Long before the tour buses, arena stages and platinum records, Tim Hicks was playing Thunder Bay for a much smaller kind of show, one that still sticks with him years later.
“I remember that show vividly,” Hicks says, recalling a stop at The Outpost near Lakehead University early in his career.
At the time, he was stepping into a new role after years as a working musician.
“I was a little bit more like a deer in the headlights,” he says. “I always had a good sense of who I was and what I wanted to say, but now I’m much more sure-footed … comfortable in my own skin as an artist.”
More than a decade later, Hicks returns to the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium on May 24 with the Going Somewhere Tour, one of several stops in the city over the years, but one that still carries echoes of those early days.
“Whether there were six people there or six thousand, I always wanted to put on the same show,” he says. “I always wanted to be great.”
By the time he reaches Thunder Bay, the fifth stop on the tour, Hicks expects the band to be “a well-oiled machine,” with “all the bugs ironed out” as the rhythm of the road settles in.
After cycling through musicians early in his career, Hicks says he eventually found a core group that has stayed with him for years, with some members dating back to those early days playing bars across Southern Ontario.
For Hicks, whether it’s a packed theatre, a casino stage or a smaller club, the approach hasn’t changed.
“It’s all the same to me,” he says. “You just go out and try to put on the best show you can.”
That mindset has carried him through more than a decade in the industry — one built on touring across a country that presents its own challenges.
“Canada is small in population, but big in size,” he says. “It’s not easy to tour. You’ve got to get out there.”
Still, it’s the touring itself that keeps him going.
“That’s what I love at the end of the day — standing up there with my friends making music.”
Fans can expect that energy when he arrives in Thunder Bay. But this tour will also offer something different.
“For the first time, I’m going to play piano,” he says. “I think it’s time for the piano trick.”
Piano was Hicks’ first instrument, and he’s bringing it back into the show for a more reflective moment — one tied to a deeply personal song.
“I’m Not Ready,” written in memory of his late bass player and close friend, Doug Elash, captures a period that Hicks says left him “paralyzed for months.”
“We wept openly writing that song,” he says. “Being vulnerable in front of someone — especially someone you don’t know that well — is a strange thing. But it sharpens your tools.”
That moment, he says, offers a contrast to the high-energy persona audiences often expect.
“I’m the rowdy party country guy,” he says. “So it’s kind of interesting to flip that on its head.”
Even his songs continue to evolve long after they’re written. A track like “What a Song Should Do”, he says, has grown from a three-minute recording into an extended live experience.
“It’s about three and a half minutes on the record, but live it’s closer to eight,” he says. “It just kept developing … now it’s a moment in the show that fans expect.”
Much of that music is created in Nashville, where Hicks works in focused writing sessions, often building songs from simple ideas or titles.
“Songwriting is like a muscle,” he says. “You’ve got to work it to get good at it.”
But even with experience, the process isn’t always straightforward.
“You’re always trying to find that balance,” he says. “What’s true to you, and what’s going to connect with people. Fans can smell it a mile away when you’re not being authentic.”
That balance has evolved alongside his life off stage.
“When you’re young, you come at it as a fan — you’ve just got that fire,” he says. “Then somewhere along the way it becomes a job.”
In the early years of his career, as his family grew, that balance became more complicated.
“I’d come home from the road and I was busy being a dad, busy being a husband,” he says. “My guitar stayed in its case at the door.”
Now, he says, things have shifted again — and in an unexpected way.
Hicks recently found himself talking with a fellow musician about their children and whether they might follow the same path.
“As performers, we almost want our kids to do anything other than music,” he says with a laugh. “But if they’ve got that fire, you know.”
These days, music is part of everyday life at home.
“If everybody’s home, my house sounds like a music store,” he says. “My daughter’s playing piano, my son’s playing bass — I’m working on songs.”
It’s a full-circle moment that mirrors his career — one that, he says, has always been driven by a clear sense of purpose.
In Grade 2, when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Hicks didn’t hesitate.
“A professional musician,” he recalls.
His teacher’s response was less encouraging.
“She told me musicians don’t make any money,” he says. “And even at that age, I just thought … yeah? Watch this.”
That determination still fuels him today.
“I still have a bit of that in me,” he says. “That ‘I’ll show you’ attitude.”
Now, as he prepares to return to Thunder Bay once again, Hicks is bringing that same drive, along with a show that blends the familiar with something new.
“We’ve got a high-energy show, that’s for sure. We’re going to run the gamut, and Thunder Bay has always been really interested in what I do — you guys have been very kind to me — so I think it’s going to be a great night,” he says.
“We’ve got the Martin Boys on the bill with us. They’re a bit of a viral sensation from Canada’s Got Talent, and they had a great interaction with Shania Twain. They seem like really nice fellas. I’ve met them a couple of times but haven’t spent too much time with them, so I’m looking forward to having a beer or two with them on the road,” he adds. “We’ll be hitting our stride musically by the time we get to Thunder Bay, so if there’s one show you should come and see, it’s that one — it’s going to be one you won’t forget. I promise you that.”
Tim Hicks performs at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium on May 24 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available through the TBCA box office.
