Boston singer-songwriter laments his country’s new attitude towards Canada

By Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Most people are pretty impressed by icebergs when they see them. American singer and songwriter Dan Cloutier is so bowled over by them he travelled to Greenland and Newfoundland to gather material for a new album and video project about them.
One of the songs on his new album, The Iceberg, was actually recorded in Newfoundland with Robert Kelly at his studio in St. John’s.
But it was a trip to Newfoundland that Cloutier and his wife made eight years ago that first hooked him.
Cloutier grew up in greater Boston. He became interested in music as an adolescent, when he said alternative rock was all the rage. He began playing his mother’s guitar but, as it was acoustic, he sounded more like a folk singer than a rocker. “Eventually, in late high school, I fell in love with Bob Dylan, and The Band, and Neil Young and all the great songwriters and that’s the path I decided to take,” said Cloutier. He describes his music genre as folk, indie folk, and folk rock.
Cloutier has spent the last 20 years playing local bars up and down the east coast and throughout New England. He has opened up for the likes of John Hiatt and the late Richie Havens. In his day job, he provides music therapy for adults with disabilities. “They’re my favourite people and we make great art together,” said Cloutier. “It’s a lot of fun. Actually a couple of the songs on the album were actually written in our songwriting class.”
In 2017, Cloutier and his wife stayed in St. John’s for a week for their 10th wedding anniversary. “We just fell in love with it,” he said.
Since he was young, Cloutier said, he has been fascinated with the idea of driving the last road on the east coast. As a result, he has been interested in Labrador since college. “So that whole region of the world just really interests me,” he said.
Cloutier said he likes visiting places off the map that have beautiful scenery and wide-open spaces.
“And Newfoundland has that in droves,” he said.
Cloutier said if he were to live anywhere besides Boston, he would pick Newfoundland for its beautiful landscapes and coastline. “If views like that existed anywhere within a 10-hour drive of where Boston is, they would be the most famous national parks in America,” he allowed.
Cloutier also likes the residents.
“I mean, the best part about Newfoundland is the people,” he said. “You guys are some of the nicest people and most helpful people I’ve been in contact with.”
That was true too for the latest foray, in which he was in search of icebergs. There was no end of people willing to help. “It’s a beautiful community up there of just really kind people, which is really unique and special,” he added.
Cloutier said he wrote the song, The Iceberg after seeing a painting in Pittsburgh. He was writing songs about finding hope during hard times, which reminded him of an iceberg, a symbol, he explained, that comes up often in mental health talk because you can only see what is above the surface, when there is more hidden underneath. “You don’t know what people are struggling with,” he said.
It made Cloutier really want to see an iceberg in person.
“I wanted to take my fans and my friends and my family and all my supporters on a trip with me to actually go find one as part of the album and the adventure,” he said.
So he started a fundraising campaign on the crowd funding site Kickstarter with the goal of raising $6,000 to cover a research trip to Newfoundland. However, he ended up raising quite a bit more, and was able to take his family with him.
Cloutier and his family made the trip to Newfoundland their summer vacation. They rented a house in Twillingate for a week. There were no icebergs there, but people on an iceberg tracking Facebook page informed him of where he could find some in St. Anthony. He headed out at seven in the morning. “Possibly along one of the most beautiful stretches of road I’ve ever been,” he noted. After arriving in St. Anthony, he finally saw Labrador with his own eyes for the first time, as well as his first iceberg. “It was a beautiful moment. It’s very humbling to think about all the people who had supported me to get there.”
Cloutier hopes The Iceberg helps people. “I think people need songs of hope, especially in the modern age with all the mental health issues going on, and all the sadness in our disconnected world.” he said. The album comes from a difficult time in Cloutier’s life. His father was diagnosed with cancer, and passed away around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A loved one was also struggling with mental health issues — fortunately, though, Cloutier said, that person is doing better these days.
Cloutier said dealing with those challenges made him think about the struggles many others face. “Every human who lives a long life, who lives a good life, is going to go through those seasons of really hard struggles,” he said. Most of the songs on the album were written with that thought in mind, and with the wish to give hope to those who need it, he added. “They’re not dark songs. They’re all songs of like how my wife and I stood next to each other throughout it, or how my friends came around me and stood next to me, or even the simple message of ‘You’re not alone,’ even though people might not know what you’re struggling with, kind of like an iceberg.”
Cloutier said he wants to express his support for both Newfoundland and Canada as a whole. It’s important to be nice to your neighbours, he said. “As an American, can you imagine a better neighbour than having Canada to your north? It’s super supportive,” he said. “When I think about people in our country all of a sudden diminishing the value of the people in Canada or trying to do bullyish moves to try to gain power or whatever’s happening in our country at the moment, it just doesn’t make sense.”
Cloutier noted the United States is also treating Greenland poorly. “To have my album be so connected to these two places that the president and other elements of the country just aren’t treating with much respect is kind of intimidating, and I don’t know how to approach it other than saying we just need to be good to our neighbours and treat people with respect,” he said.
The Iceberg is available on most streaming platforms. Cloutier also has a YouTube channel, @dancloutiersongwriter, where, in addition to music, he has videos about places in Newfoundland. The video for his song “Rocky Shore” is comprised of images he took during his trip. He also has an official website, dancloutier.com.