Guitar giveaway a way for Lenape musician to give back to Indigenous youth

Playing the guitar, singing the blues, or writing songs has been a daily ritual for the past 30 years for Lenape musician Brock Stonefish of Moraviantown in southwestern Ontario.

"It saved my life," said Stonefish.

"When I was about 13 years old, I attempted suicide. That was right around the time when I started playing guitar and it brought me back."

Stonefish's music has taken him across the globe, performing as a solo artist, opening for B.B. King, and touring the United States with Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers.

Now Stonefish is organizing his second Indigenous Youth Guitar Giveaway. He said it's a way to give back, to help First Nations, Métis or Inuit youth that are struggling.

"I just want to provide that avenue for Indigenous youth, that I know that have the same problems I did when I was young on my journey through life."

Damien Kiyoshk, 22, from Walpole Island is one of two recipients to receive a guitar from the first guitar giveaway that was organized last July. He's been playing for two years and is an aspiring blues player.

"I was super appreciative," he said.

"I had one previously, but it got kind of wrecked and wasn't as good as the one that I got from Brock."

Giving away guitars is not new to Stonefish.

"I had a guitar that I took with me when I opened for B.B. King; I gave it away to a 13-year-old about 10 years ago," he said.

"It was a hollow body arch top guitar and I've given away banjos and a lot of guitars have been given to me."

Stonefish has many supporters for his project, including Arne Vainio, a Native American physician from Duluth, Minn., who donated to the first project.

"He could totally change someone's life," said Vainio.