‘We’re doing what we were created to do,’ says musician Neufeld

Canadian singer/songwriter Tim Neufeld is firmly rooted in his faith and his music.

“The only pictures I have of my great-grandfather is of him holding a banjo, grandpa’s on the mandolin and my dad’s playing guitar, we would sing the old spiritual songs, and those songs are ingrained in my head, along with bluegrass.”

With those memories, Neufeld has never really strayed from his gospel/bluegrass roots, currently touring Canada as frontman for Tim and the Glory Boys, performing at the Sault’s Summit Church beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, as part of their Buffalo Roadshow tour.

“Bluegrass stirs up inhibitions in ways that other music doesn’t. I think pop music and rock just sort of sexualizes music, but bluegrass to me is about family and faith, and it’s fun,” Neufeld said while speaking to SooToday in a telephone interview Friday from Saskatchewan.

“I think we’re fulfilling our calling and doing what we were created to do,” Neufeld said, inviting the public to enjoy a family show next Wednesday, hopefully to be touched by the Christian message of hope.

Humour is a big component which Tim and the Glory Boys include in their performances.

“We call it blue collar comedy. It’s just us being goofy and not taking ourselves too seriously. Self-deprecation is part of the show, making the audience comfortable. There’s no better way than humour to bond with an audience.”

Like so many musicians, Neufeld has done his share of moving around over the years, but is a proud Canadian who has returned to live and work in his native land.

“All the members of the band were born in or near Winnipeg. I moved to Alberta and lived there when the Oilers were winning all those Stanley Cups, so that was good, then I went back to Winnipeg, then lived in Nashville, but for the last 10 years we’ve lived in Abbotsford, BC,” said the married father of three.

Neufeld, guitarist, lead singer and songwriter for the Glory Boys, said “I grew up playing and singing in church, as a teenager. It was a forgiving place to learn. They still said ‘Amen’ when you made mistakes,” he laughed.

Neufeld decided to form a contemporary worship music band, called Starfield, with his brother Jon in 2000.

The Neufelds released several albums before the brothers went their separate creative ways, Tim launching a solo career with his 2013 album entitled Trees.

That was followed by the formation of Tim and the Glory Boys with bluegrass artists Colin Trask, Jon Mushaluk and Brenton Thorvaldson.

For his work as a solo artist and with Tim and the Glory Boys, he has won several Gospel Music Association (GMA) awards, along with two Junos for Contemporary Christian and Gospel Album of the Year, in 2014 and 2017.

“The first Juno was disbelief. If you win one of those and you’re not shocked then maybe you’re too overconfident. Some days it (the Juno award) is a paperweight, other days it inspires me and says ‘hey, you’ve got something here and you shouldn’t give up if you feel discouraged,’” Neufeld said, emphasizing his most important role in life is to be “a great husband and great father.”

Tickets for the Tim and Glory Boys Sault concert may be purchased here