James Keelaghan is listed in the Canadian Encyclopedia (his entry, he's pleased to note, is longer than the one for the Royal Bank but shorter than the Red Squirrel entry). His art is deeply rooted in his native country, but he has a following all over the English-speaking world. Why? There are lots of reasons, but when you get right down to it, James Keelaghan is a true storyteller–an explorer of North America's history and peoples (including those of Latin descent, who have also influenced him musically), of the natural world, of the dark corners of his own psyche. He seems to tap into the deep roots of folk music even as he forges a style that's all his own. "I’ve always had the urge to write," says the Calgary native who has been calling Winnipeg home for the past few years. "Some things weren’t being said in the way I wanted to say them, some thing were not being written about at all. That's why i started to write the historical material. That led me to writing my own personal narratives as well."