Teagan Littlechief has become one of Saskatchewan’s most recognizable and well known artists.
And as the music industry continues to grow in the province, Littlechief continues to evolve her style.
At this year’s Saskatchewan Country Music Association (SCMA) awards weekend, Littlechief walked away a big winner.
Littlechief secured the win for Indigenous artist of the year, and female artist of the year. Littlechief becomes the first Indigenous musician to win female artist of the year.
It also marks the third straight year she took home Indigenous artist of the year.
She was also nominated for fans choice entertainer of the year.
Global News sat down with Littlechief to talk about her music career.
Q: How did you come to embrace country music in your singing and songwriting?
A: “To be honest I’ve always been a rock n roll girl, a pop — like Celine Dion — type music artist. I’ve been that kind of person for a very, very long time. I actually didn’t get into country music until 2001. I had to step out of my comfort zone, learn some country… Ever since then, I have kind of gotten into country and those big voices like Martina McBride, Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood.
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“Country music has really helped my career because within our province, country is one of our bigger genres. And it’s really fun to write because you’re able to tell the story. You can get whatever story you want out and on the table and just show it to people.”
Q: You are nominated for three SCMA awards. How might this inspire other Indigenous musicians? What advice would you give to them?
A: “I work with a lot of youth, and they tell me ‘I want to sing and I want to do music’ and I’m like, ‘you know what? Do it. The only thing that’s holding you back is you. Step out of your comfort zone, like I have to.’ I like to tell anybody who wants to get into music or the industry is do a lot of the homework and always ask questions. Never be afraid to ask questions.”
Littlechief, who is from White Bear First Nation said that she’d been singing since she was five and joined the Saskatchewan Music Association about 22 years ago.
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