Busker and storyteller: meet Kevin Schofield, the 'Tennessee Cree'

Kevin Schofield started his life on a trapline in Moose Factory, on the James Bay coast, where he taught himself to play the guitar and sing.

It took him a few decades, but following a traumatic event – Schofield said he was separated and lost his family in his thirties – he eventually made his way to Nashville, Tennessee.

"It was sad," Schofield said. "I had a hockey bag full of my books and trinkets. I remember I had a bag full of the crap they sell in the Ottawa tourist stores."

When he got to Nashville, Schofield said he lived in a motel room, where he made a "shrine" to Canada.

"I had all my sage and my sweetgrass and all my medicines and my little Canadian flag with a Native on it," he said.

"I'd take tourists and guests there. And they couldn't believe that I was a real Canadian."

But it was soon after he arrived In Nashville, the home of country music, a musician friend dubbed Schofield 'the Tennessee Cree'.

The moniker stuck.

"I like that name because it describes in one short word what I am," he said. "I'm Cree. And I moved to Nashville. And I have a twang."

But to those who know Schofield, his connection to country music shouldn't come as a surprise. Country, Schofield said, always held a special place in his heart. 

"My uncles and my grandmother loved that music," he said. "As a little boy, three, four, five. In those formative years, I was bopping around the house to those kinds of songs. I learned Johnny Cash when I was nine years old."

He began by playing with just one finger in open tuning, which was easy enough for a nine-year-old. 

"I learned like a half a dozen songs that way," Schofield said. "All Hank Williams songs and gospel songs."

From there, Schofield performed for family and friends, and eventually to the community hall in Moose Factory for larger crowds.