After four years with Rock n' Roll/Blues/Punk band, Steve Keys and the Space Trannys, Steve Keys has left for the solo singer/songwriter with a concentrated country sound.

For his new album, "...Then I Woke Up" released September 18, Keys decided to take down any barriers, releasing all 10 songs for free download, in hopes of reaching as many listeners as possible. You can find it here.

"If money needs to exchange hands first, less people are going to hear it," Keys says. It led to the straightforward approach of recording and mastering the album himself, and releasing it for free.

Keys describes some of the themes from the album.

However, without a band, he still wanted to incorporate the ideas and energy that only comes through collaboration.

"The thing about working with people in music is everyone works differently, you're going to get different things," he says.

While Keys laid down the basic idea for each track, he gave full rein to guest musicians to come in and "layer on their own ideas and expressions," he says. With that freedom he found other musicians "cared just as much as me," Keys says.

Some of the contributors have also agreed to perform the songs live, allowing Keys to share his music on stage as well.

keys album

He explains more of his writing process.

While music is not yet his full-time gig, Keys says music has become more than just a hobby, but an important creative outlet. However, breaking out in the music scene in Southern Manitoba can be challenging with too few opportunities or venues to perform and find an audience.

"There's only a concert every few months, so it's not like you can play a every weekend somewhere," Keys says. "And people can't go out every weekend and hear new bands and what people are working on."

Yet, he encourages other young musicians to not lose hope, or solely pursue popularity.

"If you want to write something do it, but write what you would like to hear," he says, adding chances are, if you like it, others with similar tastes will as well.

"I think if you care about the songs people will also take notice of that," Keys says. "And they will like it more and actually get something out of it."