Nanaimo, BC

Born in 1948 in the Northwest Territories, Willie Thrasher made music to help him reconnect with his Inuvialuit culture, which he was deprived of at a residential school. Thrasher’s lost folk-rock tunes, which channel the AM radio vibes of Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot, were given a second life in 2014 with crate-digger Kevin Howes’ archival compilation Native North America (Vol. 1). Willie is still performing memorable sets and joins us at Sled Island with his partner Linda Saddleback.