Well, I have to say…this was one of my favorite summers ever! After several years of disappointing summer weather, this year was made for beach bums. The water was the warmest I’ve ever experienced. It was warmer than Havana was in mid-March and I tried to swim every day. One very special day I had a Cormorant land right beside me when I was out kayaking. The seabird stayed with me for fifteen or twenty minutes…like a pet bird. Got to see up close water running off a duck’s back. Fantastic!
And the music…I had a ton of gigs this summer, on Island and off. A highlight was sharing the stage with Coco Love Alcorn and Irish Mythen at The Kempt Shore Acoustic Festival and again at Harmony Bazaar Festival where Christina Martin joined us too. We had a blast and are aiming to perform together again one day.
Our beach retreat at Rock Barra played host to a special concert series this summer called Northside Songs and Legends. P.E.I.’s northeast coast is home to some wonderful musicians. This summer I invited them to collect some local legends and write songs based on those stories. Tim Chaisson, Mark Haines, Colette Cheverie, and myself as well as summer regulars Henry Chapin and October Browne rose to the occasion and wrote some great new songs. It’s an idea we are sure to repeat. With the bones of hundreds of shipwrecks just off shore there are endless stories to be told.
My singing camp at Rock Barra was sold out this year and almost everyone was coming back for a second or third time. A new singer this year was young Chris Greencorn from Canso. Watch for this guy. He’s a talent! I have upcoming workshops in New Brunswick, Alberta, Halifax, Toronto and Montreal in the coming months.
In late October I am heading off to the Yukon for a Home Routes tour. I am thrilled. I spent eight summers and a winter in the Yukon many moons ago and have many old friends there. Can’t wait to see them. Thank you Mitch Podolak for your vision with the Home Routes concert circuits. After my two weeks up north I’ll be doing some shows in Calgary.
In the New Year, October Browne and I will be hitting the road in Ontario and Quebec for our fourth ‘Raise the Dead of Winter’ tour. October and I always have a terrific time with our parkas, duvets, hot-water bottles and tea. Last winter at a show in Montreal we had to get the whole audience to help push the car out of the snow bank. What better way to enjoy a Canadian winter than out on tour!
I have some dates booked for a spring tour of New England and New York. Meantime I’ll be writing some new songs, thinking about a follow up recording to Late Night Parlour, and cozying up to the wood fire with Brett and our son Patrick.
Stay warm and keep in touch. Cheers,
Teresa
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