Tom Wilson Tehohàhake Is Caught In A Death Row Love Affair

The beloved singer-songwriter gives us a preview of his upcoming solo album.

Tom Wilson Tehohàhake shows us more of his Beautiful Scars on his new single and lyric video Death Row Love Affair — showcasing today on Tinnitist.

In April, the personal odyssey of the beloved Canadian musician hit a new milestone when his 2017 novel, Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers And The Road Home — which had already been adapted into a 2022 documentary — was presented as a stage musical. Now, Wilson’s take on one of the big numbers from that show, Death Row Love Affair, is being released as a single, adding yet another chapter to his perpetually captivating story of healing — while acting as a tantalizing preview of a new album due later this year.

In the show — co-conceived by Wilson and writer/actor Shaun Smyth — the song provides a powerful closer to Act 1. Wilson’s own rendition is an achingly honest rumination, with a hovering ominousness that perfectly befits its depiction of a human soul at a reckoning point:

“Who’s kiddin’ who about where love goes
Some speed away
Some are going down slow
Oh I’m going nowhere in this death row love affair.”

Photo by Jose Crespo.

Wilson calls the song’s sentiments “words of love from the silence between heartbeats.” The recorded track fills those silences perfectly: With no percussion to interfere with its almost free-time introspection, it paints an exquisitely unhurried portrait of wistfulness. Completing that portrait was a task Wilson entrusted to producer/engineer Gary Furniss, who also played guitar, bass and keys on the track, augmenting Wilson’s own lead vocal and acoustic guitar. Thompson Wilson provided additional vocals, with Jesse O’Brien on piano and Aaron Goldstein on pedal steel and baritone guitar.

Death Row Love Affair is the latest instalment in the Beautiful Scars project, an ongoing chronicle of the culture shock Wilson experienced upon discovering the Mohawk heritage that had been kept from him by his adoptive parents. As a musician, he’s augmented his name with Tehoháhake (Mohawk for “two roads”) to better reflect that heritage. And he’s made the trials of people like him a key focus of his efforts as a musician, writer, and visual artist. “The intention of my writing, my music and my art is to reduce the gap between my Indigenous culture and colonialists to make a more patient, loving community,” he says.

He certainly has the artistic pedigree to get people to listen. Wilson’s tireless efforts as a musician have netted him numerous nominations and awards, from the Hamilton Music Awards to the Polaris Prize to the Juno Awards. And he’s gone gold and platinum over the course of his storied recording career, which has encompassed releases as not just a solo artist but with his popular bands Junkhouse, Blackie And The Rodeo Kings and Lee Harvey Osmond, winner of a 2020 Juno for the album Mohawk. As a songwriter, Wilson has seen his work recorded by and with artists like Sarah McLachlan, City And Colour, Jason Isbell, Colin James, Lucinda Williams, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mavis Staples and The Rankin Family.

Photo by Marta Hewson.

His forays into fine art have been displayed in various galleries across Canada and collected in the recently published book Mohawk Warriors, Hunters and Chiefs: The Art Of Tom Wilson Tehoháhake. In 2020, he established the Tom Wilson Indigenous Bursary in Honour of Bunny Wilson, his adoptive mother, at McMaster University. The bursary helps first-year Indigenous students from Ontario schools to complete their undergraduate education.

All that activity hasn’t gone unnoticed. Last year, Wilson was named a Companion of the Order of Canada “for his multifaceted contributions to the arts in Canada, notably as an iconic musician, as well as for his advocacy of Indigenous communities in Canada.” This September, he’ll be appointed to the Order. And as part of Canadian Music Week, he’ll receive the CMW Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award.

He’s also hitting the road with several of his musical projects. First up, his Tom Wilson Tehohàhake Trio have a slate of shows booked through fall:

June 15 | Markham Village Music Festival, Markham, ON
Oct. 4 | Creemore Festival of Arts, Creemore, ON
Oct. 5 | Market Hall Performance Centre, Peterborough, ON
Oct. 18 | Festival of Small Halls, Brockville, ON
Oct. 19 | Festival of Small Halls, Westmeath, ON
Oct. 26 | Festival of Small Halls, Waterford, ON

Photo by Marta Hewson.

Wilson also has performances on tap with Junkhouse:

June 22 | TBA, Uxbridge, ON
July 18 | Algonquin Theatre, Huntsville, ON
July 19 | Crewfest 2024, Brantford, ON
Aug. 2 | Rockin’ the Fields of Minnedosa 2024, Minto, MB

And he has gigs lined up with Blackie And The Rodeo Kings:

July 13 | Hope Volleyball Summerfest 2024, Ottawa, ON
July 21 | Hillside Festival 2024, Guelph, ON

Watch the video for Death Row Love Affair above, hear more from Tom Wilson Tehohàhake below, and try to keep up with him on his website, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.