"In Canada, Buskers Do The Locomotion" morgan macdonald featured on Npr!

...Read the full article here thanks to Lauren Katz!~

"Whistles While You Work

Morgan MacDonald, a folk, indie-rock musician, plays solo acoustic sets when he travels by train. He has taken VIA Rail-sponsored trips from Halifax to Montreal and from Toronto to Vancouver.

Morgan says traveling by train is a neat experience in general, but especially through certain parts of Canada where there is no cellphone reception. "It's all these people interacting in very different ways, and there's people from all over the world," he says. "They all just kind of hang out and chat with each other."

Performing on a train does present challenges. Morgan points out the loud noise from the train, for one. The unique audiences, which tend to be international tourists and retired people, can be different, too. "You have to play for the people who are already there," he says, "as opposed to playing for people who you've already won over or people who came specifically to see you."

YouTubeMusic training: Sarah Frank and Luke Fraser of the Bombadils play for VIA Rail Canada.

Though it's challenging, Morgan says the new audience is an opportunity to try out different songs and novel ways to perform old songs. "It's kind of like an old school troubadour kind of thing. There's not much in terms of lights and lasers, that's for sure."