Yukon Women in Music is a Non-Profit Organization is support of Women in the Yukon and elsewhere.
The Artists Featured on the CD
NATALIE EDELSON
Influenced by traditional and contemporary folk/roots resonances, Natalie Edelson seamlessly meshes the human and physical extremes of the Northern landscape. Oscillating from the mundane to the whimsical, her songs poignantly distill the off-the-grid experiences shared by urban refugees. Richly textured melodies envelop stark imagery. The result particularly satisfies those with a craving for something bittersweet, in ‘a cross between acoustic and restless’.. Born in Ottawa and politicized in Montreal, Natalie Edelson made the Yukon her home in 1991.
“Edelson’s songs [are] heartfelt and beautifully made; road-tested around kitchen tables and campfires, they speak strongly of love, friendship, place, and, especially, the heart.”
Alexander Varty, Georgia Straight, (Vancouver)
www.cdbaby.com/all/natalieedelson
NICOLE EDWARDS
Nicole started singing on Broadway, a dirt road outside the village of South River in the near north of Ontario, where she grew up. She has spent the past eleven years absorbing and contributing to the colourful Yukon arts community.
Nicole is a versatile performer. Her albums: “on with my day” and “Joy Seeker”, have solidified her reputation as “Yukon’s folk-rock diva” and led to her band being the opening act for the Sam Roberts Band. Her latest CD: “Sparkin’” delivers an engaging take on jazz standards. Regardless of the genre, “She is a real singer of songs, which is to say she not only sings the words, she expresses them.” ~Bill Polonsky, What’s Up Yukon
www.cdbaby.com/all/nicoleedwards
KAYLA DEWNEY
Kayla is a young, spunky seventeen year-old born and raised right here in the city of Whitehorse where she lives with her family. A current student at Porter Creek Secondary, who has always had a passion for music, she was overjoyed to find out her song had been selected for the project. The YWIM CD will be the first of Kayla recording projects, a difficult process she hopes to do more off in the future. Kayla has been taking voice lessons with local musician and fellow project participant Barbara Chamberlin for 5 years.
www.ywim.ca
KIM BEGGS
Kim Beggs’ infuses sweet old-time roots country with dark tales of Northern life in Canada. A Journeyman Carpenter and internationally acclaimed songwriter, Beggs is fueled by the same sort of hardscrabble lifestyle and unshakable sense of community, that influenced early Appalachian music over a century ago.
“Most of her characters are victims of harsh circumstance -- poverty, drug and alcohol addiction, desperate rambling, wounds psychic and physical -- but they bear their burdens with stoicism and without self-pity.” --Rambles.net – Minnesota, USA
Dirty Linen Magazine says “Beggs’ endearing voice brings out the best in her songs.....It’s not surprising that [her sophmore album] Wanderer’s Paean has been nominated for several awards in Canada.” –Baltimore, Maryland USA
www.cdbaby.com/all/kimbeggs
BARBARA CHAMBERLIN
Barbara Chamberlin, originally from Oregon, has lived in the Yukon for over 20 years. She has appeared on CMT, cracked the top 100 Canadian country charts, written 2 theme songs for the Yukon, placed 3rd in the John Lennon Sonwriting festival, and toured Germany, US, and Canada. She will be releasing her 3rd personal CD this next winter on March 5, 2009.
www.cdbaby.com/all/barbarachamberlin
ANGEL HALL
Angel Hall is a Whitehorse transplant who originates from Vancouver’s East Side. Currently, Angel is working on a full-length album with band mates Wayne Garrett and Adam Pope. Angel’s full-time gig is the study and application of the Northwest Coast carving traditions under the instruction of Tlingit teacher Calvin Morberg. Angel was a representative of the Yukon Territory for carving in Ottawa’s 2008 Winterlude celebration and her work can be viewed at the Yukon Territory’s Permanent Art Collection.
http://www.sundogretreat.com/carving.html
BJ MCLEAN
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, BJ moved north in 1984 and never looked back. The people, the land and the music of the north won her heart, and are reflected in many of her songs. Alaska, the Northwest Territories, northern BC, and now the Yukon, she calls the “north” home.
BJ has performed and recorded with many northern artists including Outlaw Women, Susan Grace Stoltz, Kate Weekes, Brenda Berezan, John Spearn, Sisters of Evolution, and Steve Slade. She has performed live on CBC’s “Madly off in all directions” and “Sounds like Canada”, and NPR’s “Folk Sampler”, as well as local radio and TV staions, festivals, fundraisers, weddings etc.
Her favourite venues are bonfires and kitchen jams.
www.cdbaby.com/all/bjmaclean
LARA LEWIS
It’s a love affair. I sometimes leave it, but I always return. At 10, I exclaimed I was going to be the best pianist in Canada. At 19, I realized what a great pianist sounded like, and I was humbled. My musical education continues. Teaching myself to listen. Breaking away from written notation and the fear of singing. Simply playing from my head…or rather, from my body, without thinking too much.
And then there is the writing - how to marry the rhythm and sound of speech with that of melody, without being trite or, alternatively, jarring. Mapping out that ever-shifting line between clarity and subtlety. And producing a song that someone other than your mother wants to listen to. Thank God for mothers…
www.myspace.com/laraleighlewis
ANNIE LOU
Annie Lou was born in a dark Yukon winter and grew out of Kim Barlow and Anne Louise Genest’s love of old time and Americana music. We love playing together, and share a mutual relief in singing the lonesome tales of people we might have been. Annie Lou’s original material reaches back to another era and brings it forward to the here and now, reflecting the solitude and grit that lives on in the Yukon. Annie Lou features Kim Barlow on clawhammer banjo and vocals, Anne Louise Genest on guitar and vocals, Keitha Clark on fiddle, and Lindy Jones on upright bass and vocals.
www.myspace.com/annielouyukon
PEGGY HANIFAN
Peggy Hanifan has been a Yukoner for 25 years and is thrilled with the Whitehorse music scene. She has been hosting two jams, Whitewater Wednesday Jam Night and Saltwater Saturday Afternoon, for 11 years and still going strong. She’s been writing her own songs since she was 11 and loves to play the old standards as well. Peggy loves her job as a school bus driver, and in her spare time she likes to hike and walk her dog, Gibson. A longtime member of YWIM, she is grateful to be on this CD with these wonderful women.
www.myspace.com/peggyhanifan
NICOLE SMITH
I would first like to thank the creator for all I have been blessed with, my partner Ray for all his support, my children for their understanding when I have to be away from them, my family for their encouragement, YWIM for providing the opportunity and all my friends who have loved my singing from day one, thank you.
www.ywim.ca
ASHEYA HENNESSEY
Asheya has been singing and writing songs since she was a child. She produced an amateur album, Confessions, with a few university friends in 1999, but this project is her first professional recording experience. She lives in Whitehorse with her musical husband and two children and has performed live at various Yukon venues. Asheya hopes to professionally record more of her songs in the future.
www.myspace.com/asheyaonline
The Producer
LYNN MILES
Lynn Miles is a singer/songwriter/producer. She has released 7 CD’S, she won the 2002 Juno award in the “Roots and Traditional Album” category for her CD “Unravel. She was nominated in the same category in 2005. She won Singer of the year and Songwriter of the year in 2005 at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Also in 2005 her CD “Love Sweet Love” was voted album of the year in Penguin Eggs Magazine. She has record deals, and tours extensively in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is currently writing a play, and learning how to paint.
www.lynnmilesmusic.com
The Recording Engineer
CHRISTINE CHURCH
Christine Church has been involved in the music industry since 2000, working as a music recording, mix and editing engineer out of various studios around Vancouver, B.C. Getting her education at British Columbia Institute of Technology and Centre for Digital Imaging and Sound.
Christine’s love of music has grown into a love of recording audio and interesting sounds. She is now the co-owner of the Garage studio in Vancouver and enjoys the variety and flexibility that her work offers as she works on audio projects including voice-over, music, post-production, books-on-tape and radio plays.
www.thegaragerecording.com
The Mixing/Mastering Engineer
KEITH STEIN
Keith Stein worked extensively in L.A. as a guitarist, bassist, and sound equipment designer. In the seventies he returned to Vancouver where he established himself as a Juno Award Winning engineer/producer, recording over 150 albums and filmscores. Keith continues to work as an engineer and a musician who loves playing folk, rock, bluesy jazz, and jazzy blues.
www.alpacarecords.com
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