The Dutch effect

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This article was published 10/04/2025 (241 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a decade of touring and toiling, Winnipeg singer-songwriter Noah Derksen has finally found his audience — thanks, in part, to a Dutch TV show.

A few years ago Derksen, 31, noticed a significant spike in European listeners streaming his music. Intrigued and slightly confused, he started doing some digging and discovered one of his songs may have been included in an episode of Oogappels, a family drama series popular in the Netherlands.

Still, he needed confirmation.

“I watched the entire series to figure out if my song was actually in there, but of course it’s in Dutch so I didn’t understand anything,” he says with a laugh.

Finally, at the tail end of a late-season episode, came a moment of recognition. Derksen caught his ballad, Love Is Such a Hard Thing, setting the emotional tone for a montage (presumably) about a tumultuous father-and-son relationship.

“I still don’t know how that happened and I still haven’t been paid for it, but at least the reception is good,” he says.

That digital bump in listeners has translated to live audiences.

Derksen is fresh off the high of his first headlining tour in Europe, where he spent two months crammed in a van with bandmates Keiran Placatka and Brodie Parachoniak.

He had previously supported Ariel Posen on an overseas road trip, but playing sold-out venues as the main attraction was a gratifying new experience.

“I started off in coffee shops and house concerts in Canada and the States and for the first time it felt as though this is my audience, that this is where my music and my songs belong,” he says over the phone from the road.

“It kind of feels like this is the start of my career.”

The American-born, Winnipeg-raised artist is a bit of a nomad these days, splitting his time between Montreal and Nashville.

He was also recently in Vancouver for an inspiring weekend as a first-time Juno Awards attendee.

Next week, Derksen is playing a rare hometown concert at the West End Cultural Centre to celebrate the release of his fourth full-length album, Stolen Serenades.

The record is a collection of cover songs recorded with a group of local musicians in friend Cody Iwasiuk’s home studio in the West End.

“This album is a celebration of the Winnipeg music community. The more time I spend away from Winnipeg and away from home, I realize how blessed we are here,” Derksen says.

“That community doesn’t exist in the same way in other places.”

Credits for the seven-track album include the likes of Dominique Adams, Joey Landreth, Kris Ulrich and a handful of other Manitoba artists.

Stolen Serenades is also a non-exhaustive tribute to Derksen’s musical influences and turning points, with songs by Macy Gray, Bob Dylan and Jackson Browne rendered in his rising, folky vocals.

His cover of If It Be Your Will, for example, is a nod to the time he saw Leonard Cohen perform in Winnipeg — an experience that inspired him to seriously pursue songwriting in his early 20s.

“I was just so in awe. He was like 110 years old and he sang for 3 1/2 hours straight, had three encores and he gave so much to the audience. It was really inspiring to see the power of words and poetry,” he says.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2 carries similar fond memories of seeing the Irish rock band live.

“I can’t remember how old I was, but there’s just these little things that poke out in my memory of just the feeling of being at a concert, the feeling of being with a bunch of other people in a physical space, and how similar that feels to church,” Derksen says.

Stolen Serenades is available on most major streaming services and on vinyl at noahderksen.com. And if you want more details on the stories behind the songs, you can just give Derksen a ring. The musician keeps his cell number on his Instagram profile (@noahderksen) with an earnest request for calls.

So far, fellow Winnipeg singer-songwriter William Prince is the only person to take him up on the offer, leaving an encouraging voicemail following the release of one of Derksen’s songs.

“He had really nice things to say in his low, gruff, really warm and comforting voice,” Derksen says.

And the Oregon area code isn’t a ruse, but a holdover from a West Coast tour years ago.

“I’m a cheap Mennonite from the Prairies, so at the moment I’m on a family plan based in the U.S. with nine other touring musicians and it’s great. I’ll save a buck any way I can.”

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com