P.E.I. musician Dylan Menzie heads west as a guest

Island singer-songwriter Dylan Menzie is heading west to Edmonton to help represent East Coast music at the Break Out West conference this weekend, as part of a musical exchange called East Meets West.

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Menzie, 23, has become well known on P.E.I. in the last year and a half thanks in part to being chosen as one of 2016's top four finalists in the CBC national talent contest Searchlight. His chart-topping single Kenya has received critical and commercial success.

Exchanges are great way for artists around the world to get to know each other. Dylan Menzie

"How many times do you get to be in a room and play for all the people that you want to play for, all the people that can make your next year come together?" said Menzie, as he prepared to fly out later this week with his manager, Kate Gracey Stewart, and his two bandmates, bassist Nigel Haan and drummer Lawrence Gallant.

Halifax-based 5-person band Hillsburn will join Menzie as part of the musical exchange.

Menzie will play two showcases Saturday, Sept. 16 one at 9 p.m. at The Starlite Room and then at 11 p.m. at The Needle Vinyl Tavern.

'Doing more for artists'

The program is new, and was something the executive directors of the East Coast Music Association (ECMA) and the Western Canadian Music Alliance (WCMA) brainstormed recently.

"We thought we could be doing more for artists, to expand their Canadian reach," explained Robyn Stewart of the WCMA, as she prepared for the action-packed event this weekend. "We thought it would be really beneficial to expose them to a new list of international buyers."

Each event has developed relationships with about 40 different international buyers, as well as about 250 industry attendees including agents, festivals looking to book acts, and record labels looking to sign new talent.

"The other thing that's great is the artists connect with each other and there's potential there," Stewart said, notingmusical collaborations and tours are possible benefits.

Western talent to head East

"Exchanges are great way for artists around the world to get to know each other," said Menzie, who's looking forward to meeting up with some bands he met last month on a festival tour of western Canada that included the Edmonton Folk Festival.

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WCMA has not yet decided who will head to Halifax for the 30th anniversary edition of East Coast Music Awards Festival and Conference, but Stewart said it will be someone"best suited to do business, to get success out of the event."

This is one of several sponsored exchanges for which Menzie has been chosen. Through Music PEI, he's also been partnered with musician Jake Morley from the UK to write a song and do a couple of small tours.Sunday, Sept.24, the twowill each playa full setplus perform some of their co-writes together at Watermark Theatre in Rustico.

Menzie said he is also looking forward to seeing more of Edmonton, including the giant West Edmonton Mall.

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