Weyburn's own rising star, Brayden King is working full time as a touring entertainer. The singer, songwriter, and master of crowd-pleasing favourites, too, visited the Discover Weyburn studios earlier this week. 

He is in town because he just played a gig in Estevan last weekend, and he'll be playing here in Weyburn at Pumpjacks Saloon & Steakhouse on Saturday night.

"I'm keeping really, really busy with the with shows these days, which is really really fun. I love performing. It's my favorite thing in the world, so I couldn't be happier to be playing back in the home province a lot, and getting back out there is is the best," shared King.

He's also got a show lined up this Friday night in Regina with Dead Levee.

"Dane Von Hagen is from Weyburn, and he's the lead singer of Dead Levee. They're releasing an EP on Friday and this is their big release show, and I've been touring around with those boys for a while and every time that they ask if I want to hop on a show, I'm like, 'heck, yeah! I'd love to!' So we're doing that together. It'll be a blast, and we're doing another one in Saskatoon the following Friday on the 29th." 

King has been playing alongside Dead Levee since 2018, the year he graduated from Weyburn Comprehensive School. The two have similar backgrounds, and similar experiences as performers.

"Last summer was the big big kickoff and we did a lot of stuff together last year, which is so cool. Dane and I were driving back from Alberta and I just turned to him and I said, 'hey, do you do you black out when you're on stage?' and he's like, 'yeah, most of the time I just kind of get into a trance', and I'm like, 'yeah, I'm the exact same way'. Like if someone asked me about a part of my setup, I'd have to think really hard. It's a different mindset." 

The tour was supposed to take him to Winnipeg, but the recent storm prevented him from traveling last week.

"We'll hit them later in the year, but so far we started on April 1st in Grand Prairie, then we did Edmonton, Red Deer, Estevan, now Regina, Weyburn, Saskatoon, Edmonton, and back to Grand Prairie. So it's kind of a big cycle," he shared. "I love all these cities, I have great supporters in every one of those cities. Calgary has been really good for me, too, but I just hit them in March so we didn't do it on this tour, but I'll be back there again later in the year."

He said his agent started booking him in Grand Prairie in December, and he's played there every month since. 

"I fell in love with the music scene there, and a lot of people fell in love with me," he explained. "I love going to Grand Prairie. It's such a great spot for live music. We had 350 people at our last show. It was just crazy. I can't say no to those people, I'm a yes man. I get offered a gig and I'm available, I'm taking it. I want to play. That's kind of the game plan for this year is to literally play as many shows as I possibly can." 

King said it's what he loves to do, and since he's full time doing the music now, he said it's a lot more fun than any other job he's ever had. 

"I only really play on the weekends. Sometimes we got these weekday shows, but like the the entire week is always filled with songwriting sessions with other musicians, this booking of touring takes a long long time to reach out to these venues and talk with people, and I have lots of meetings with the my my team that's kind of been put together now in the last six months. So I'm always busy, which is great, but I really only work on the weekend. It's so much fun for me, like it never feels like work, even the not-so-fun jobs involved in the career, like the the finances and everything like that. This is towards what I love and I get to do it every day. So it never feels like work. I'm happy every day, so happy doing what I'm doing, and having just the most fun."

He said he has not played Pumpjacks since August, but he played there plenty as a teenager, with one particularly memorable time being on his 19th birthday.

"Once we build contacts, and a relationship with these venues, you like to stay loyal, and go back to the places that you like," he noted. 

The crowds in Grand Prairie, he said, always love his originals and all the cover songs, which Weyburn knows he's quite an expert.

"I don't really say no to a request. If someone comes up and asks if I can play a song I'm like, 'yeah, I'll do it for you'. I have like 350 songs ready to go now, which is like this constant gigging has really helped that because I feel like if you asked me a year ago I maybe had like 60, so it's progressed really quickly." 

King said the connection with the audience is his favourite part about performing. 

"Even if it's an empty bar and I'm planning for like three people, if one of those three people comes out to me and said, 'hey, I really enjoyed your music, I was going to leave but I stayed', that's why I do it. Whether it's three people or 300, which we've had like big big shows like that one in Grand Prairie this last one."

"It was probably the wildest crowd I've ever played for. They didn't have room to dance anymore because they packed the dance floor with people that were just pushed to the stage, and watching us play, and just enjoying every second of it. They didn't want us to leave the stage, it was just mind-blowing and I almost passed out."

"I just want people to enjoy it. And when I hear that they are, that's all I need," he declared. "When you lock eyes with someone, the best feeling in the world is when you see someone that you don't know personally, but they know your song. I sold out a show in Calgary in March, and I had people I had no idea who they were and they were singing along to my songs and I was like, 'oh, I guess this is how this happens', and that keeps happening more and more. I just love it, it's so cool." 

While you can hear Brayden King's music on all the digital music platforms, he said he's also selling CDs and swag at his gigs.

"We'll have T-shirts and hats and hoodies and CD's at Pumpjacks," he noted. "We played Estevan, and I swear there's at least fifteen 20-year-old guys running around with a Brayden King hats now because they just bought them up!"

Follow Brayden on Facebook, and YouTube, and his music can be found on Apple Music and Spotify.