Jessica Rhaye takes the spotlight
Folk/pop singer plays Riverview Arts Centre tonight.
Times and Transcript
April 16, 2010
By Brett Anningson
When Jessica Rhaye last came to Moncton, she was performing with her friend and mentor, Ken Tobias. This time, she takes the spotlight solo.
Fresh from the release of her first album, "Good Things," and, more recently, a DVD, "Good Things From the Stage," her East Coast Music Awards nominations for Solo Female Artist of the Year, Folk Recording of the Year, and Visual Artist of the Year, and performances at Atlantic Canada House at the Vancouver Olympics, she is touring the Maritimes before heading to St. John's and a gig at the Junofest.
"So far, and this is only April, it has been a busy year, but it has been all good. We've been having fun," says Jessica. "I really enjoy performing and the guys I play with are amazing, whenever we get an opportunity to play with the band it is always fun."
At the Vancouver Olympics, Atlantic Canada House was widely regarded as one of the most popular venues, and that was certainly Jessica's perception. "The theatre we played in would hold like 400 people for these free concerts every night. I swear there were 3,000 out there. People started lining up at noon. It was a pretty crazy evening, but all fun. It was amazing to play in a place with so much energy, it was unbelievable."
Jessica grew up listening to some great songwriters that her parents liked, artists like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, John Denver, and Anne Murray. When she was five, her father bought a microphone that could be plugged into the record player and she sang along, or made up her own songs. "I think I started out loving Anne Murray's Hippo in the Bathtub, then Karen Carpenter when I grew up a little more," Jessica remembers. "There was a lot of folk music in our house -- John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot, for example. I think these influenced me to really like folk music, and a lot of it was Canadian, I got it bred right into me."
During her school years, she sang in choirs, took lessons, took part in singing competitions, community performances and school plays. As Jessica tells it, she has always been shy about expressing her emotions, except through music. "I find that when I need to do some type of venting, when I am emotional, that is where a song will start. It doesn't always have to be negative, it could be good. It works, it is like getting something off your chest. The hard thing for me is that I have a lot of songs that are unfinished, and I still need to get them off my chest."
That outpouring of emotion seems to drive Jessica to create, to keep moving, keep creating, and keep exploring. She enrolled in the New Brunswick Craft College to pursue a career in graphic arts. And she's no slouch in this area either, taking home the Graphic Artist of the Year award at the 2008 East Coast Music Awards. "I went into the college thinking I would do pottery," Jessica laughs. "That first year I had to do a course in photography, design, pottery and graphics. I just loved the graphics, it kind of chose me."
Jessica says that training come in handy with her career in the music industry, as she has creative control not just of the music, but of the way it is presented. She designs her own album covers, website, and other visual aspects of her image. "It is also gratifying to have something that you can hold and see," she says. During that time, she also realized she needed to expand her music and began to collaborate with others.
"I've been fortunate and been able to work with some phenomenal songwriters including my producer Ed Woodsworth, Ken Tobias, Dave Gunning, Asif Illyas and Ron Sexsmith," Jessica says. "This period of time and my college experiences inspired the production of my sophomore album Short Stories.
While on tour in the United Kingdom with Dave Gunning and Matt Andersen, Jessica began to think about producing an acoustic album. At the end of each show they would collaborate on an acoustic set and it was always well-received. "I started thinking I should revisit my roots, in essence the influences of my parents' record collection," she says.
The way Jessica sees it, her album Good Things is a return to the time when everything seemed to be new, everything was positive, a childhood filled with good things. "I had a really, really good upbringing; a big family, lived in Titusville, and no neighbours. My brother and sisters were my friends and we had the fields, and woods and camps, and I was outside all the time. I loved being a kid, I am pretty lucky to have that...but we all have good things we can try to get back to.
"I feel really happy with where I am in my life now, both with the graphics and music, I feel like I am where I want to be, happy with where I am in my life. I guess that is what I have been trying to say with Good Things."
Show Facts
* WHAT: JESSICA RHAYE with Clinton Charlton
* WHERE: Riverview Arts Centre
* WHEN: Tonight, 8 p.m.
* TICKETS: $18 advance, $20 door to celebrate the release of her new DVD ìGood Things from the Stage.î The first 100 ticket holders on site tonight will receive a free copy (one per couple) of Jessicaís new DVD. Tickets can be purchased at Jean Coutu and Sobeys in Riverview, at Frankís Music in Moncton or online at www.RiverviewArtsCentre.ca