11/29/2023 0 Comments Night moves singer crosswordLaxton started writing songs around the age of 12 after discovering that a friend’s father was a songwriter - young Mik watched him play one night and was immediately inspired. ![]() Laxton, now 34, grew up in a farming family, the grandson of a ringer, which is the term for an Australian cowboy, and listened to classic rock and country. ![]() The racial stereotyping was perplexing for Laxton, who is Indigenous, because where he’s from - the town of Mossman on Australia’s northeastern coast, there’s a long history of Black communities listening to, and playing country music, in addition to R and B, soul and hip hop. “They looked at this face and said hip hop. “I was like, ‘Are you serious?’” Laxton says now. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Pushing to find out why, he got an answer from one booker who told him he wouldn’t connect with an Ottawa crowd because he’s Australian, and that the club’s patrons weren’t into hip-hop. Laxton contacted venues, went to open-mic nights and offered to audition for promoters, or even play for free, but didn’t get any nibbles for almost a year after moving to town. I knew it was going to be a hard slog, but I did everything I knew how to do and I couldn’t get a gig.” “I didn’t come here with any delusions that I’d burst on the scene out of nowhere,” Laxton said in a recent interview at a Hintonburg coffee shop. With his new self-titled album receiving rave reviews and appearances at three major Ottawa music festivals this year ( including CityFolk this Saturday), that is turning out to be the case - although it took longer than he had hoped for things to start happening. Laxton was blown away that he’d never heard the tune before and took it as a sign that Canada has a thriving roots music scene, making it a great place to launch his career as a country-folk singer-songwriter. ![]() Activate your Online Access Now Article content If you are a Home delivery print subscriber, unlimited online access is included in your subscription.
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