Concert to tell history of Fort William

A Thunder Bay musician is set to perform with the Thunder Bay symphony orchestra on Oct. 19 with songs about the history of the city.
Rodney Brown, who grew up in Thunder Bay, said he has done some detailed research on the history of the region while composing songs for his latest album, Fort William, which is to be released at the concert.
“All the songs tell stories,” Brown said. “There’s one song about Williams’ relationship with his Cree wife, and…the demise of Fort William.”
Brown said he has always been interested in how the fur trade is part of the first contact era between First Nations and Europeans in the region and how the two cultures got along at the time.
“I’m fascinated by the fur trade and developing the boundaries of Canada, not by battles, but by making alliances with the Ojibway and the Cree,” Brown said. “I’m also interested in that it gives me a glimpse what it was like for First Nations before Europeans came.”
The new album and the concert will feature performances by drum group Thunder Mountain Singers.
“I’ve worked with the symphony before, and I really wanted to have the drummers and fiddler and the piper,” he said.
Brown has played professionally for more than 40 years and previously did workshops in Webequie, Kasabonika, Fort Hope, Big Trout Lake and Lansdowne House.