Bryce Lewis, a student at Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Moose Jaw campus, has worked as a ranch hand, mechanic, truck driver and backup musician — and can now add professional recording artist to his resumé.
Born to a ranching family in Kyle, Sask., Lewis, 34, grew up on his grandma’s accordion-playing, Swift Current old-time fiddling, Will James books and Ian Tyson records.
By age two, he was strumming along to Marty Stuart’s “Hillbilly Rock” album on a home-made guitar, while by age 11, he joined the Kyle Lutheran Church String Band as a rhythm guitarist and learned about the “boom-chick” patterns of Luther Perkins.
Lewis learned to play by ear and was introduced to traditional fiddle tunes and musicians Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins. He also learned from older neighbours who took him under their wings.
“My (early) musical experiences formed exactly who I am today … . They (his mentors) really set a solid foundation for listening to music, thinking about music, playing, (and) finding your own voice … ,” he said. “They taught me a lot of really core things as a person, not just as a musician.”
Lewis later moved to Calgary to drive a truck, studied under Dave Hamilton, and toured as a guitarist with Blake Berglund and Belle Plaine while driving the van and fixing gear.
Returning to Saskatchewan, he worked as a ranch hand and mechanic while playing in cabaret bands. He also repaired music amplifiers — and still does — as a side gig, but because he was self-taught, he had to research every fix while his knowledge of electrical systems was limited.
“I just picked it up (repairing amps) because I’ve always liked fixing things and taking things apart and learning how they work,” Lewis said, noting it’s good to know how to repair equipment since it often happens on tours.
Over the years, he also played backup for Colter Wall and Tyler Childers while receiving lessons from his guitar hero, Redd Volkaert.
Working with Wall and Childers was “really cool,” while learning from Volkaert during a guitar camp was “neat,” said Lewis. He later connected with Volkaert for lessons while passing through Texas during a tour.
Once the pandemic struck in March 2020, Lewis began losing jobs and performance opportunities dried up. He and his wife agreed that he should upgrade his skills and return to school.
He enrolled in the electrical engineering technology program at Sask. Polytech, partly because of his past music-related repair work and partly because the program was close to home. Pursuing the course has proven to be a good choice.
He has just completed his second year of the three-year program — he graduates next May — and credits the co-operative education portion as a major advantage to his learning. While he hopes to establish himself as a career-focused electrical engineering technologist in the power industry, he also wants to pursue music-related opportunities when possible.
He currently works part-time at Long and McQuade repairing guitars.
Lewis had wanted to create an instrumental album before the pandemic because his wife was expecting their first child and he was worried becoming a dad would consume his time. He hopes music can help him be a good father but doesn’t think a music career would let him support his family.
Lewis, a rootsy guitarist who describes his style as traditional country mixed with old-school surf rock and bluegrass, completed his album in 2021.
He later spoke with a friend in Kentucky about it and she offered to design an old-school country-style album cover. He sent her the record’s tracks but only heard back from her a year later when she asked if he wanted to sign with La Honda Records.
“The fact that they picked me up as an artist on their label is really overwhelming,” Lewis laughed. “I feel pretty lucky for getting that.”
The label announced Lewis’ album — “Saskatchewan Country Guitar” — last fall and released it this past spring, right in the middle of Lewis’ second work term. Since he was working at a co-op placement and had a young toddler — a second child is expected this October — he was too busy to have a launch party.
The album’s release is “really awesome,” Lewis said, even though his goal was to have recorded an album by age 21.
“So it’s nice that it’s finally out and in the world … . I’m really happy with how it turned out,” he said. “… I can’t think of anything I would fix.”
With a laugh, Lewis said he likely won’t have an album launch party since he isn’t a partier. The record has been released, which is something to celebrate.
Lewis hopes to balance his future music-playing and power-related career with his family life. He also plans to continue recording songs and has another album in mind.
Visit https://lahondarecords.com/pages/bryce-lewis to purchase Lewis’ record and watch some music videos.
