A Hall of Fame Moment: William Prince Recalls His Serendipitous Encounter with Neil Young

March 27, 2025

By Karen Bliss

JUNO Award-winning folk musician William Prince was already on his way when he performed at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame gala at Toronto’s Massey Hall back in 2017, the year Bruce Cockburn and Neil Young were inducted. He had just one album out, 2015’s Earthly Days. A chance meeting with Young in the backstage stairwell led to some opening dates for the Harvest legend. All these years later, and Prince has since headlined Massey. 

The past two years was filled with highs for the 39-year-old Manitoba native. The reception to his fourth album, 2023’s Stand In The Joy, on Six Shooter Records, led to some 20 dates with US husband/wife duo The War and Treaty; a 2024 JUNO Award for contemporary roots album of the year and a performance slot on the coveted broadcast; a sold-out Canadian tour of prestigious theatres, the 2024 John Prine Songwriter Fellowship, complete with his debut at Newport Folk Festival debut, where he shared the stage with Hozier, Allison Russell, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples and others. The year was capped in November with the Allan Slaight Music Impact Honour from Canada’s Walk of Fame. 

Karen Bliss spoke to Prince about the watershed moment at the CSHF, the cool factor of getting a JUNO songwriter nomination last year, living in a creative mindset, and the revelation that he has a new album in the can. 

Can you retell your Neil Young story and how did your appearance on the 2017 Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame gala affected your career?

I was there for Bruce Cockburn that night and my friend Elisapie Isaac was performing with me.  I did a take of Bruce Cockburn’s ‘Stolen Land’ to honour him.  That was already enough to make the occasion, one of those things where you’re thinking of the song a thousand times before you go out there. You practice it and practice and practice it.  It’s different when it’s somebody else’s song, somebody else’s inflections and tones and lyrics; you don’t want to get a single word of their art wrong, especially on such an important night honouring writers.

I’m relatively new to the public eye at this point. Still, being invited because of a couple rumblings in the years prior. Nobody knew if Neil was actually going to be there. It was a secret. It’s rumoured that he’s going to be able to make it. And then, he was all of a sudden there. 

And, it just so happened in transit — it was just meant to be — Neil and I were in the stairwell together at the same time, just walking up the side stage of Massey Hall.  Perfect cosmic timing. I was just being ushered away and it was kind of a bummer because Bruce had to leave. Bruce didn’t actually get to see me perform his song because he was up next to give his speech essentially. So, they would’ve taken him out of his seat to go get ready. And I think Neil was just coming down the stairs to go take his seat. 

So, Bruce leaves; I sing; I leave; Neil comes down. 

I have a really unique, extra point of view on that particular night because I sang the song and, of course Neil was there, and he said he was really moved by it. And then, he did this to me [stretches his arms out] and he just gave me a big, long hug and a nice pat on the back for the performance. And we chatted. I didn’t want to ask him for a photo or anything [laughs].

Did you connect with Bruce too?

We performed the song and it was really special and powerful and put me on Bruce’s radar, I guess, and chatted with him after and thanked him.

But just to add to that night, I was at Summerfolk Festival [in Owen Sound, Ontario] put on by [artistic director] James Keelaghan, another great Canadian treasure songwriter. And we were just picking up a bottle of wine or something at the liquor store, and who do I see, but Bob Young, Neil’s brother. 

How did you recognize Bob, from Neil’s film, Journeys?

No, I met Bob on tour when I eventually would go on to open for Neil and do some shows for him. I think, the show in Philly, they had a big family catering dinner, and, I believe, maybe one of Neil’s children was there, and Bob was there, and other his family. So I got to know Bob there and he recognized me right away. It was so funny, then he told me the whole story that I’m telling you of what happened that night. He’s like, ‘Yeah, I remember that night. You were so great. And I was sitting with Neil in the audience, and he leans over to me and he says, ‘We got to give that guy some work.’ And that was the whole moment. You know, you never know who’s in the audience tonight, that old story, and what this song will do.

That is so cool. I have a soft spot for Neil myself, from my early teens, discovering his music have tried never to miss a show since. I wouldn’t have pegged Neil for a hugger, though. Shows what I know.

Neil’s all love, all love, and Neil hugged me every day we were together, after soundcheck and after the show. ‘See you tomorrow, William.’ Really special stuff like that. I’ll never forget.

And he’s back on the road again.

He’s out conquering the world still. I hope he lives to 150. It’s going to be awesome. Keep going, man. I’m so impressed. 

It is a drag Bruce didn’t see you perform. As you’re approaching the day of the awards, I imagine that’s what you’re most nervous about, covering his song and he’ll be right frickin’ there.

That’s how those shows go. I’m sure he saw it on a video screen. It’s all rigged up backstage at Massey and in the hallways. You can watch it and hear it. I’m sure he heard a part of it, but he was supposed to be like dead centre and he had to go. 

So that was 2017. Eight years ago. So much has happened for you since. You got to headline Massey Hall and you’ve now played so many of these iconic beautiful theatres.

Yeah, Massey keeps calling me back. It’s so sweet. I’ve done a number of really special things there. [“Sugar Sugar” 2006 song inductee] Andy Kim, I’ve done his Christmas show a time or two. Of course, Serena [Ryder] and I sold out that place together [April 1, 2022]. And then, just this past spring, go to go there on my own. That was so wild. You know you grow up watching MuchMusic and seeing the famous Toronto streets and picturing all these venues.  It’s a long way from the Drake Underground. That was one of my starting points.  Drake Underground into the Dakota, and then we were supposed to do the Danforth [Music Hall] and then that got changed to that Phoenix [Concert] Theatre, and then it all got changed because of COVID. And then I came back, and I was at Massey Hall [Feb. 7, 2024]. It was wild. So that seems to be the spot for now. 

Last year was a really a big year for you. You won or were nominated for multiple awards. The genre is always different [laughs]. You were nominated for “alternative country album” at the CCMAs.

I’m “three minutes and over country.” [laughs]. 

I thought it fit the category well enough. That’s pretty mainstream, the CCMAs. It just shows that the right people over there [Canadian Country Music Association] are fully aware of me, but they got to kind of stay to the same thing; they got to support the radio country industry in our own country; we got to prop up the stars there. So, to occupy any space in that zone was really neat. And I’m pretty sure I had a friend or two in the category nominated as well. Bahamas was in there. I thought, for sure, Bahamas was going to take it, in terms of alternative country records, and then they gave it to a tried-and-true country boy anyway [Brett Kissell]. So good for them.

What about the JUNOs?  You won for contemporary roots album, but you were nominated for songwriter. It’s hard to get nominated. In many ways harder than winning. So many submissions come in but for songwriter it’s culling from all genres.  So, it’s a big deal to be selected as one of the five or six names. 

I was genuinely surprised when we were there for the press conference, at the TD Music Hall back at Massey. So when I saw that one, I was really ecstatic about it. I thought that one was untouchable if you didn’t have like a mega radio hit, like “Songwriter of the year, The Weeknd, plus the six other writers.” 

But, it could’ve been The Weeknd in all five spots [laughs]. So the fact that it’s from every genre and you’re one of them, that’s crazy, just to think of all the releases in a given year, and you’re nominated.

Yeah. It’s really special because I’ve always labeled myself as a songwriter first. Performance and showmanship and all those things, they came with time. As I was out here doing it more, my dream was to write country songs for people and there was nobody to sing them at the beginning, and still nobody’s singing them, but I’m singing them now [laughs].  To find an audience, I feel like I stumbled into all this bonus stuff from my obsessive desire to just be that country music songwriter and learning my own voice.

So, to be there, when I was so nervous, do I even have a place in this world as a songwriter? To end up in the category that is the biggest recognition of our music in the nation, yeah, that’s a huge win. Winning is like the second win, like you say, getting nominated is really huge and I was genuinely super surprised that day that I was in the category. 

Do you get asked to write for other people? 

Not as much as you think. I established early that I was so focused on making my own name that every little bit had to be done by me. I’m now collaborating a little bit more, which is great. I just did some songs with Caley Watts, who’s up and coming. She’s an artist that my cousin, Alan Greyeyes, is doing some mentoring for. He doesn’t call it management, but he’s helping her in different ways and, over the pandemic, we were able to write songs on Zoom together and that was really great.

Your last album came out in 2023. Did you chill for a bit after being on the road so much and how did you get back into a creative mindset? 

I live there. I joke that I’m ‘no days off’ because me just sitting and waiting is working on a song. Developing the film is what I’ve called it over the years. I try to stay in that zone.

The new songs were definitely born in that period, right after Stand In The Joy. A couple of things were taken from, ‘Hey, here’s this thing I’ve always had, but never quite had the record for it.’ Nothing recycled, everything was new and finished. Certain things too presented the opportunity to finish a lot of pieces now that I was home. It was a lot of travel; I don’t do a ton of writing on the road. There were a few pieces though. You can’t help it. You’re waiting in the waiting for soundcheck. You’re waiting in the hotel and great little startings of things become born. And then I finished them at home base. Again, it’s this beautiful gift. We’re given all this material and then, wow, we actually built a house again, another house out of all this stuff. 

What about topics? This world is nuts now, nuttier than it was when you wrote your last record. Are there topics that you can talk about? 

Even since that moment we first started talking about [in this interview] in 2017, and I thought I was so far along then already, I’m just realizing that where we have yet to go is a lot farther. So, to keep chipping away at it, putting out more records. The last record was really about the joy and love that surrounds me in this life. And it was neat because now I’m finally at a place where I’m really comfortable saying what’s even more true to my heart and my memories. 

I love how artists that I admire, like Jason Isbell and Tyler Childers, there’s geography that comes with their music, the area they’re from, and they try to show that to the world. So, I’m trying to modify all my experiences from both the past and present, put them here, show you that I’m contending with all of this change. There’s been so much personal growth that naturally finds its way into the music, and then it’s nice to reflect on how far we’ve come. 

I’m just moving further along in this journey of everything.

That would be good title by the way: Journey of Everything.

Well, yeah, the record’s done. 

Mixed, mastered?

Yeah, everything’s done. I did 17 songs for it, and then I whittled it down to the record. It’s produced by Liam Duncan, Boy Golden.  So a little bit of a Six Shooter collab there. We’re just getting ready.

Do you know when it will come out? 

Yep [laughs].

Can you give me a season? 

In the seasons to come. It’s going to be fantastic. I’m eager to get back on the road next year. 

What are some goals for the next record? 

The goal mainly is that for this next while, especially for the record that’s coming, it’s very electric. You stand up to play this music and I need the band to come with me. I’m going to really be focusing on that. I just come with a band now. 

Are you rockin’ out on this record?

We’re moving. It’s feeling good. It’s so funny that this is the year of Bob Dylan, highlighting Highway 61, Dylan goes electric time. It’s a nice movement that I’m really excited about.