Calling Rivers is the solo project of Wade Lavallee, a Nêhiyaw artist from Kahkewistahaw First Nation who grew up in Regina and carries a strong connection to the Qu’Appelle Valley. His work moves between music, language, land and story, shaped by the places he comes from and the people who raised him.
Wade has spent years performing and writing music, both as a solo artist and as a member of KOYOT. Through KOYOT, he has performed across Canada and internationally, building a reputation as an award-nominated performer and songwriter with a strong live presence. Calling Rivers gives him a different kind of space to work in: more personal, more reflective, and rooted in the stories he wants to tell in his own way. His songs draw from history, family, land, Indigenous identity and the realities of growing up between worlds. His writing often sits in that space between memory and imagination, looking back at what shaped him while asking what should be carried forward.
Before music became the centre of his creative life, Wade spent years tree planting and playing rugby, experiences that shaped his relationship with endurance, community and the land in very different ways. Today, he lives in an off-grid cabin with his partner, five dogs and two cats, where much of his creative life continues to be influenced by the rhythms of the land around him. Wade’s writing also extends beyond music. His work has appeared in theatre, including the closing ballad for SkinHead, written in Nêhiyawêwin. He is also working on a novel centred on Indigenous kinship, growing up, family, community and the relationships that shape who we become. That same interest in story, memory and belonging runs through much of his songwriting.
Outside of his own artistic practice, Wade serves as Director of Culture & Creativity and is a co-founder of Nôhcimihk Lands & Wellness Collective, a non-profit focused on helping Indigenous people spend more time on the land through camps, guided experiences, cultural and land-based teachings, youth mentorship and creative programming. Music is part of that work too, with opportunities for youth to learn guitar, bass, vocals, songwriting, recording and production as a way to build confidence, connection and wellness.
Wade and his partner also co-founded and mentor the Sakitawak Youth Environmental Circle, a youth-led group working to create opportunities around land stewardship, sustainability and clean energy. Together with local youth and community partners, they have helped support renewable energy projects in the community while creating space for young Indigenous people to see themselves as active participants in the energy transition.
Calling Rivers grows from all of these parts of Wade’s life. It is not separate from his work in community, his language learning, his relationship with the land or his responsibility to younger generations. It is another way of carrying those things forward.
At its core, Calling Rivers is about story: where we come from, what has been lost, what remains, and what we choose to carry with us.
A philosophy to live by...
To listen and interpret a love for mother earth.
-may we all do what we can to protect her-
Askiy
Connecting to spirit through art and music.
-Healing our people through story-
Manitôwiwin
Miyo-Pimatisiwin
A good life encompassed by good values.
-To walk in way that the youth may follow-