“Over the course of discovering my true identity, the intention of my writing, my music and my art is to reduce the gap between my indigenous culture and colonialists to make a more patient, loving community.” – Tom Wilson aka LeE HARVeY OsMOND

When Tom Wilson created the moniker Lee Harvey Osmond he wasn’t entirely certain if this was a new stage name or merely a provocative handle for the musician/artist collective assembled by producer Michael Timmins to record a collection of Tom Wilson songs that would become “A Quiet Evil”. This was the first of four albums bearing the featured artist Lee Harvey Osmond. “The Folk Sinner” was next, followed by the break through “Beautiful Scars”. It was during this time between releasing “Beautiful Scars” and recording “Kings and Kings” with Blackie and The Rodeo Kings that Wilson went public with his recent discovery. He was not exactly the person he thought he was.

A couple of decades have passed since Wilson’s major label foray as the leader of his rock band Junkhouse. There were follow up solo releases, “Tom Wilson’s Planet Love” (Columbia) and “Dog Years” (True North). Both of these albums featured songs that were clearly an extension or evolution of the sound that Junkhouse had established over three albums with Columbia Records. Although, his collaborations with Blackie and The Rodeo Kings were thriving, Wilson was wandering in the musical wilderness searching for his own distinct vision for his solo career. It was through his connection with the kindred creative spirit of producer and Cowboy Junkies founder Michael Timmins that the sound, the voice and the alter personae Lee Harvey Osmond came to life. Wilson reasoned that many Tom Wilsons were making records BUT there could only be one Lee Harvey Osmond. The name evoked early memories for Wilson, growing up in Hamilton, Ontario in the 1960s.

In mid-life, in his 50s, Wilson learned that the parents who raised him were not his birth parents; that, in fact, he was adopted and that his biological mother and father were Mohawk from the Kahnawake reserve, just outside of Montreal. Grappling with this newfound sense of himself plunged Wilson into a quest for his heritage and his truth, and led to the writing of his bestselling autobiography, Beautiful Scars (Doubleday Canada). The book is a colourful and truthful tale of this quest, and his life’s tribulations and successes along the path.

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“It is a story of finding your way home,” he says. “It’s a story of adoption, of growing up thinking you’re a big, sweaty, Irish guy, and finding out at the age of 53 that you’re a Mohawk.”

He is still driven to ask questions, to seek meaning from the elusive mysteries hidden beneath the surface of everyday existence, to come to terms with his history, his identity; to aspire to higher truths and to understand his place in the world. “If I have 20 more years on this planet, I hope to keep becoming a Mohawk, because I can’t become a Mohawk the way my brothers and sisters and ancestors did.”

On this fourth Lee Harvey Osmond album, “Mohawk”, under the steady hand of Producer Michael Timmins, the musician collective revives the origins of Acid Folk with appearances from old friends Ray Farrugia (percussion), Aaron Goldstein (steel guitar), Jesse Obrien (keyboards) and introduces Anna Reddick (bass). The expanded use of Darcy Hepner’s brass and baritone sax and brilliant harmonica flashes from blues veteran Paul Reddick and Wilson’s son Thompson sound as guideposts behind the moody grooves of Wilson’s literary recital. Suzanna Ungerleider (Oh Suzanna) provides the perfect backing vocal ingredient for Wilson’s baritone.

Wilson’s life has been an ongoing quest so it is perhaps inevitable that after decades immersed in poetry, literature and music he would turn attention to visual art, a language that transcends the verbal and the written. The packaging and visual elements of “Mohawk” incorporate Tom Wilson creations. In particular a painting of the same name from his collection Beautiful Scars: Mohawk Warriors, Hunter and Chiefs

“My music and my art is a continuation of my long way home,” Wilson says. “It is my way of showing honour and respect to a culture that I’m just shaking hands with.” The discovery of his true heritage and the culture that it carries now informs all of his art.

“My truth was hidden from me - I was born a Mohawk baby, and finally I’m becoming a Mohawk man.”