Calling her second album I'm Just Warming Up was both prophetic and something of an understatement for singer-songwriter Kate Reid.
The acclaimed 2009 release has proven to be an artistic coming-of-age for one of Canada's sharpest new talents: a guitar-playing, harmonica-slinging, whip-smart wordsmith and bona-fide storyteller who delivers songs that are charged with humour and social commentary.
With rapid-fire wit and a dynamic stage presence, Reid leaves her audiences, by turns, laughing, crying and clapping along in delighted solidarity.
Comox Valley music lovers can find out firsthand when Reid and Evalyn Parry perform April 16 at Joe's Garage in Courtenay.
I'm Just Warming Up garnered Reid a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for Best/New Emerging Artist of 2009 and a 2010 Toronto Independent Music Award nomination for Best Acoustic Album.
Penguin Eggs Magazine (Canada's Folk, Roots and World Magazine) critics voted Reid Favourite New Discovery of 2009 with good reason: She is as charming as she is in-your-face and she is one of the most incisive songwriters to appear on the scene in years.
Reid has teamed up with producer Adam King (of Good Lovelies acclaim) to record Just Doing it for the Chicks, a followup to her 2009 release. She is also working with producer Adam Popowitz (of Pacifika acclaim), recording a collection of songs based on nearly 40 interviews she conducted with children, youth and adult children raised by LGBTQ parents.
Both projects are slated for simultaneous release this spring. Reid also facilitates workshops in the public education system on homophobia, stereotypes, bullying and women in music.
Parry is an award-winning songwriter, poet and ironic social commentator who is gifted with a sharp pen, a quirky musical sensibility and a wicked sense of humor.
She has released three critically acclaimed CDs, a live in concert DVD (Borealis Records), and her music and spoken word has been performed, broadcasted, commissioned and anthologized across North America.
From 19th century cycling heroines to 21st century sailors; from "feminine protection" to bottled water to the quest for the Northwest Passage, Parry's outspoken creations hold out a powerful vision of social and personal change, while her irreverent wit holds nothing sacred.
Accompanying herself on guitar, water bottle, shruti box and loop pedals, Parry shoots from the hip and aims for the heart.
The highly anticipated recording of Parry's latest, inventive musical project, SPIN (starring The Bicycle as Muse, Musical Instrument, and Agent of Social Change), produced by Don Kerr (of Rheostatics and Ron Sexsmith acclaim) was released last month.
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鈥� Kate Reid
