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Cowessess First Nation singer-songwriter (Uncle) Trent Agecoutay releases his deeply personal new single “The Foundation,” out now. Written with his late father Jim Agecoutay in the days following the funeral of their Kokum Agnes, it is the first song Trent ever co-wrote with his dad – making it one of the most intimate and significant recordings of his career. “The Foundation” serves as the lead single from Uncle Trent and Friends – Legacy Deluxe edition, the acclaimed project Trent created alongside his brother Bryce to honour their father’s musical gifts after his passing.
The song carries the full emotional weight of its origins. Born in grief and shaped by gratitude, it opens with a scene of devastating tenderness: “Kokum started her journey on a rainy day in May / I’ve never felt so helpless, don’t like to feel that way / A wave of lonely, it tore me up inside / I kissed her on the cheek, I held her one last time.” From that place of loss, the song builds toward something enduring – a chorus that names the thing that holds us when everything else gives way: “The Foundation of who I am, it runs strong and deep / Generations surround me while my soul weeps / They light the path when darkness follows me / The Foundation of who I am – it’s my family.”
“Family is the Foundation of who we are as musicians, and men,” Trent reflects. “The gift of music our father gave us, along with the strong influence of our Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents, truly shaped us into the men we are today. The song will connect to any listener – people with a strong bond with family, and those longing for that family connection.” It is a song built for both.
The legacy that gives this project its name stretches back to a kitchen table in Western Canada, where a young Trent and Bryce would slip into the next room to listen as their father Jim composed songs – always with a pot of coffee, a lit cigarette, and an old tape recorder close at hand. All the songs on Legacy were written or co-written by Jim Agecoutay, and the album, funded by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and Calgary Arts Development, stands as a testament to everything he left behind.
Legacy has already made a significant mark since its April 2025 release – earning a number-one single on the Indigenous Music Countdown with “Burn a Smudge,” placing “You’re the Reason” in full rotation on Sirius XM Indigiverse for much of 2025, and charting in the top ten of the Earshot National Folk, Roots and Blues chart. “The Foundation” opens the album’s next chapter with the song that perhaps best captures its entire purpose.
Since joining his father’s band in 1993 and performing in Alberta honky-tonks across Western Canada, Trent has grown into a respected artist and community voice. His previous albums – I Don’t Regret a Thing, Now…And Then, and A Place to Call Home – established a sound that is deeply personal yet broadly resonant, earning him a Native American Music Award nomination for Best Blues Recording. Alongside Curt and Chelsie Young, he co-created Do You Hear Me Now…Amplifying Indigenous Voices, and his podcast The Deadly Uncle Podcast continues to provide a culturally grounded space for Indigenous men and boys to connect and heal.
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