The Music of Burnstick
I had the pleasure of hosting Nadia and Jason Burnstick of the Winnipeg, Manitoba-based, JUNO Award-nominated contemporary Folk duo Burnstick on Between the Grooves, which is heard Sundays at 8-10 pm Eastern Time on Radio Kingston WKNY 1490 AM and 107.9 FM in Kingston, NY.
I like to focus on themes on my radio programs. Recently, I produced a program on great Indigenous singer-songwriters, Folk duos and others in that genre. I happened across the music of Burnstick and I loved it, in particular, the song Prayer, which is about Nadia and Jason’s son, from their 2019 album Kîyânaw. The song literally moved me to tears.
Built on emotion-stirring storytelling and unmistakable vocal harmonies accompanied by a century-old instrument, Jason and Nadia are intent on creating affecting music that inspires listeners to feel.
Nadia and Jason are esteemed independent artists who united over a decade ago to create deeply moving, cinematic Folk music using their trademark vocal pairing and Jason's mastery of the lap slide Weissenborn guitar.
Personally, I think it’s almost misleading to call Burnstick a “Folk duo” because when one thinks of Folk music one thinks of someone strumming away on an acoustic guitar. Burnstick’s music covers a lot more territory but in a beautiful, cinematic way, which I really appreciate. A combination of great singing, great songs and beautiful recording — for me, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Five years after their nationally acclaimed debut album Kîyânaw, Burnstick unveiled Made of Sin this past May. Made of Sin is their remarkable and poignant sophomore album.
“Infusing meaning in both lyric and sound, … “Made of Sin” is a meticulously composed project brimming with riveting harmonies and personal stories that challenge the confines of Contemporary Folk. Five years in the making, the duo dedicated their efforts on capturing the precise tones, timing, and lyrics, to share tales written about relationships, including their own, the ones they have with others, the people and experiences from the past, and the importance of being open to understanding one another in personal and societal relationships. Covering topics of indescribable love for family, the quickness of time, and the special moments we wish we could relive, the album also features a revelatory, emotional song about Jason’s first-hand experience as a Sixties Scoop survivor. The artwork for the album is made up of a series of photographs carefully taken by Nadia that represent the meaning for the project, and each song. — Jenna Melanson, Canadian Beats, May 29, 2024
We talked about their music and their new album (which has become one of my favorite albums of 2024 — and I don’t say this lightly as I hear a lot of music and am a hard critic!). We also talked about songwriting and producing their music, which for them is a wonderfully collaborative, respectful and, most of all, loving process.
I always request a playlist from my guests both to break up the conversation and to make my shows even more enjoyable for listeners. Of course, I wanted Burnstick to focus on their own music but I also asked them to include a few other songs from artists they like or who have influenced them in some way.
Closer (from Made of Sin)
Nadia says, “Like Prayer from our album Kîyânaw, Closer is also about our son, who is now six years old. So, it’s kind of a look back. That moment when he came into the world was so overwhelming and it really changed our lives. Six years later, that feeling has never gone away. It’s still there. I think when we were writing Closer we wanted to have that feeling in that song. It’s a little bit like a love song for a person in your life that you would do anything for because that feeling doesn’t go away.”
Made of Sin (title track from Made of Sin)
Jason (a Sixties Scoop survivor) says: “There were 215 graves of Indigenous children found at a residential school near Kamloops, British Columbia in 2021. When I heard about it my heart sunk. I just wanted to tell those kids — I hear you. I want to acknowledge you and honor you in some way. This is the song that came out of that. I really wish I didn’t have to write it but it just came out. I just wish that whole thing had never happened. … There’s no way that I will ever not think of those kids and not cherish the moments with my family and honor every moment.”
We forget that genocide is a word that is rarely used when it’s in context with the Indigenous peoples of this continent. People think genocide means killing people. But it’s more than that. It’s about destroying languages, cultures and lifeways. It’s all tied to the colonial project, which is still ongoing.
A lot of times I speak to people about things that have gone on, and the attitude is like that’s something that happened before, in the past. They forget that all of these things are right on the surface and very present.
Jason says: “I find a lot of times when people say that was a long time ago, they minimize it because they don’t care. Because if they cared, they would talk to you about it. But what they’re telling you is “I don’t care.” So, I don’t tend to listen to those people much.”
Nadia adds: “That’s also setting it as something in history that was on its own. As though those people didn’t have children, those people didn’t have great grandchildren that are here today and trying to survive all of that past. We are forgetting that this is NOW, not just some little thing that you can set away in a box. Everyone is going through this now and that’s important, as well.”
Hands Tied (from Made of Sin)
Jason says: “That one started with a guitar riff. I was messing around with this riff and trying to find a place for it for who knows how long. And then one day it stuck, something happened. The first two lines came to me and that’s when I brought it to Nadia. And Nadia took it away!
Jason adds: “My mom used to love to hunt. She spoke three Indigenous languages, was an incredible lady, and was also very, very feisty. She liked to go hunting and she would go back, we had a place near the rez, and she would go out and grab whatever she could…a rabbit, a deer, whatever… One day she went out, it was wintertime, and she came across a moose that was sleeping. And she decided she would put one behind the ear. So, she shot the moose, and then the moose stood up right in front of her. My mom wasn’t a very big lady but she had no fear. Instead of shooting the moose, she punched the moose in the nose. The moose just went over. I make a joke of it but it wasn’t the shot that took the moose out, it was the punch.”
Nadia says: “When I met Jason’s mom for the first time, that’s the first story she ever told me. She’s no longer with us. Those kinds of stories, sharing those [stories], is how we remember her, and how she lives on in us and with our son. And we tell him those stories, as well. And we wanted to write one of those songs to remind us not to take for granted those moments with the people that we love so much because time goes by really fast. That’s where Hands Tied really came from.”
Some Kind of Hell (from Kîyânaw)
Jason says: “I had a concept of this idea where if we would take an elder from way back in the day and time travel them to today and look at some of the things that have happened throughout our history. What would they do? What would they say? What would they think? All of those things. Try to make things right and bring families home. I feel they would give every part of themselves, to their last breath, to bring their families home and be together and to take care of the environment and to repair the harms that have happened.”
Some Kind of Hell received a Canadian Folk Music Award for Single of the Year, accompanied by nominations at the Western Canadian Music Awards and Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards in 2020 and 2021.
Seeds (Julian Taylor from his 2022 album, From the Reservoir)
Nadia says: “We had the chance to play with Julian Taylor recently at the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival [in Nova Scotia]. He’s a great songwriter who is coming out with a new album. This song is from his previous album.”
“Now here you are, you're in full flower
You're flexible in all your power
You've got all the sunlight and the air that you need
They tried to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds.
Now here you stand hour after hour
Strong as an oak, tall as a tower
The storm keeps on ragin', but you never pay no heed
They tried to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds.” — Julian Taylor
Willows (Marie-Ann)
Nadia says: “Willows is a beautiful Métis songwriter who I grew up with. She very much influenced how I write. She sings in English, French and Michif.”