Tia Wood returns to Alberta for Edmonton Folk Fest

Coming from Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Tia Wood first started performing at powwows. “My summers look a little bit different now,” Wood said. “I used to go powwow, I used to go to ceremonies every weekend.” 

Her music has come a long way since then. Last week, she performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival with her family and friends in the crowd.

Wood is now based in Los Angeles, but described herself as nomadic. “I’m always on the road so I barely get to go there.”

She performed an unreleased song, “Alberta,” that touches on the feelings of grief that come along with leaving home and family. 

“That song’s really personal to me,” she explained. “I’m probably leaning towards releasing it because a lot of people that have heard that song really resonated with it, and a lot of my Indigenous youth, relatives have really connected with it.”

Shining a light on her community through her music is important to her. That extends to using her music to speak on important issues like mental health and substance use. It also means uplifting her Two-Spirit and drag friends, like Pheromone Killz, who joined her on stage at Folk Fest.

“We got in contact and I was like, you know what? I need more energy,” Wood explained.

“She was doing the worm on stage,” she laughed. “I was like, if I look at it I’m going to get so distracted.”

Honouring her family and community

Wood didn’t grow up seeing Indigenous Peoples represented in popular culture, but she’s gotten to be a part of changing that. She was the first Indigenous woman to be signed to Sony Records and has shared the stage with Shawn Mendes. 

“I am so thankful to come from such a long line of amazing and talented people that didn’t maybe get the opportunities that I’ve gotten,” she explained. “It’s been really cool to step into these spaces and just be proud of where I come from and represent not only me, but my whole community … and my family and just be unapologetic about it.”

Her sister, Fawn Wood, is one of the main reasons why she pursued music. 

“She’s a trailblazer within the Indigenous community when it comes to women singers and musicians,” Wood explained. 

She opened her performance with a traditional song composed by her sister. “I just like to honour her because I got my start in traditional music, but she was really one of my biggest inspirations to go out and try something new.”