This will be the third year for the Gordie Sampson Songcamp, which was conceived by Sampson as a way to help young songwriters gain experience and develop tools that will benefit them in their writing careers.

The song camps, facilitated by Sampson and fellow songwriter Steve MacDougall of Slowcoaster, were held in 2010 and 2011 at the Glenghorm Resort in Ingonish. Participating young writers collaborated on more than 10 songs over three days in 2010, and 30 songs over a weeklong camp last year.

Sampson said the song camps are designed for writers and artists “that show promise, candidates most likely to do this for a living.”

“It’s not like we’re looking for people that show some skills and we’re going to teach them the rest. It doesn’t work like that. We’re basically looking for people that are already awesome,” he explained.

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