I have spent the summer writing with a lot of talented young people - defined herein as anyone more than ten years younger than me :) It's brought back to me how much I learned from co-writing when I was doing so much of it in Nashville during the late nineties up to 2004. I’ve had the pleasure of crafting songs with Carrie Day, Marty Pawlina, Ciara Proznik, Chloe Albert and Ruth Blakely and I’m writing tomorrow with Jay Willis and Marissa Kochanski. All are very talented songwriters many of whom have been active members of a songwriting circle I belong to that has convened the first Monday of each month on and off for more than a decade. Each has their own special tools that they bring and all of whom I’ve learned a great deal from.

Alberta has so much talent. I’m just looking over the roster right now for the Alberta contingent that will be at Folk Alliance  in Memphis this coming February. The Memphis Project sponsored by the Bow Valley Music Club (with assistance from Alberta Music and CKUA) are putting together a package of Alberta Artists that are going to showcase Alberta Tunesmiths at this very prestigious conference just a year before it moves to Toronto. The list is a who’s who of Alberta singer songwriters including: Leslie Alexander & Jenny Allen; Chloe Albert; T. Buckley Duo (Tim & Derek Pulliam); Lucas Chaisson; Kat Danser; Lindsay Ell; Braden Gates; Lizzy Hoyt; Nancy Laberge Trio (Nancy, Sarah Nielsen, Mark Cassano); Tim Leacock; Matt Masters; 100 Mile House (Denise Mackay, Peter Stone, Scott Zubot); Pearband (Denis & Lynae Dufresne, Craig Bignall, Aaron Young); The Travelling Mabels (Keith & Lana Floen, Eva Levesque, Suzanne Levesque); Emily Jill West and Brooke Wylie.

Wow I think I'm gonna go!

It’s been a while since my last blog. Sometimes you’re writing and sometimes you’re just living.

After my April 7th gig at the Blue Chair, I am off to do a tour of Northern California again with Mike Ehlers at the end of April. We had a lot of fun last year so we’re going to do it again. Mike is an engaging guy with a lot of different interests. Of late aside from his passion for music he’s been focusing on the environment (Google his song “Use Less”) and social justice. He and his daughter moved to Edmonton years ago when he was transferred here. He loved Edmonton and got quite involved in the music scene here. With trepidation he moved back to California recently leaving behind a lot of dear friends but with some luck maybe we’ll be able to coax him back here some time soon for a show :  )

I’m in the airport on my way home from the Far West Folk Alliance (www.far-west.org) in Santa Clare/San Jose. I had a great time playing several showcases and meeting a lot of people with the same addiction (music) as I have. I was blown away by several artists there. I caught Paul Kamm and Eleanore MacDonald (www.kammmac.com) whose songs and harmonies held me in a trance for the thirty odd minutes they were performing. I also saw a songwriter, Jude Johnstone (www.bojakrecords.com), who’s had cuts with Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris and a host of others.  Listening to her I can see why. She is one of the best songwriters I’ve ever seen at one of these conventions. I also caught up with my friends the Koles (www.arlenekole.com) who I met twenty plus years ago when I was working on my first album. They are now living in California and playing with their daughter Skye who has a world-class voice (which of course she inherited from her mother and father who are also world class vocalists). The weather was not characteristic of California but there was so much to do and hear inside the hotel there wasn’t much reason to venture any further. Hats off to Steve Dulson and volunteers who organized a very well run event.

We are staging Dragonfly at the Youth Emergency Shelter. My hope is that there is enough truth in this play that folks will see these kids as I see them… people just like you and I, but who’ve had to overcome obstacles most of us can only imagine. They may not be our children biologically but they are part of our tribe and deserve the same opportunities most of us take for granted. The least of their needs is to have a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs and food in their bellies, oh yeah, and maybe to hear that their dreams just might be possible. I believe that is what YESS is trying to do and by helping them I’m hoping we can help the youngsters who are in their care.

After seeing the play Cadaver last year at the Fringe, co-written and acted by my daughter, I got quite angry at myself that my youngest child, less than half my age, had just gone out and done something I’d first planned to do before she was even born. (The inspiration in my family comes both from the older and the younger generation.) I’m thrilled that as well as moving me to get off my ass and write this play, my daughter Ellie has come all the way from Vancouver to lend her singing and acting talents and those of her close friends to give my characters voices and faces.