Saskatchewan born, Toronto based blues musician Suzie Vinnick is on the road again. Even in -50 (including wind chill) weather.

She is hoping for the best this week when she returns to Lethbridge to play a pair of house concerts for the Home Routes Concert series, Friday, March 7 at Valerie McQuaid’s house and again on Monday, March 10 at Dawn Gray’s house.

 She is excited about playing her third Home Routes house concert series.

“I love the intimacy of house concerts,” said Vinnick, running on four hours sleep, just returning home from a quick tour of Saskatchewan, where windchill surpassed -50 over the weekend.

“You can see the expressions on people’s faces and it is nice to meet folks one on one. It is really nice to connect with them in a different way,” she continued.

“And Home Routes shows are professional shows, but they are also a good place to try out new material and hear the response,” she continued.

“ It’s also nice to have that two week’s worth of work so you know where you will be at that time,” she continued.
Vinnick has a huge voice which takes some maintenance, so she regularly consults voice coaches.

“ When I was 17 and started singing, I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to take care of it. So I had some lessons,” he said.
“ I still see a voice coach. There is always something new to learn,” she said.

In addition to touring a lot, she is beginning writing songs for a new CD.

“ I thought it would be nice to do an electric ‘Me and Mabel,’” she said referring to her 2011 all acoustic CD which was nominated for a Juno award in 2012.
 He last Cd was “Live in Bluesville,” a live recording of her original music as well as a few choice covers. She noted she plans to work with harmonica player Roly Platt on it.
 While she is known for her powerful voice, Vinnick noted she is focusing more on her guitar playing, though she often performs as a bassist for numerous musicians.

“ I grew up listening to Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne and there was some Dire Straits in there. And especially Heart. I always loved Ann Wilson’s voice and Nancy Wilson’s guitar playing. There weren’t a lot of female guitar players then,” she observed.

“I remember going to see Elaine McIlwaine at Budds on Broadway and Elaine invited me to join her band,” she said adding she also loves Sue Foley’s music.
 She is also doing a lot of  co-writing.

She co-wrote “Drift Away”  with Matt Andersen who put it  on his latest CD “Weightless.”
She noted  several people have told her that the song has helped them through some tough times.

“ And that’s when you get the feeling  you’re doing your job. When you hear how your song has affected people,” she said.

 The house concerts begin at  7 p.m., March 7 and March 10. Contact Valerie at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for details and tickets. or Dawn at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for details and tickets.
 There is a $20 over to attend each show, all of which goes directly to Vinnick.