A Smithers born musician is one of the finalists for an international songwriting competition.
Michael Wilford’s blues song ‘Scotch’ which features Chelsea D.E Johnson has been chosen as a finalist for the People’s Choice section of the Blue’s category.
The competition features musicians across the world and judges for the competition includes Coldplay, Tom Waits and Dua Lipa.
According to Wilford, it was random that he entered the competition.
He said one night he was feeling low and decided to enter his song ‘Scotch for a step forward towards his art.
“I completely forgot about it and then six months later I found out I was a semifinalist which actually aligned with the release of the song and then a week after that I found out I was in the finals so, for something that I did on a whim it’s pretty wild,” Wilford said.
He started writing ‘Scotch’ in 2015 during a gap year after he graduated from Smithers Secondary School.
According to Wilford the process of writing included three moments of change, leaving Smithers, finishing musical school in Victoria and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wilford currently lives in Victoria and is also a drummer for bands like Old Soul Rebel and Sail Cassady.
He said the Town of Smithers does a lot to support its local musicians.
“It’s packed full of people who are very knowledgeable, very experienced and very willing to share their abilities,” Wilford said.
He also added that he will be writing more music in the coming months.
Voting can be done on the competition website and concludes on April 7.
Winners are expected to be announced sometime in late April or early May.
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