If you Google Owen Riegling, one of the first things you'll see is his official website where he's described as "the kind of artist so down to earth his boots are always dirty."
Riegling was raised on a 100-acre farm in Mildmay, Ont., a town of just over 1,200 people. Mildmay has its fair share of amenities: a grocery store, a hardware store, a few restaurants, a park and a recreational complex. To the passerby, it likely comes across as nothing special. To Riegling, it's hearth and home, and a place he'll never forget.
"Doesn’t matter where the music takes me, I’ll always have my deepest connection in the place that I was raised," he says. "Mildmay is about working hard, looking after your own, and being kind to your neighbours. That’s what I try to live by."
Music didn't play a huge part in Riegling's life at first. He grew up as many rural Canadian boys do, riding dirt bikes and shooting pucks around on his local ice rink. He's sure to have gotten his fair share of presents for Christmas, but the one he remembers most was a guitar.
Riegling didn't start seriously playing that guitar until his teens, but was hooked after his maiden performance with his guitar teacher's band. He found himself falling in love with the instrument and where mastering it might possibly take him one day. Helping that process along was Eric Church, a country artist whom Riegling covered often in his youth and went to see live on a family road trip to Maine.
By the age of 15, Riegling already knew what he wanted to do forever. He was going to be like Church and make music.
Even so, the young man gave business school a try. Spoiler alert: it didn't fit him well, but playing modest gigs on campus did. Fortunately, Riegling learned about the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology (OIART) by winning a contest. His prize? Free time at a recording studio in London.
After brushing shoulders with some OIART graduates who talked about how the school benefited them, Riegling studied music production there and learned to become self-sufficient in the career he was quickly and inevitably leaning towards. By 2023, he'd signed a deal with Universal Music Canada and was partnering with some of Nashville's hottest producers.
'Be yourself, be real, don't get discouraged'
Riegling is only 26, but he's already got a platinum-certified single ("Old Dirt Roads") under his belt. Big entities have taken notice of his work, with Spotify naming him one of last year's Hot Country Artists to Watch and Amazon Canada labelling him a Breakthrough Artist to Watch. Two Canadian Country Music Awards (CCMAs) bolster the Ontarian's resume even more.
Inquire about these achievements, however, and Riegling has a fairly modest response for you.
"They help to legitimize what I’m doing, but I’d still be doing the same thing without them," he says. "[My approach to songwriting] is left of centre. I make music the way I consume music. I don’t listen to one thing, I don’t make one thing."
Having never been to the Sea to Sky corridor, Riegling is excited for his inaugural appearance in the Whistler Summer Concert Series. He promises lots of new music, tour dates and project announcements for existing fans and hopes to make more this week. Just don't count on him to betray his own principles.
"I've learned that there is no rhyme or reason to what works or what doesn’t," Riegling explains. "Be yourself, be real, don’t get discouraged. Keep trucking. There’s no shortcuts."
Expect DJ T Rex to liven up Olympic Plaza at 6:30 p.m. this Friday, July 25. Then at 7:30 p.m., Riegling is on hand to take the stage. Visit whistler.com/events/concerts for more details.
