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James Rinn
Tim Hicks
Rock
Tim Hicks Talks Bar Gigs, Nashville and Why Live Shows Still Matter Most
Ahead of Billboard Canada LIVE at NXNE, the country veteran reflects on longevity, crowd connection and building a distinctly Canadian career.
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NXNE takes place June 10-14, 2026, at venues throughout Toronto. Leading up to this year's festival, we're spotlighting some of the artists playing Billboard Canada LIVE shows this year. Tim Hicks plays June 12 at the Opera House in Toronto. Find the full NXNE schedule and buy passes here.
Before the platinum singles, festival crowds and country radio hits, Tim Hicks was still driving himself between Ontario tavern gigs, playing weeknight acoustic sets for tips before hauling his band out on weekends. More than a decade later, that road-tested mentality still defines one of Canadian country music’s most dependable live acts.
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On June 12, Billboard Canada LIVE @ NXNE brings Hicks to Toronto’s Opera House alongside rising act The Martin Boys for a show that pairs a seasoned road veteran with one of country music’s newer-generation success stories.
The Niagara-based singer-songwriter has spent well over a decade carving out a distinctly Canadian lane within country music, balancing blue-collar country-rock sensibilities with arena-ready hooks and a live show that remains central to everything he does. Songs like “Loud,” “Hell Raisin’ Good Time,” “What A Song Should Do” and “Stronger Beer” have helped establish Hicks as one of the country’s most consistent live draws, with five Juno Award nominations and multiple platinum and gold-certified singles to his name.
Open Road Recordings president Ron Kitchener, who signed Hicks in 2012, says what stood out immediately was the artist’s perseverance. “He wasn't an overnight success story,” Kitchener tells Billboard Canada. “He was a career musician who had played every kind of room imaginable.”
Kitchener also points to Hicks’ ability to genuinely connect with audiences as a major reason for his longevity. “The singalongs, the energy and the connection with audiences resonated,” he says. “Very shortly after we had a sold-out club date tour across the country.”
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Ahead of his Billboard Canada LIVE @ NXNE performance, Hicks spoke with Billboard Canada about grinding through the bar circuit, learning vocal discipline from Helix frontman Brian Vollmer, why he never permanently relocated to Nashville and how live performance still shapes the way he writes and records music.
You spent years grinding it out on the road before reaching this stage of your career. How much did that period shape you as an artist?
My road training absolutely makes a difference. When I was playing in bars, I was doing silly things, then I got connected with a vocal coach and that was wonderful. It was Brian Vollmer, the lead singer of Helix. Back then, there were some days where my throat was just so sore I couldn't sing after playing 13 days in a row, so I'd call up Brian. He'd say, 'don't cancel your gigs, I'll warm you up.' He really taught me how to sing consecutive nights and not wreck yourself.
He was teaching a very classical method, bel canto. He'd be like, 'here's the technique and here's how you twist it for when you go out tonight to play.' It was mutually beneficial as I'd be implementing what he was teaching that very night. I'm sure it was exciting for him as a teacher. I'm still doing all the exercises and all the warmups. That stuff still rings in my ear. That was early in my career. In 2005 and 2006, I saw him for 2 or 3 years. We're still in touch. He lives in London, ON, and we'll get together and he'll go, 'do your lessons, I wanna see where you're at.'
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Ron Kitchener was talking about how much of your career has been built through touring and being a road warrior. You’ve built such a strong Canadian audience that you never really had to permanently relocate to Nashville the way many artists do now.
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I think just by being a working musician that happens. There wasn't really a scene for me early on. It wasn't a conscious thing of me sitting in my basement thinking, 'how am I going to make my own scene?' It happened accidentally. I'd have house gigs early in the week, Tuesday in Brantford, Wednesday in Waterloo, Thursday in Guelph, and by the weekend I'd pick up my band and we'd play Ottawa or Windsor.
I was a bit different from my colleagues in that I'd been around for a while and had played so much. I still am proud of that as a badge of honour. Then I just tried to apply that to my artist career, which was to write the best things I can. I build and write and record those songs around my live show. Everything I do is a conduit to get people out to see the live band. If we can do that, then there is something about a seasoned act that stands out.
Bands may not even really know that consciously. A buddy of mine is a DJ at a radio station in Winnipeg. He sent me a radio call he got from a listener who was raving about the show and saying he was so impressed that my voice sounded just like it does on the records. I almost welled up 'cos that is what we are trying to do. To have that come from a random stranger who had never seen us before just affirmed that it is still working after all these years. Usually if people are in a room, they'll leave saying, 'yeah those guys are pretty good.' The challenge of the day is to get people in the room.
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That approach has worked so far. My goal is actually to never move to Nashville. It felt like when, around 2012, I was really actively pursuing an artist career, it felt like you did not have to do that then. It was never on my radar. We had a baby and the goal was to be uniquely Canadian and always have a career in Canada, like Blue Rodeo or The Tragically Hip or Stompin' Tom. Somewhere along the road the game changed and now it seems you gotta be there.
I'm lucky that the little legacy I have lets me do what I do in my little backyard and it seems to be OK. But I worry for the up and comers now that it seems like you have to go down there. If you're a single guy or girl and don't have anything to hang on to, by all means go on down there. Nashville is a great city.
We tried it. When we were working on the third record, I went down with my wife and kids. They weren't in full-time school yet and my wife took a leave of absence from her job and we went to Nashville and at the end of that record it was like, 'we just miss home,' so we turned around and came back.
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So for us our story has always been about the family. We rely on help from the kids' grandparents. The kids are teenagers now so it's a lot easier than it was early on. To end a long story, it was never in the stars for me to live in the States. I still love going there and doing my writing and recording down there. That has been really important to me. All my producers are down there, especially Jeff Copeland, the most important one. I like to be able to come home.
One of your biggest songs is “Stronger Beer,” which feels proudly Canadian, so it makes sense that staying here mattered to you. But it does seem like more Canadian country artists are moving to Nashville now than before.
In the early days I did go there a lot and I'm still there. Just not as much, for a number of reasons. I've written most of my songs there. When you have kids, especially really small ones, I had to compartmentalise my time. I have a really beautiful studio in my home now where I work, but I find it difficult to write songs by myself. I like the Nashville way of collaborating, cowriting in a room, whether it is with people I know or don't know. So it can be, 'for these two weeks I'm going to be in Nashville writing songs.' Put it on the calendar and everyone understands the assignment, versus fans and people who don't really understand the industry. They have this notion that you are up till 3 am, half in the bag, writing songs. That was never my thing. I could never do it like that. It was always, 'I'll put it on a calendar and I'm going down to write.' I'd come back with as many songs as I could. Nashville is still very important to country and I think it always will be.
Your new album Going Somewhere came out just two weeks ago. Do you still feel like your music carries a distinctly Canadian identity?
Yes, I do. I try my best to write songs I hope connect with people whether they're Canadian, American or Australian or British, but I can't fight who I am. I think that puts me in a lane that is uniquely Canadian. That's OK, I'm proud of that! Some may look at that as limiting but it is all I ever wanted to do.
That should ultimately be a good thing though, right? Being able to sound fully like yourself instead of chasing something else?
Yes, I've had that comment since I started. I also came into the game a little older than is usual. I was 33. At that point I knew what I wanted to say. I had no problem being in a room with people I didn't know and going, 'I'd never say it like that.' That is something I'm proud of, trying to stay genuine and natural to who I am, as opposed to being something I'm not.
You’ve mentioned that so much of your music is built around the live show. Obviously radio still matters, but would you say performing live remains the core of what you do?
Definitely, especially early on. I grew up in a time when radio charts were so important. They meant success or not. It is different now with streaming and platforms. There are different ways to be successful. There are some huge artists now who never get on the radio. I still love it if I'm driving down the road and my song comes on the radio, but my calling card is definitely the live show. It is not necessarily about the production, it is more, 'how does this song work in the set?' I'm always asking myself, 'why are we doing this tune?' What is the moment here? Do I already have this moment in the show? If I do, why is this song going to be different from the last?'
It is me thinking if I record this song, I'm going to be singing it every night. I want to get the biggest bang for the buck in terms of reaction from people. The best is when the radio and the streaming and the live show all come together. When you have a hit song that streams well and sells well and goes over live. That is the trifecta! I still am intrigued by that challenge. How do you find that?
Are there songs in particular that really represent that balance between radio success and live impact for you?
Some are unlikely, like 'Stronger Beer.' It was never played on the radio but it is the song everyone yells for. It streams well, we do it as an encore. I wasn't trying hard in that instance, It just rather fell out. It was never meant to be released as a single, it was meant as rather a joke suggested by an American day to day manager
Another example is 'What a Song Should Do.' It went No 1 and it just slays live. I love doing it and seeing the effect it has on people. It still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Another one is 'Loud.' That's hilarious as 'Loud' is a song where remember when they said they'd put it out as a single and I'm going 'oh god here comes Tim Hicks again singing about how loud he is. 'I thought we'd already covered that with songs like 'Here Comes The Thunder' and 'Hell Raisin' Good Time,' but there's something about that song that connects with people and it still connects as well with people now as when they heard it on the radio.
There's 'No Truck Song.' The interesting thing with that one is we weren't trying too hard. A theme from throughout my career is when I'm not thinking too much about writing a good song that is when they seem to fall out. That one became a No 1 at radio for us. We're opening the show with it on this tour as it has got that kind of swag. It is just a fun silly song.
When you were making this new album, were there songs where you were specifically imagining how they’d translate live onstage?
Definitely. A song like 'Voodoo On It' was never a country song, it was never going to get played on country radio. It is more of a rock song, one we had kicking around, and Copeland dusted off the demo and said, 'why did we never cut this?' It was because it wasn't a country song, but when we readdressed it we kinda changed it a bit and worked on it and thought, 'this is going to slay live.' My fans like to hear rowdy. I've had a string of hits with nostalgia-type songs, like 'Hockey Time' and 'Whiskey Does' and now this new one, 'The Pilot.' With 'Voodoo On It' I needed something for the show that was the opposite of that, one that just rocked.
You’re now out on tour with The Martin Boys, who are coming up in a very different era through social media and online audiences. Does that dynamic make you feel like you’re learning from each other a bit?
I'm learning. I've been watching and seeing that they're social media masters. They ask me things like, 'how do you keep your voice in such good shape?' I go, 'sit down and I'll tell you,' so we're learning from each other. It is great to get the perspective of young people in this day and age. They're building their career and I'm a guy who is established and is doing his thing.
I told them, any questions, ask away. In this business, one of the things I remember most is when I was first starting out and there were people who took the time to talk about it. This doesn't come with a manual. If you want to be a lawyer you know what to do, go get your degree, then you go to law school for 4 years, then you get admitted to the bar and then you're a lawyer. There's nothing like that for musicians at this level. Every story is slightly different. I think we can all learn from each other and I love to talk shop with other artists.
Country music has always felt uniquely collaborative compared to a lot of other genres. Artists seem genuinely willing to share advice and help each other out.
Everyone's path is different so it's good to get that perspective. Like with social media. Some are so good at it and I can name them, whereas some guys like me struggle a bit in that department. My strengths hopefully make up for those weaknesses.
You’re playing Billboard Canada LIVE at NXNE, which is obviously going to be a major hometown-type moment. For people discovering you for the first time at the festival, what makes this show worth catching?
To get them in the room you need a hook. This is downtown Toronto, this was our stomping ground. We played Grace O'Malley's at King and John for years. This is the show that everybody's wives and families will go to, so we'll have our game face on. This will be a show worth checking out as there'll be an extra gear we find in Toronto that we maybe do not hit in Regina, just because we are close to home.
Everybody's game comes out when the wives are coming. 'Why am I away from home so much, honey? This is why!' You want to justify that. We're all performers, we want to show off for the people we know and love. There'll be lots of folks there connected with us in different ways and we'll want to turn it up a notch.
You can almost treat it like a return to the old Grace O’Malley’s days. What years were you playing there regularly?
I just heard they closed, not sure of the details. It was every Wednesday night from 2007 to 2012 and into 2013. My last covers gig was May 31, 2013 and by that point I had a song on the radio. We were doing originals by then on the bar scene and were reprimanded for that. I wish I could go back one more time to experience that one more time. It was a lot of fun.
Do you still ever randomly jump into bars or open mic nights to play a few songs?
Yes we do that. I love open mic nights. There's one down here my wife and I went to recently in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It was funny, I just rolled up. There was a note online that the sign-up was full and I kinda know the guy who runs it and he goes, 'I may not be able to get you up.' It worked out OK. I'd mistakenly assumed that because I'm an artist around town they'd let me play anyway, but we had a laugh about that and had a great time.
I still like open mics. That is how I started playing. There was a local paper called Pulse Niagara and it listed all the open mic nights and I just went and played them all. Then finally one place said, 'can you come back Friday and play? Our guy is sick.' Then I was off and running.
It honestly sounds like you still carry the exact same mentality you had in those early bar-band years.
I do. I love it. People ask if I still love it after 30 plus years of playing in a band. I was 7 when I was first in a band. I still love it, even on my worst days. We have a thing in our brand. When we were playing at Grace's there was no green room. We were hanging in the alley. Sometimes that can be depressing, eating your shepherd's pie at a 3-legged table with rats running around. I'm not making that up, that really happened! So we have a saying in our band where even on the worst days there'll be a moment of quiet and someone will say, 'it's still better than the alley!'
Wait, were you really in your first band at seven years old?
Yes I was. I took lessons through the Royal Conservatory in Ontario and there was a program where they put together kids of around the same age and skill level and put them in a band. Right away music was a team sport for me and I loved it. I played keyboards and sang back then. The first time you're in a room and hit a note, it felt powerful to me. I got the bug instantly.
You really are a lifer. I’m looking forward to catching the show on June 12.
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