‘This is where it all starts’: Songwriters from across Canada gather in rural P.E.I.

Rising artists around Canada are gathered in a small town in P.E.I. to swap songs and meet fans in a more intimate setting. Maria Sarrouh has more.

In a music scene dominated by streaming and stadium tours, some artists say rural rooms still matter.

Rising artists from across Canada gathered in Tignish, P.E.I., a tiny town of around 700 people, to swap songs and meet fans in an intimate setting.

“This is where it all starts. You can’t play big shows and big arenas unless you do the groundwork and you build fans in these little spots across the country,” said country rocker Devin Cooper, who travelled from Calgary.

Earlier this year, Cooper was the most-nominated solo artist at the 2025 Country Music Alberta nominations, with six nods – a testament to the impact of his 22-track double album, Good Things: Deluxe Edition.

He joined 11 other artists near Skinners Pond, the hometown of Canadian legend Stompin’ Tom Connors.

It’s also where “Saltwater Cowboy” Ben Chase was born and raised. He’s hosting the writing retreat, which is pairing singer-songwriters during the day, then sending them onto a small stage at night.

“It’s hard to quiet an East Coast crowd,” said Chase. “Last night it was like they were experts at it. Nobody even spoke a word. You could hear a pin drop.”

Each show draws a few dozen people, a first test for songs away from algorithms and big venues.

“It’s not like doing a theatre show where there’s 500 people,” he says. “This is me just in a small, little intimate venue. I only play four songs and everybody else plays four songs, so it’s really cool.”

Cell reception can be spotty, but the connections are not: a rural room where fans are earned face-to-face.

“Seeing the audience and how attentive they were to every lyric, they just appreciated the music so much,” said singer-songwriter Paige Penney. “The fans are die-hard.”

Penney is from St. John’s, N.L., and now lives in Nashville. She earned her first Top 40 hit on Canadian country radio this year. And at just 20 years old, she has already earned multiple MusicNL Award nominations, five Canadian Folk Music Award nominations and was named the iHeart Radio Future Star. She partly credits intimate shows and local radio.

“If you look at the stats on radio, they were listening like crazy.”

Her advice to artists looking to start their careers?

“I would say tap into your local community,” she says.

That old-school strategy is a playbook that can still work, the artists say, hoping the songs born in this small town could make it big.