Telephone interviews present a hurdle in getting to know someone. It is an inability to study their mannerisms and take cues from facial expressions. However, Evan Farrell is an enthusiastic young man that was very easy to talk with for the first time. He seems genuine and non-judgemental.
The deep country voice of Evan Farrell is sure to make Stouffville famous. Evan is a local boy, almost. He was born in Berkeley, California and moved to Markham at the age of 3, and then to Stouffville at 5 years old. As a toddler, Evan took a shine to American country singer Toby Keith. One evening on the way home from a baseball game, the country radio station was playing in the car. Evan sang song after song on that trip. The baseball dad at the helm of the vehicle told his mother that, ‘You need to get this boy a guitar”. Evan was 12 years old at the time.
By the age of 16, Evan knew what he wanted to do – sing, produce and perform. His first live gig was at the Havelock Country Jamboree. “I got eliminated in the first round, but I got a taste, then took it and ran,” said Evan. From there, he’s played CountryFest in Georgina, a drive-in at the OHL arena in Barrie, and two-times at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre. Evan has performed at local events such as Springsong and Wintersong, and at 19 on the Park.
In 2020, Evan made a trip to Nashville. “A lot of the best country writers in Nashville are Canadian,” he said. He spent most of the trip songwriting. He also made some serious connections – one being Daryl Scott. For many years Daryl had been the lead guitar player for the Rob Donaldson Band, a Canadian Honky-Tonk band. Now, he’s a songwriter who’s got plenty of cuts including “Hackin’ Darts” by Jade Eagleson. Jade is a popular Ontario country singer. While in Nashville, Evan, Jade and Daryl connected for a songwriting session.
Evan returned from Nashville a month before the COVID-related lockdown began. He had a slate of shows lined up. However, many of these events – with doors being closed to the public – were cancelled, and others went forward online as virtual concerts. He spent a lot of time in 2020 songwriting, and says that his writing has improved, and his style solidified.
Last summer, Evan also worked at Farmer Jack’s. He’s worked there seasonally since he was 14. “Scott Burrows (the owner) is an awesome man, one of the kindest men I’ve known,” he said. He hopes that from this point forward, his career is making music. Evan recently turned 20 years old. In the future, he’d like to split the year between Nashville and Stouffville.
Recently, Evan launched his first single “Out There Somewhere”, which is readily available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and iTunes. This tune is as good, and for Evan, it is just the beginning. This single was listened to 17,000 times in the first two weeks. A month later, it had been listened to over 31,000 times. The next time we interview Evan for OTR, we expect that he will have a large following – in two countries.
