After 15 Years in Music, Fort McKay's Bryce Fabian Has Nashville in His Sights
The Indigenous country artist has spent years building an independent career, moving from hip-hop to country while balancing family, business and his connection to traditional singing.
Bryce Fabian, who performs as B Fabian, is an Indigenous country artist from Fort McKay First Nation in northern Alberta.
Photo credit: Wood Buffalo Media Group
“Getting people to actually listen.”
That's Bryce Fabian's answer when asked about the hardest part of building an independent music career in northern Alberta. The 34-year-old musician from Fort McKay First Nation has spent roughly 15 years writing, recording and releasing music, first in hip-hop and more recently in country. He has reached listeners well beyond Canada, but he says building an audience remains difficult without the resources of an established record company.
On October 7, Fabian, who records as B Fabian, signed an agreement to join Launch Nashville's Tier 3 artist-development program. He had released his latest country single, “It Best Be,” five days earlier. He hopes the program will help him improve his songwriting and make industry connections, although he knows it offers no guarantee of a record deal.
“I'm still an independent artist from Fort McKay trying to get his foot in the door,” he told SCENE 49 in an email interview.
From hip-hop to country
Fabian grew up in Fort McKay, where music was part of his life from an early age. He began his recording career in hip-hop, the music he listened to growing up and the genre in which he first learned to write songs, record and produce his own work.
He estimates that he has released more than 150 songs across his hip-hop and country careers, most of them without a management team or major-label support. “A lot of those years were spent learning things the hard way, investing my own money, making mistakes, and figuring out how the music industry works,” he said.
His move into country music developed gradually. Becoming a father changed the subjects he wanted to write about, and he found himself drawn toward songs about family, memories, relationships and growing older.
“As I got older, though, my interests started changing. I became a father, started thinking differently about life, and realized that the stories I wanted to tell were changing too,” he said.
By 2024, he was concentrating seriously on country music. His eight-song album Dirt Roads to Open Highways, released in May that year, included “Small Town Livin',” “Who's Gonna Carry On” and the title track. He followed it with further releases, and in August 2025 released a version of “Head over Heels” featuring Saskatchewan Indigenous country musician Jarrid Lee. An earlier solo recording of the song appeared on Dirt Roads to Open Highways.
Fabian says his standards for his own songwriting have changed. Earlier in his career, simply finishing a song felt like an achievement. These days, he pays closer attention to whether a listener will remember it.
His October 2 single, “It Best Be,” came out of questions about how he was spending his time. Between work, studying, raising a family and recording, Fabian found himself constantly thinking about the next thing he wanted to achieve.
“I started asking myself whether I was spending too much time thinking about where I wanted to be instead of appreciating where I already was,” he said.
Another song, “Time Is a Thief,” reflects on the passing years, something he connects to watching his two sons grow up. “I have two boys, and watching them grow up has really changed my perspective. Sometimes I wish I could slow everything down.”
The Wood Buffalo Singers
Country music is one part of Fabian's musical life. He has also been involved in traditional singing and drumming through the Wood Buffalo Singers, a group he led and in which his sons participated.
The group received the Indigenous Artist Award at the 2024 Wood Buffalo Excellence in Arts Awards, known as the Buffys. Fabian says the recognition was particularly meaningful because the group's younger members were involved.
“It felt good seeing our group recognized for something that means so much to us, especially with our younger members being part of it,” he said.
He describes a difference between the songs he records as a country artist and his responsibilities when singing at the drum. “When I'm singing country music, I'm usually sharing something from my own life. When I'm sitting at a drum, there's a cultural connection and responsibility that goes beyond me.”
More recently, Fabian attended a round dance after spending some time away from that part of his musical life. He says the experience made him emotional as he realized how much he had missed singing with others.
“It wasn't about performing for recognition or trying to impress anybody,” he recalled. “It was about being there, singing, and feeling connected to something I've known throughout my life.”
Sharing these experiences with his sons has become especially important to him. In his follow-up interview, he spoke about wanting them to participate in the cultural practices he grew up with and understand their connection to Fort McKay.
Fabian also wants more opportunities for Indigenous artists in commercial country music. From his experience, living far from a major industry centre can make it difficult to build contacts and get recordings heard, even when an artist is doing the work independently.
“I'd love to see more Indigenous country artists working with major producers, appearing at bigger festivals, and building careers beyond their local communities,” he said. He hopes audiences will approach his own recordings with the same attention they give other country artists.
“I want people to listen to my music because they enjoy it, not just because of my background. I want to be taken seriously as a country artist.”
An opening in Nashville
Fabian's ambitions have to fit around his life at home. He has a wife, two sons and a business, and he has also pursued further education. There have been times when the financial and personal commitments involved in making music led him to consider leaving it behind.
“There have been nights when I've wondered whether I should just put music behind me and focus entirely on everything else in my life,” he said.
He reports more than 500,000 streams and listeners in over 60 countries across his releases. Despite that reach, he says attracting attention for each new song remains a challenge. The Launch Nashville arrangement is a chance to learn from industry professionals after years of managing much of his career himself.
Fabian's decision to approach people in Nashville led to conversations with Jay Brunswick and P.G. Banker, the founders of Launch Nashville. He says the Tier 3 agreement he signed on October 7 may provide access to songwriting sessions, mentorship, evaluations, writer camps and possible performance opportunities. Specific sessions and travel dates had not yet been confirmed when he spoke to SCENE 49.
“I want to be clear that I haven't signed a major record deal,” he said. “This is an artist development program, and it's something I'm investing in to become a better musician.”
For Fabian, reaching out to Nashville was itself an unfamiliar step. “Here I am, a guy from Fort McKay, talking to people in Nashville about my music and what I want to accomplish,” he said. “That's a pretty big step outside my comfort zone.”
He is also working on “Good Days Ahead,” a country and hip-hop collaboration with Str8 Trip, an artist he listened to in middle school. Fabian has recorded his portion, leaving the second verse and bridge for his collaborator. The song remains in development and connects his current country work with the music he grew up making.
“To go from being a kid listening to somebody's music to actually working on a song with that person is something I never would've imagined back then,” he said.
Fabian hopes to sign with an established record label someday, tour and perform on larger stages, but he knows there is still work to do. Whatever happens with his country recordings or the Nashville program, he intends to keep making room for the music he shares with his family and community.
“Country music is something I want to build a career from, but traditional singing is something I want to continue carrying with me regardless of what happens professionally.”
