GRAVELBOURG — For Gravelbourg singer-songwriter Scott Richmond, building a serious music career no longer means leaving rural Saskatchewan.
Richmond released “Lips to Lips” on July 17, the first single from his latest recording project and his return to releasing music publicly after several years away. His debut album, Come What May, was released in 2014, followed by years of performing across Canada and the United States.
Now, he is taking a different approach — making music from the small Saskatchewan community he calls home.
After returning to Gravelbourg, Richmond built a recording studio with help from family and community members and taught himself more about recording, production and mixing. He recorded and mixed “Lips to Lips” himself in Gravelbourg, collaborating with musicians from Saskatchewan and Nashville. The single was mastered by Chris Gehringer of Sterling Sound.
The project also features rural Saskatchewan talent. Artwork was created by artist Lacey Langlois, while the music video includes actors from Gravelbourg’s community theatre.
“Returning home changed Scott’s relationship with music,” says Erica Richmond of Pronghorn Records. “Instead of feeling that he needed to be somewhere else to build a career, he began trying to create the conditions to make music from where he already was.”
Richmond grew up on his family’s farm north of Gravelbourg and left the area at 17 to attend university. He studied in Regina and Quebec City while completing his teaching degree, returning home most summers to help with seeding and harvest.
His teaching career later took him to Columbia and the United States, where he recorded his first album in Nashville. After several years based in Regina, he returned to Gravelbourg in 2019. He now teaches at the local school while helping on the family farm and raising two young children.
Finding time for music can be difficult. Recording and mixing often happen late at night after his children are asleep, squeezed between teaching, family responsibilities and farm work.
But rural life has also given Richmond the space and independence to create without having to live in a major music centre.
“Making music can be challenging anywhere today, but living in rural Saskatchewan adds another layer to it,” Erica says. “Scott’s response has been to learn how to do much more of that work himself, from recording and production through to mixing, while also collaborating remotely when it makes sense.”
Technology has allowed him to work with musicians and industry professionals across Saskatchewan, Canada and the United States.
The studio itself is a reflection of that community support. Family and local residents helped with everything from concrete and framing to carpentry and finishing work.
“That experience of people showing up for one another has become part of the story of the album itself,” says Erica.
Richmond’s passion for music began as a child, when he sang constantly and memorized songs he heard on AM country radio. Growing up in a small rural community, however, there were few opportunities to pursue music.
At about 18, while at university, he used some of his student-loan money to buy his first guitar and taught himself to play. He began writing songs soon afterward and was performing publicly by about age 20.
At 21, Richmond entered French-language singer-songwriter competitions, winning both provincial and Western Canadian competitions. He subsequently represented Western Canada at the Festival international de la chanson de Granby in Quebec — experiences that helped make a career in music seem possible.
His career highlights have since included recording in Nashville, performing numerous shows with his band and earning invitations to events including BreakOut West, Gateway Music Festival and All Folk’d Up.
Now he is also teaching guitar to young people, helping create some of the musical opportunities he wished had been available when he was growing up.
The challenge ahead is reaching listeners beyond Gravelbourg.
“In a small rural community, there aren’t a lot of venues or media outlets with large audiences and reach,” Erica says. “Much of that work has to extend well beyond the local area.”
Richmond agrees. “The challenge now is finding ways to connect what he is creating in this very small place with listeners much farther beyond it.”
For this Gravelbourg musical artist, though, the journey is no longer about finding somewhere else to build a music career. It is about proving that ambitious music can be created right where he is — with the help of family, community and Saskatchewan talent.
