Jenny Whiteley a South Country Fair highlight

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Two time Juno -award winner  Jenny Whiteley enjoyed her first South Country Fair gig, July 17-19 in Fort Macleod.
Jenny Whiteley
Drummer Erik Allen, who played on Whiteley’s second solo CD, “Hopetown” handpicked a band including guitarist  Dave Bauer and bassist Sherry  Wray to play the South Country Fair.
“I just met Dave yesterday. He plays guitar and mandolin,” Whiteley said following her Saturday evening set, which included  “Banjo Girl” — one of the highlights off of ‘Dear,’ and which sounded great played on mandolin.
“We came in rehearsed  for a couple hours ran through the songs and called it a rehearsal. We were going to rehearse again today but it was too bloody hot. So we just hung out and saved our energy for the crowd,” she said.
 She played the Winnipeg folk festival last week where she was teaching  songwriting , went home for a couple days and then flew out to Calgary  for this show.
 “I’ve never been here before, but knowing it was Alberta and Fort Macleod, I  play Alberta quite a bit and thought maybe I’d focus on country songs. So I sent them a set list focusing on my country music and less on my folk and pop songs,” she said.
“We just kind of rocked the country a little a bit. Those guys were great. It was really good,” she said adding she enjoyed the fair.
 
“Well I love it so far, it’s fantastic I walked over to the river, got here checked into our awesome Sunset Motel. If I can stay at any motel called the Sunset Motel at any time it’s always a thrill. I parked the SUV I rented and we just walked back down, someone picked us upin their pick up truck and drove us over here, so beers in hand we wandered over to the river,” she said. 
“We got here and  it was about a million degrees so we went down to the river and had a splash. It’s been brilliant . People have been really super friendly and have been complimentary about my music. It always ingratiates people to me when they like my music.  And the crowd just went wild for Hank and Lily which I also always appreciate.”
Whiteley was doing double duty with Edmonton’s the Secretary’s as  Hank and Lily’s “ Avatars of the Second Sun” choir. She has known Hank Pine and Lily Faun for  at least five years when they hooked up with the Hootenanny Collective— a conglomeration of Ontario musicians including Whiteley’s husband Joey Wright, Luther Wright, Carolyn Mark, Shuyler Jansen and sometimes Sarah Harmer who play and tour together.
 “ Hank and Lily joined the collective a bunch of years ago,” she said adding they toured together a few times and asked her to join them on stage as a one woman choir.
“When I saw they were playing after me tonight I know what my job would be. It’s a thrill to play with those guys. They’re some of my favourite people. So I put on the robe gladly and the black wig,  I was thrilled to play with those guys.They’re so great. They’re some of my favourite people,” she enthused.
“I think they really rocked the crowd. They’re brilliant , they’re art rock and they’re just super special. I love them,” she continued, adding she will be entering the studio in Vancouver in October to record her third album for Black Hen Records.
“ Steve Dawson is going to produce it. He produced “Hopetown” and “Dear” and is going to record this one. We always talked about making this a trilogy, so this is going to be the third in the series, so I’m super excited about that. I’ve got most of my songs written, couple more in the works. I’ll go there alone with Steve, then my Ontario cronies will play some solos and help me with some  background vocal once I get back,” she enthused adding she doesn’t know what it will be called yet.
“My new poster has a cartoon of my face and has the words ‘Jenny Whiteley — Are you ready,’ And I love it. I thought that might make a good title for a record, so we’ll see,” she said.
(For more on the South Country Fair check out the Music Beat section)
Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 21 July 2009 15:47 )