Black Deer Video: William Prince “The Spark”

Each day this week, we’re featuring a video from one of the great performers at this year’s Black Deer Festival.  Today, it’s the turn of Canadian singer-songwriter William Prince.  This stunning song is taken from his 2020 album ‘Reliever’, which was released here shortly before the pandemic.  The album, and ‘The Spark’ in particular, helped make that first lockdown a little more bearable.  The words alone, full of romantic urgency, make this one of the great love songs: “So am I dreamin’? // Or is this just how we’re living now? // There’s so much revealed when // You take the time to know me for who I am // Darling, just who I am // I was in the dark the day that I met you // Now you expect me just to forget you // Act like the fire never burned it was my solstice my refuge.”  It’s honest and emotionally raw.  The cosy fire in the video matches the warmth of the production and Prince’s intimate vocal delivery.

Prince’s most recent album, ‘Gospel First Nation’, was commended by the likes of Bob Harris, receiving plenty of airplay.  That release at the end of 2020 featured hymns remembered from Prince’s youth and time spent in the family’s Peguis First Nation chapel.  His voice swells with meaning as he seeks salvation in these songs of faith reimagined as country ballads.  Prince is in the middle of a UK tour alongside Serena Ryder, including his appearance at the festival on Sunday 19th.  With Ryder, he has just released a new single ‘Sing Me a Song’, which showcases the pair’s fabulous vocals.  Indeed, the Juno Award-winning member of the Peguis First Nation, possesses a deep, distinctively sonorous voice that will fill the Deer Park.  While you’re waiting for the show, check this out.