the family and that sort of thing.
So now we're working with the Theatre on the Ridge largely in,
in this region. So we're still doing like folk
music and theatre, but helping them out.
And anyway. Right.
So you can answer this question to the best of your ability,
(25:45):
even even with your memories andwhat not.
You spent a lot of time in Sudbury and that's where I first
saw you. So the question is, what is one
thing that you feel would make Sunbury greater?
What would make the greater cityof Sudbury even greater?
Let's see. Well, for one thing, I like what
(26:08):
you're doing here, like more promotion for the local music
scene. And what made it great at the
time that I lived there again, was was the the scene we had in,
in especially the townhouse, butall around, you know, once, once
we started doing that, that up here festival.
(26:33):
And then there was also that. Yeah, I played it a couple
times. The River and sky was great
'cause it was like the whole Sudbury music scene.
Went camping together. It was awesome.
And even people here in Oshawa end up going up there.
So I think what would make Sudbury even greater is in a way
(26:53):
kind of more of the same, more community building, scene
building events and, you know, more encouragement for original
artists in all genres, includingtheater and dance and literature
and art and music to work together and do events where
(27:15):
it's, you know, multimedia and, and promote each other and buy
each other's albums, go to each other's shows.
Put put all your friends who arefellow artists on the guest
list, 'cause it's better to playto a full house than a than an
empty house. And, and the people who are
paying cover coming in, it'll bethe same, you know, it'll be the
(27:36):
same 20 people will come to the show and then just you'll have
more seats and everyone will have a better time anyway.
So that's so that's what I wouldsay to make Sudbury even
greater. Keep doing more shows, write
more songs, and put your friendson the guest list.
So Saturday, October 4th, 2025, you'll be playing Knox Hall on
Larch St. in Sudbury, is that correct?
(27:56):
From 7:00 to 10:00. Yes, from 7 to 10 on on Saturday
the 4th and that. Yeah, that's with Will Gillespie
and Brian Tremblay. 2 Northern Troubadours songs and stories of
Northern Ontario. That's like, so like just
telling the title. That's half the show, yeah.
Beautiful. Yeah, well, this was a lot of
(28:17):
fun. It was nice chatting with you.
Sudbury interviews everyone. Today we were speaking with Will
Gillespie and what a pleasure. It's so calming to talk to you.
I recognized your voice immediately when we when we got
on the call. So thanks for coming on, Will.
Anything else you'd like to add?Well, I'm really looking forward
to being back in Sudbury. Every time I go there, you know,
(28:39):
it's, I feel like Dracula regaining, you know, his powers
from the the soil of his homeland, you know, so.
So thank you Sudbury for having me for all those years.
And every time I get to come back, Yeah, it's a very
rejuvenating. They say there's something in
the water and it might literallybe minerals anyway.
So, yeah, there's, there's one theory that, you know, the the
(29:00):
crater city of Sudbury, you know, the, that that may have
even been where like oxygen on Earth possibly started.
And I'm not sure. Anyway, it's just like it's,
yeah, it's like a, it's a real magnetic place.
And I'm always glad to come backand hope to see you there.
Sounds good, will have a great day and thanks again.
Thank you. Bye.
Bye. Bye.
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