INUVIK
Willie Thrasher is coming home.

Willie Thrasher, shown in a 2008 photograph, is looking forward to having fun with the audience when he plays the Igloo Church on Feb. 22 in a presentation by the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre. - NNSL file photo

The musician, born in Aklavik, hasn't been back to the Beaufort Delta in 30 years and will be returning on Feb. 22 as part of the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre's Native North America tour.

The album was nominated for a 2016 Grammy and features indigenous artists from both the United States and Canada who were popular from 1966 to 1985 and beyond.

"The music is the same Willie as before," Thrasher told the Drum. "We'll just be enjoying the music and having fun with the crowd."

Kevin Howes, who produced the compilation album titled Native North America, Vol. 1, which Rolling Stone magazine ranked the 12th best country album, said he spent years collecting the music and stories that went into it.

"For the last 20 years I've been travelling across Canada looking for music," he said, speaking with the Drum from Los Angeles, where he waited to hear the results of the Grammy nomination. "I wanted to know more about these artists, and I couldn't find much about them in the media, so I tracked them down."

Howes spent years putting together the album that came out in 2014 and features artists like Willy Mitchell and Willie Dunn, as well as Thrasher, and credits them with making music that truly stands the test of time.

"We're so lucky to have some of them touring," said Northern Arts and Cultural Centre executive director Marie Coderre. "It's a compilation of 23 musicians, and the producer, Kevin Howes, spent 15 years going to flea markets and music stores finding these forgotten artists. We want the room packed."

The Igloo Church will host the event at 7:30 on Feb. 22 featuring a performance by Thrasher while Howes who will add to the performance with still photos and some of the stories behind the songs on the album.

"I'm so excited to the see the reaction," said Coderre. "These men were playing in a super hard time, there was lots of racism, and Thrasher's music was really influenced by his culture. Hopefully we'll see a really diverse crowd."

Coderre said it's crucial for NACC to give the artists of Native North America a stage on which to perform, adding that many of them are still making music for a living.

"This is another chance," she said. "These guys have been able to overcome the struggles in their lives with music, but they haven't had it easy. Rolling Stone and a Grammy nomination is like dreams coming true. It's important to give them a voice, that recognition, even 40 years later."

As for Thrasher, he's just looking forward to being back in the North.

"This is the first time I'll be home in 30 years," he said. "I'm more excited to see my relatives and see friends, to see the town and how things have changed. I'm really excited."