Ethan Askey is creating original rock, rhythm and blues music in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, and reaching audiences around the world. An emerging singer-songwriter on the international scene, he has served a long apprenticeship as studio session player and sideman to all sorts of projects but only recently has launched his exciting new project, Ethan Askey & the Elevators.
 
Known also by the nickname of “Shorty” in his musical circles, Ethan is not short in stature and he is not from the American south, despite being a blues harmonica player of some renown. He is more familiar with the MacKenzie River delta in the Canadian Arctic than with the Mississippi delta. He was practically born with a canoe paddle in one hand, and a harmonica in the other. And no matter whether he’s camped along a northern river or in the depths of the Grand Canyon, or having a hang in the salsa Caribbean or bohemian Czech Republic, he’s rarely without his chosen instruments.  He makes music in unlikely places with friends old and new.  

An explorer of places wonderful and wild, Ethan recently pulled together some of Canada's top musicians and friends to raise the roof with him in giving voice to songs in the key of his life.
 
Walk When You Wanna Run is the title of his debut solo album release, a collection of songs that one might categorize as modern blues. The title track recounts a visit he made to the south side Chicago home of Junior Wells (“godfather of blues”, bandmate of Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters), years after making his acquaintance at Calgary’s infamous King Eddy. Singing of stray bullets, fish delivery and bear country, he shares a pivotal experience in his personal journey as a musician and offers a fresh take on the funky urban electric blues that Junior Wells was known for. The album has had sustained play on public and commercial radio around the world, earning a place in the radio play charts for blues, contemporary blues, and alt-country music. 
 
Ethan Askey & the Elevators are playing shows and creating more new music, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, Ethan has been active in western Canada and in Europe as band member of Jimmy & the Sleepers, playing major festivals and backing touring artists such as John Primer (Muddy Waters) and Lil Jimmy Reed. Having had the opportunity to share the stage with these incredible blues musicians, and before them with British bluesman John Mayall and string-bending legend Amos Garrett, Ethan has a strong foundation in real deal blues. But as a singer, musician and song-writer you'd be mistaken to pigeon-hole him in any one genre; Ethan Askey is a creator of compelling, original stories and sounds that are expressed in many colourful ways.