Many things to share!
Hello everyone and a warm welcome from the frozen world of PEI!
I had such a beautiful journey from Vancouver Island, through mainland BC to Alberta and finally home to PEI. I have to say, I was heartened to see so many people out at all the shows. It has been a challenging few years for venues and artists as the pandemic receded and now it feels like folks are back out with new enthusiasm.
It was a treat to be in the balmy weather of the western coast, only to be met with two weeks of fairly steady -24 C in Alberta.
I traveled with my pal Tim Leacock for the whole trip, and joined by the wonderful Shaye Zadravec for the Alberta portion of our tour. Shaye has a magical voice and made every night extra special. She also captured a lot of beautiful moments for us on camera. (Thanks Shaye!)
After that I came home to the quiet of home and the wild wintry storms full of high winds, snow and ice on repeat. I am always happy to bunker down and press the pause button after a tour and somehow the storms seemed to help.
My only exit from the house was a trip to the cozy Bedford Basin Yacht Club in NS, where I had the pleasure of playing to a sweet crowd while pondering the idea of boats. I am not a boat person, but I love those that are. It seems romantic. Just not for me.
Now I'm looking ahead to a few events - some coming up sooner than others, and trying to figure out how to get myself in gear to promote them all. I'd love if you could lend me a hand in spreading the word to people you might know in the various places I'm headed.
For starters - I'm playing a song circle at Copper Bottom on Saturday, March 8th for International Women's Day. It is sort of a reunion with my friends Ashley Condon and Meaghan Blanchard. Many moons ago we toured together as the Eastern Belles and it was a blast. Now life has changed for all of us and we rarely see each other. I will soak up their energies that night for sure.
After that I head out at the end of the month to play a string of shows with Jimmy Rankin and JP Cormier. Several of the shows are sold out (or nearly!) so let people in your circles know they should book soon.
I head back to Ontario for the first week of April to play 4 shows and I have a very special guest joining me that I will announce SOON!
Lucy Farrell and I are finally announcing our UK tour in May.
The two of us will be traversing England, Scotland and Wales for the entire month of May and I can not wait!
Out little EP should be out before then, and I can't wait to share the stage with Lucy and see the UK in the (hopefully) glorious month of May.
There are a million dates as you can see. I'm going to have to map it out for myself just to get a sense of the directions. We'll be heading to venues that are brand new to me, but I'll also be happily returning to some sweet spots that feel like home.
I just spent the day in the studio with some of my PEI music pals and am in the intensive part of record making for the next two weeks.
The plan now is to release the record a year from now (ish) and I'll be sprinkling the world with tidbits and singles leading up to that. I'm pondering a crowdfunding campaign.
What are your thoughts on that method of supporting artists in making art?
I really hope you are all well, and finding some respite from the headlines and global madness.
Thank goodness for music and art and the promise of spring.
Hope to see you somewhere!
xoxo
Catherine
