Born in Hamilton, Ontario, and raised on his family farm in Bancroft, Ontario, Tentrees has spent the past 15 years hiding in the Yukon, meticulously honing his craft and developing his own blend of folk, roots and blues sounds.

After spending most of his young adult years struggling with the effects of being raised in a violent home, Tentrees took charge of his life, redirecting all his energy into transforming every negative in his life into a positive.

"I realised I was going to carve my own way early on and the only person deciding where I ended up was going to be me," he said.

Taking up a variety of sports, dance and theatre, Tentrees eventually went on to become a three-time Golden Glove Champion on the amateur Canadian boxing circuit before working in a cross section of jobs, including a school teacher, youth worker, counsellor, coach and mentor for at-risk kids.

"It never felt like work and I feel grateful to call these kids my friends," he said.

At age 25, Tentrees wrote his first song and learned his first guitar chord, before learning to play the dobro and harmonica, touring and eventually recording.

His first three albums are narratives that chronicle his difficult past - the gritty characters in his life and his relationship with the dark - while his sound channels Tentree's own influences, Rick Fines and Fred Eaglesmith.

Over the past 10 years, Tentrees has gone on to earn himself a well-deserved reputation as one of Canada's hardest working and touring musicians; he has performed at more than 2,000 shows and festivals in almost 20 countries and embarked on a 144-date tour in 148 days, over 11 countries.

He has earned a Western Canadian Music Awards Album of the Year nomination for Mercy or Sin, performed at the Best of Canada Vancouver Olympics concert, and was a finalist in the International Song Competition out of 15,000 entries in the Americana category, with competition judges including Tom Waits, Loretta Lynn and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Tentrees said he was looking forward to his visit to Australia and hoped to meet with some of the Canadian contingent living in Stawell.

"Australia has been a place I have wanted to hit for sometime, I am a fan of Kasey and Bill Chambers and a friend of mine (Fred Eaglesmith) told me stories about his tours over there," he said.

"I live in northern Canada (Yukon) where it will be minus 30 degrees when I leave it to hit Australia in the summer, so I am looking forward to wearing some shorts."

Tentrees said music fans can look forward to enjoying a real blend of folk, blues, country music, slide guitar, harmonia, and finger style guitar.

"Knowing it might be the only time I ever play each area I am coming to put on a show," he said.

"I am looking forward to sharing my songs and with six albums to draw from for a first time audience this will be fun.

"I really enjoy interacting with the audience, telling stories and letting it all hang out."

Tentrees will perform at the Diamond House Heritage Restaurant and Motor Inn, Stawell on March 4. For tickets and further enquiries please phone 5358 3366.