St. B expat leading a French country revolution
Local man now living in France nominated for two French country music awards
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This article was published 24/03/2015 (3859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Marcel Soulodre is busy walking his own line.
Otherwise known as M. Soul, the 54-year-old — who was born and raised in St. Boniface — has been nominated for two awards by the Country Music Association of France (CMA France).
Soulodre is among the contenders for Best Male Vocalist and Album of the Year for Don’t Take Your Guns to Town, which was recorded with musicians from Strasbourg, France, where Soulodre has lived for the last five years. It was released in 2014. The album consists of 16 songs either written or recorded by the iconic Johnny Cash.

Soulodre said the album was recorded in an “old-fashioned way” in so far as all the tracks were recorded “live off the studio floor” in a short time frame.
“We played together and I was singing and playing guitar, so there was a certain amount of bleed between the microphones which meant we had to get it right. It was a challenge and the musicians were right up for it,” Soulodre said.
“We put on the backing vocals after. It was a fun and very interesting experience and comparable to going onstage because you had to psych yourself up beforehand.”
The album Don’t Take Your Guns to Town was produced by Soulodre, who also provides vocals and acoustic guitar. It also features Maxime Roncart on electric guitar, Phillipe Laiss on vocals and bass guitar and Jonathan Haessler on drums.
The southeast Winnipeg native, whose parents are both French, had the idea of looking into obtaining a work permit while on tour seven years ago and the idea grew from there. Now able to perform across Europe, Soulodre is working tirelessly to establish himself across the Atlantic, while playing to new audiences and having lots of fun in the process.
“There are 700 million people in Europe compared to around 30 million in Canada,” he said. “I tried living in Paris, but like New York you have to pay to play there, so my co-writer, Bernard Bocquel, who lives in St. Boniface, suggested Strasbourg because he has connections there. I’m chugging along and building momentum by word of mouth.”
On the horizon this summer are performances at country music festivals in France and Switzerland, while the bread and butter gigs vary from day to day.
The day Soulodre spoke to The Lance from his Strasbourg home, he was preparing to perform at a restaurant, the next day he was slated to play in an old church in Germany and the next day he was set to perform in a honky-tonk saloon in Switzerland.
Growing up working behind-the-scenes at Cercle Molière in St. Boniface has helped nurture Soulodre’s theatrical skills, which have helped him evolve his stage show called Wanted Man: A Tribute to Johnny Cash.
“I don’t do an imitation; I do a celebration of Johnny Cash. I don’t bulls—t people and introduce myself as Cash. I perform in a way that allows me to tell history and how I found Johnny Cash and how I interpret his music,” Soulodre said, noting he hopes to release his next album in November.
“I’m proud of the show and I’m having a ball. The secret weapon to all of this is to have fun.”
For more information, go online at www.m-soul.com
simon.fuller@canstarnews.com
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