Grit and Greatness: William Prince at Rifflandia

William Prince is one of Canada’s most beloved singer-songwriters, and he’s slated to perform at Rifflandia 2025. Prince is known for his towering, baritone vocals and his ability to tell a story through his music. Once you’ve heard just one of his songs, his tone and timbre are hard to forget. 

Born in 1989 in Selkirk, Manitoba, Prince is a direct descendent of Chief Peguis. In addition to this powerful lineage, his father was a prominent musician who William grew up travelling to gigs alongside. Not only was his father a musician, but he was also a preacher, who moved the Prince family back to the Peguis First Nation when Prince was just a boy. 

While travelling with his father, Prince started writing songs at just 13-years-old, and began learning production later on in his teens, drawing inspiration from the greats: Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Charley Pride, and Willie Nelson. 

To date, Prince has released four studio albums: Earthly Days (2015), Reliever (2020), Gospel First Nation (2020) and Stand In The Joy (2023). 

His debut album, Earthly Days was a decade in the making and released independently, before Prince was picked up by Six Shooter Records and Glassnote, who reissued the album in 2018. The 11-track record was steeped in folk, country and gospel, combining all that shaped Prince’s life up until that point. Earthly Days was a success, and was recognized as such when Prince picked himself up a Western Canadian Music Award and a JUNO for the album in 2016 and 2017, respectively. One single from the album, “Breathless” peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in 2018. 

Reliever was co-produced by the renowned Dave Cobb, known for producing records for the likes of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell, to name a few. On this album, Prince dove into the deep end of his emotional spectrum, covering topics such as his father’s passing and the birth of his son. His single “The Spark” earned him the SOCAN Songwriting Prize in 2020, an award chosen by Canadian fans. 

Prince’s third album, Gospel First Nation, was a genre-bending, COVID-19 release that saw Prince combine original compositions with his father’s music, traditional gospel hymns and First Nations-inspired music. At the time of this release, Prince described this project as confronting the complex influence of Christianity on Indigenous communities and reclaiming his cultural roots through spiritual music.

Prince’s 2023 release, Stand in the Joy was once again a collaboration with Dave Cobb and marked a notable shift in his music toward hope, gratitude and connection. This offering reflects on love, longing and everyday wonder, and has been met with critical acclaim. For this record, Prince earned himself his second Juno for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, and he also won several Canadian Folk Music Awards. 

Prince is a one-of-a-kind musician, who is bursting at the seams with soul. He is one of many powerhouse artists on the docket at this year’s Rifflandia festival, but certainly not one you will want to miss. 

– Curtis Blandy. Curtis Blandy is a music nerd, wannabe cowboy and punk rat who happily makes his living as the Senior Writer for Victoria Buzz. Curt writes about everything under the sun, but gets a special ‘ooey gooey’ feeling in his sensitive little heart anytime he gets a chance to write about Victoria’s music scene. Through his work at Victoria Buzz, Curty boy writes a weekly column called ‘New Music Monday’ in which he highlights new releases by the myriad of local musicians Vancouver Island has to offer.