Brad Reid
For Nova Scotia’s Brad Reid, music has always been a way to connect with others. “It is an outlet for expression and for well-being. I also believe that this is not something that I am choosing to do - it is, rather, simply acknowledging my true self. It actually would have been a decision not to be a musician or an artist.” Reid first picked up music at the age of 11, starting with the saxophone in his school band. Other instruments soon followed, including the guitar, the piano, and - at age 14 - the fiddle. “I can tell you exactly when I decided that I had to learn the fiddle,” he recalls. “I was attending the Cape Breton Festival of Scottish Fiddling at the Gaelic College with my grandfather, who was a fiddler. Up until then, it was always just him playing at our family gatherings. All of a sudden, however, I saw people my own age with the instrument.” Reid’s father hails from St. John’s, the capital city of Newfoundland and Labrador, while his mother’s family are from Cape