One of Quebec’s best-loved authors and singer/songwriters, Fred Pellerin finds the magic in the everyday. Born in 1976, Pellerin draws from the history of his hometown of Saint-Élie-de-Caxton and the surrounding region of Mauricie to create colourful depictions of small-town existence in which the familiar continually shifts into the fantastical. Just as vivid as his tall tales is the blend of contemporary folk and rustic Québécois traditions that Pellerin developed in the mid-2000s with help from his fiddle-playing brother Nicolas. Pellerin’s early efforts to expand beyond his popular books and spoken-word performances and integrate his musical and literary interests led to celebrated solo albums, such as 2009’s Silence and 2011’s C’est un monde. Even as his success as a writer increased with more bestsellers and hit films based on his stories through the 2010s, he found time to make albums like 2018’s Après, a rich collection of wry, warmhearted songs that demonstrate his empathy for his characters and their not-so-little lives.