Kimberley MacGregor makes a long awaited return to Lethbridge to host the Owl Acoustic Lounge’s open Mic, Tuesday, May 2.
MacGregor, who recently moved to Qualicum beach on Vancouver Island after living in Edmonton for many years, released her latest album “ Sitting with Uncomfortable feelings,” in the middle of the pandemic.
She is excited to finally tour in support of it.
The Lethbridge show is right in the middle of the tour.
“I’m doing fantastic,” she said from a tour stop in Fernie.
“ I’m sitting with not uncomfortable feelings, with very comfortable feelings at my lovely friend Rima’s’s place In Fernie and she’s actually away so I have this wonderful suite to myself so it’s been a bit of a dream come true,” she said, adding her tour is going well do far, though with a few frustrating moments.
“The tour so far has been honestly a lot of highs and lows. The shows themselves have been largely fantastic. I’ve been getting to connect with some of the most wonderful people and honestly that totally reinforces for me why I do what I do which is not something to take lightly in these days because music is a tough gig in the last couple of years so I think a lot of folks are kind of re-examining their choices in life in general and certainly musicians are not exempt from this,” she said.
“So on one hand it’s very challenging to be on the road and the anxiety is whole new ballgame this time around which really makes me question, oh gosh is really what I’m supposed to be doing, then on the other hand I’m meeting the most wonderful people who are so unbelievably encouraging that it affirms that yes, this is exactly what I should be doing. It’s probably not the shiny produced answer I’m supposed to give as an artist but its the truth,” she laughed.
MacGregor is excited but nervous to play Lethbridge solo, though she just finished a European tour solo.
“I’m on my own. I think I’ve always felt to some degree more comfortable having that support on stage solo. I did my ‘Sitting with Uncomfortable Feelings album release tour in Europe about a year ago. And originally I was supposed to bring a small band with me but because of Covid regulations and just difficulty getting people out to shows again, I ended up going solo. And I had the most amazing experience. I played six different countries over five weeks and everything ranging from really big cities to tiny little Rechtenstein ( a municipality in Germany, South of Stuttgart) where nobody spoke English. And it is amazing how music can transcend language and you can connect with people on such a human level. So it really boosted my confidence in playing solo and I really embraced it since. I really embraced it and have to say this tour has been a different level. it has been next level in terms of the connection for me. I think I’ve somehow risen to the next level as a so artist. So I’m excited to share that ,” she said.
She is pleased with how well “ Sitting with Uncomfortable Feelings” has been received, though it was released in the middle of the pandemic.
“I released it into the void to die softly amongst the abyss that is the music scene during Covid. Perhaps you can hear a little frustration,” she groaned.
“Honestly it has been a little bit of a challenge. We tried to meet that challenge by releasing music videos. So there are music videos for almost every song on the album,” she said adding she got her best friend Heather Hatch to produce them.
“Heather is a really rising, notable film maker in Canada and she just also happens to be my best friend since we were teenagers, no big deal. She has been a really powerful , powerful support and ally to me in my life throughout and no less so in my music and we just got really creative and got really busy making music videos for most of the songs on the album and then her career absolutely exploded she got really, really busy and we had to leave it there, ” she said, adding they are releasing another video for one of the three B Sides that didn’t make the cut for the album called “Say You’ll Wait.”
It stars our beautiful friend Tai Amy Grauman and she is an absolutely incredible Metis playwright, actress and we based the video on a project of hers called ‘You Used To Call me Marie’ which is a series of Metis love stories that traverses over time. So we tried to take a simple concept from that to use for the video and it’s really quite stunning. I could watch her for hours. She’s very easy on the eyes and an incredible actress, but Heather really made it such a tender, beautiful, magical project so I’m really quite proud of how that one came out,” she continued, adding it has been tough not being able to tour properly.
“This is the album I am most proud of of anything I have done so far. I was really able to pinpoint the sounds and the team I needed to work with to really get the right tones. I’m really happy with how it came out. I’m hoping this tour is going to give me the opportunity to highlight this album and the B sides of course,” she said
She began her tour solo , but is looking forward to reconnecting with some of her Edmonton musician pals in Alberta.
She scooped up her friend Erin Walker in Enderby to play a couple of “absolutely magical” house concerts in Summerland and Kelowna, which are going to be the highlights of the tour.
She plays Lethbridge solo.
“ From there for the run of Alberta shows I will be pairing up with my old buddy Elliot Thomas. He’s wonderful. I love playing music with Elliot. He just complements my songs so well and he sings like a frigging baby angel. So I’m really, really looking forward to playing with him again. That’s the thing I miss the most about not being in Edmonton is some of my people who are just part of my heart and Elliot is one of those people. So that will be great,” she said.
Prince George based accordion player and singer Danny Bell will joining her in Olds and for the rest of the tour.
“His songs are very thoughtful and clever and humorous but they’ve got a lot of substance to them as well. He‘s super talented road warrior, just all around nice guy and he and I share a bass player Melissa Walker. So that’s been in the back of our mind to tour together. He’s going to play drums with me as well for some of these shows,” she said adding after Edmonton they are going to the Dunn Folkin’ Around folk festival outside of Clearwater and will finish the tour with a full band.
She just moved to Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island .
“I’m living in paradise. Just me in paradise. It’s no big deal. It’s been absolutely wonderful. Edmonton has been incredible to me. I don’t think I would be doing what I’ do if I had not been brought up in that community, but being in B.C has been so healing for my nervous system being out of the city. I never thought I would not live in a city. It’s a big shift, a big change of pace but it’s really, really beautiful out there, just the beauty of nature out there is like healing my soul. I’m really close to my dad and his absolutely wonderful girlfriend who I call my bonus mom which has been probably a bigger blessing than I could ever imagined I never really lived close to family in my adult life, so it’s really, really been better than I could have anticipated,” she continued adding she has been playing a lot around Vancouver Island.
“The big difference I’m noticing on the Island versus living in Edmonton is in Edmonton there is a quite a lot going on in smaller space. There are lots of shows in Edmonton all the time versus on the Island they are kind of scattered. So I’ve been discovering some really, really wonderful venues and communities there. I love Cumberland. Cumberland’s got some amazing people. Tereza Tomek and Josh Lichti are right at the heart the musical community there who are just awesome humans and the Vault in Nanaimo is probably my favourite venue on the island. The people , the place itself is just right up my alley. I love it,” she continued, adding there are also lots of cool brewery gigs she is starting to discover and connect with.
“There are just some wonderfully talented folks out there, she said adding it is tough to get off the island to tour which means talking the ferry.
“The logistics of that are something to think about as a musician. If you’re going to do that you have to spend a little more time out versus in Edmonton where I can just go and do a run of shows for a week or two or a weekend. But I’m starting to get my bearings,” she said .
She is excited toi be back in Alberta, especially returning to Lethbridge.
“I’m just really looking forward to coming to Lethbridge. I have a weird intense love for Lethbridge and the people therein. I always come back to Lethbridge and am really looking forward to checking out the new Owl. Steve (Foord) has been a super pal to me throughout my music career. And we’ve toured together and he has a really adorable dog I’m looking really forward to meeting. I have not met that dog yet,” she enthused.
Kimberley MacGregor opens the Owl Acoustic Lounge’s open mic around 8 p.m.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor