“Music chose me. I didn't choose it,” he explains. Greg Carroll is a member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation, originally from St George's, Newfoundland, who now lives in Truro, Nova Scotia. A professional musician and singer/songwriter who played in his first band at the age of 16, he grew up in a musical family. He started playing music at 9 and studied jazz. Since then he’s played with famous country music stars like Chad Brownlee, Charlie Major, blues guitarist Amos Garrett and rocker Tom Cochrane. He toured North America on tour buses, playing for crowds of 40,000 people. He was even mentioned in Rolling Stone magazine. Retired from the road, he now teaches music privately and writes country songs.

The town Carroll grew up in was rough and tumble with few success stories. His friends admired his talent but didn’t think he had what it took to go all the way. As luck would have it, a band in town needed a bass player and he landed the job even though he was a guitarist. He learned to play bass from his uncles and then from a local college student. He fell in love with being a musician after his first gig. He went on to improve his skills as a musician at St. Francis of Xavier, a prestigious university with a reputation for music and got his degree after learning from Anne Murray’s musical director, Skip Beckwith at school. He went on to live in Alberta and play country music for 29 years.

Thinking of the obstacles he faced, Carroll said, “Music is very dog eat dog, if you're going to do it for a living, you gotta have a thick skin.” Playing in bars at 16, he was thrust into the adult world early as a kid. The music world is competitive, he found, so he had to adapt. “You’ve got to keep practicing and be on top of your game and be aware that that guy who just shook your hand will also put a knife in your back if he gets a chance, because he wants your gig,” he reminisced. As he got older and the competition got younger and hungrier, he decided to retire from the road and a ruthless business where so many are quick to badmouth others to get a piece of their gigs.  

To deal with the negative aspects of the business, Carroll stayed away from negative people as much as he could. He also said, “Music is therapy in itself. If I have a stressful day, I can pick up my guitar and just play… and that'll just put everything in perspective. … All I'm thinking about right now is my guitar and this song that I'm singing and it just takes me away.” It’s what he’s done since high school to cope with school stress and everything else.

His advice to aspiring musicians would be, “You’ve got to have fun doing it. That's the main thing. Music's supposed to be fun… I think no matter what capacity you want to be at, you have to enjoy it, because if you want to be a professional musician, there's a lot of hours that you're spending by yourself on that instrument. You have to learn about theory because you got to know how music works, not just get there and play a song you know… there's a lot more to it than that.” He also recognizes not everyone is as serious as a professional musician and some people are just happy playing in bands on the weekends and he thinks that’s just as valid if they are having fun.

When it comes to inspiration, Carroll is inspired every time he puts on music. Listening to WIllie Nelson lyrics, he’s studying and paying homage. He was inspired to go into music growing up in a musical family but he’s always inspired to write like the great classic country songwriters he listens to.

What Carroll hopes young people will take away from his fireside chat is his message, “Always believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything. There's going to be a lot of people out there who are going to doubt you, and you're going to have detractors, and you’ve just got to show them ‘no, I am who I am here’.”

If Carroll could give any advice it would be “Travel. Get out there! It's a big world out there. Get inspired. Travel always inspires, even if you're going to another province…. Be true to yourself, know who you are, be strong, and get to see the world as much as you can. It's a big world, and you'll never know what's out there waiting for you.”

Music chose him and for over three decades Greg Carroll has chosen it right back. Raised in a musical family, his uncles taught him to play the instrument he was chosen to play in his first band and the rest is musical history. He went from playing for crowds of 40,000 to teaching music privately and writing songs after retiring from the road and its grand adventures as he learned home is where the new music is.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.