What better musical gift to enjoy this time of year than a concert at the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage featuring six exciting artists.
The board of directors of the Stage promise it will be a memorable musical show case Saturday, December 14, at 7 p.m., at the Morrisburg Meeting Centre.
Returning to the Stage are area musicians Stephanie Coleman and Claude Plamondon.
“I hope to be showcasing all new songs,” said Stephanie Coleman. “My songs are related to every day life and relationships; I tend to write from a more real place and often have personal feelings or experiences embedded within a song. I feel that my style of writing lyrics has grown. And I’m extremely glad to be coming back to the Stage.”
Claude Plamondon looks “forward to getting back to the Stage since it’s been a while and that venue is pretty special.”
Plamondon describes his sound as composite. “I grew up with many different genres of music… but I do have a strong liking for harmonies and guitar music. I’m performing some of my original songs (joined on stage by accordionist Bill Sypes), I hope the audience will enjoy. I find that as I write songs, I feel a need to sing them, especially if the subject matter is personal and close to home.” Claude has been recording, and performing with Cornwall’s Winston Marley.
Sandra Whitworth of the Stage describes local musician Keegan Larose as “a bit folk and a bit pop.” Still a very up and coming young artist, Larose began playing guitar in grade seven, eventually graduating to solo work in 2008. He has performed at both open mics and organized venues in the Cornwall area. He now does mostly solo work, and will bring his unique sound to his debut at the Morrisburg stage.
Jamie Heath, who also hales from Cornwall, is a “blues man.” “I play the blues because I love the groove,” Heath explained. “The images that appear in my mind when I sing and play the blues are tangible. In other words, I feel the blues in my bones. The blues is my form of expression.”
A professional musician for over 20 years, Heath recorded with the MAMMOTH Blues Band and Black Egg Blues, and teaches at Limelight Music Academy.
“Blues is about the truth of real feelings, feelings of love and loss, feelings of happiness and joy, in fact every human emotion.”
Musician Amanda Bon, who will be joined on stage by gifted guitarist Danny Artuso, comes from Ottawa. She formed her own band, The Outskirts, in 2010.
While critics and audiences might seek to define Bon’s sound, she has her own unique view. “We take equal parts folk, country and bluegrass and throw them in a blender. (My music) is none of those things, but all of those things at the same time. I am guilty (I say that jokingly) of continuing the long standing tradition of often writing about love in one way or another. But my new album has a theme of “homeness”, coming home, being home. I also write about broader themes of life, people and relationships.”
She finds it difficult to describe her vocal style, but has heard words like soothing, pure and gentle applied to her voice. She laughs that she is more like “old fashioned country singers, minus the southern accent,”
Debuting at the St. Lawrence Stage, from Port Elgin, is Ben Turcotte, just in his late teens, and, according to Sandra Whitworth, “winning song writing and other awards all over the place.”
His style has been described as a mix of genres. “I really enjoy many types of music. I play in a Blues-Rock band: I also play a lot of Jazz: I just finished producing a track for a friend’s rap mixtape. I really do enjoy folk and blues the most, and I think that’s where most of my songs start.”
Studying music at university, Turcotte finds the inspiration for his original writing by exploring the “many different layers to dark things. The things I learn usually come out in my songs. Many other songs come from dreams. Dreams are fascinating.”
Tickets for the St. Lawrence Intimate Acoustics concert on December 14, 7 p.m., are all $10. Contact www.st-lawrencestage.com for information.
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