Singer-songwriter celebrates life in Saskatoon
Johnston's new album I See You YXE features tunes inspired by local people
Christine Johnston has lived in Saskatoon since she was three years old — and has been making music for about that long, too.
So when Johnston wanted to celebrate life in her city and capture some of what makes Saskatoon special to her, an album of new music inspired by Saskatonians' stories was the natural choice.
“I knew I wanted to do a project that would encapsulate a picture of my love for the people of my city, and the stories of our lives as we live them out,” said the singer-songwriter.
At the end of 2023, after years of work, planning, interviews, songwriting and recording, Johnston released her album I See You YXE. Each song on the album is inspired by a local life story — from Johnston's friends and family members, acquaintances, and even “people who I never knew until I approached them on the street.”
Since she was a teenager, Johnston had been writing custom music for weddings, funerals and other occasions in the lives of her loved ones. This was the first time she took that idea to build an album from start to finish, finding the roots of a new song in the story of each person or couple she spoke to. Some people told stories about battling cancer, or `making it' as a creative in the city, or doing their best as a parent to make a better life for their child.
“After saying goodbye to them, I'm driving home and going about my day, and the songs are building and growing in me,” Johnston recalled. “I'm looking for it, staying open to it, staying ready for it.”
When she knew it was time to sit down and write, the process looked different for every person's story. Some began with the lyrics first, others with the melody. Some drew on parts of Johnston's rock, soul and blues music backgrounds, while others led her into new genres like spoken word or rap. Some lyrics came directly from the conversations she'd had with people, while others were more inspired by moments from the interview than the actual words.
“It was more that I needed to hear those things, so I could tell their story in a way that felt honouring of them and their resilience and strength,” Johnston said.
In some songs, she even collaborated with the people who had inspired them — everything from a tag at the end from a couple's three-year-old child, to a local dad writing and rapping his own verse.
“This is a moment for a piece of music to honour and pay tribute to that person's life, so it was very important to me,” Johnston said.
Tony and Brenda Preiner are the parents of Johnston's good friends; over the years, they've become friends too, and she considers them her “honorary parents.” So when Johnston asked about featuring their story on the album, Tony said he and Brenda were “surprised, and happy to do it.”
The more they got to work on the project, answering questions about their history as a couple and the life they've lived together, the more exciting it got. “I thought it was cool that I got to play on it, as well,” Tony Preiner said. “I'm not much of a performer, per se — I'm a closet guitarist, and a campfire guitarist. And my wife got up and played the tambourine.”
And listening to the song Johnston had written for them — Thank You 1972 — will always be “pretty special” for the whole family, Tony said.
The day she was able to share a song with the people who had inspired it was always emotional, Johnston said.
“There have been lots of tears,” she said. “It's a bond I can't explain.”
And now that the album is out in the world, she says `I See You YXE' has inspired her to see her city in a new light, too.
“It made me sink my roots down deeper into my city and the people of my city,” she said. “My roots went deeper, and my devotion got stronger, and I feel more connected every day to my city.”
This is a moment for a piece of music to honour and pay tribute to that person's life, so it was very important to me.