Luke Wallace Turns It Up: The Dandelion Resistance is Sparking a Folk Revolution

“I’ve been on frontlines at old growth forest blockades and sung at the UN Headquarters in New York,” says the Vancouver BC based folk singer. “While people tend to rally around my lyrics, that’s only a starting point. The bridge is what people do with the inspiration they feel, later on in their lives, to actually affect change.”

“When people gather to listen, sway, and sing in unison, that collective focus is more than entertainment,” says Wallace. “The Dandelion Resistance isn’t just a collection of songs—it’s a rallying cry, a reminder that —  in the face of unbelievably wicked challenges — when we join forces we can spark something powerful enough to reshape and transform the world.”

About the songs

Vancouver folksinger Luke Wallace is a troubadour of resistance, using his songs of inspiration and struggle to light a fire under a generation ready for change.

His latest album, The Dandelion Resistance, proves that authenticity and grit can still cut through the noise of our hyper-digitized, attention-fragmented world. From its opening chords, the  album calls people in with juicy guitar licks and deliciously hummable hooks. Though its themes explore climate disaster and social injustice, it invites listeners to belong to the beautiful struggle: a movement of creative resistance, spirited independence, and radical kindness.  

The Dandelion Resistance is Luke Wallace’s sixth independent album. The record was brought to life by a fiercely loyal community of fans who funded its creation through a Kickstarter campaign. Fueled by hundreds of backers, the album is emblematic of the ways in which audiences are reshaping how music is created and enjoyed: free from the grip of traditional gatekeepers, Wallace’s fans are spreading the seeds of his fiercely hopeful message.

For Wallace, music isn’t just a passive experience; it’s a call to action.

Dandelion Resistance charts a course from the wistful “Dreamin”, a stripped down meditation on over-consumption, to the biting Good Old Hockey Game-inspired takedown of fossil fuel companies, “Good Old Petrol Game.” On track after track, Wallace muses about the heartache of ecological destruction, but he doesn’t leave you there: he charts a path by inviting folks to join forces and work together to stand up for a common future where wild salmon still swim through old growth forest streams.  

“Snowing in Vegas” addresses the consequences of playing roulette with the biosphere, while “You are/I am” is an anti-war song that calls the listener to resist state violence and reject the propaganda that leads men to fight to enrich the billionaire class. In plainspoken style, accompanied mainly by guitar, keyboard and layered vocals, Wallace  invites people not to despair, but to join the messy, cathartic process of raising their voices, taking to the streets, and fighting for a better future.

The album’s closing track, “I Want it Louder,” has already become a movement anthem. Written during a standoff between police and land protectors who were blockading the logging of an ancient rainforest known as Fairy Creek, the song has since taken on a life of its own. After its release, the tune quickly spread across Canada, with young climate activists in Nova Scotia adopting it as a rallying cry at Fridays for the Future climate justice protests. 

In true protest-song tradition, “People can pull this tune out of their back pocket and find themselves singing it... and teaching it to crowds who pick it up almost instantly,” Wallace says. The song’s call-and-response chorus—“I Want it Louder... Turn it Up!”—has echoed through protests from Vancouver to Halifax, establishing the song as a loud, proud anthem for civil disobedience.

On stage, Wallace’s charisma is contagious. He has that rare ability to transform any show from a sit-down folk affair into a clapping, foot stomping sing-along. Though he sings about climate disaster, racial injustice, and social inequality, his music serves as an open invitation: to join forces and flow with what he calls “the melody inside of the madness”:  finding connection in joyful resistance. 

And that’s how a fresh-faced kid from Vancouver has ended up carrying the torch once held by the likes of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. 

The Dandelion Resistance, like the fanbase that birthed it, stands as a testament to the disruptive power of music to forge meaning and connection in an increasingly polarized world.  The record is being launched on October 18th 2024 with album release parties in Vancouver (Nov 1 at Wise Hall), Salt Spring Island (Nov 8 at Fulford Hall) and Cumberland, B.C. (Nov 15 at The Weird Church).

Wallace and his fans are proving that you don’t need corporate backing to make waves—you just need a burning fire of belief, and a community that’s willing to turn the volume up: loud.