Archives for Blog Post

Happy New Year, everyone!! Don’t be fooled by the title of this blog… I am NOT buying, replacing or upgrading material things this year in any type of excess. Instead, I’ve decided to use this year as an opportunity to look at how far I’ve come in recent years and create some ‘new’ goals. Aspiring to take this career as far as I can potentially means growth in a multitude of ways, which really excites me!  Who knew this industry would open up for me as I entered my 40s?! Hahaha…  I feel like a bit of a unicorn right now and
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I recently realized that this year is the first time I’ve been single on Valentine’s Day in about 14 or 15 years. Seriously. In fairness, I’ve spent the last ten Valentine’s Day celebrations with the same person, so it’s not like each year has brought a fresh love interest to the table just in time for the “momentous day of love” celebrated so extravagantly by many couples. But for some reason, this year, fresh out of a ten year relationship (and seven year marriage) I find myself more excited about this day on the February calendar than I’ve ever been.
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It’s been a hot minute since my last newsletter. I could say that life was so boring and there was nothing to tell you… but that would be a lie. On the contrary, life (the pandemic kind that we were all trying to just “get through”) became far more complicated, tragic, intense, joyful and downright FULL than I ever could have imagined.  I lost one of the greatest humans of my life in May, my Nana, and weeks later found myself going through one of those life altering events that rhyme with ‘schmivorce’. Ew. I then lost my house in
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No, but seriously. I’m pretty sure you all saved my life.   It’s been a long 17 months. There have been a few glimmers of hope during that time, but all in all, it’s been very dark. There’s a very good reason why it’s been over six months since my last newsletter and blog. I know some of you struggled as well. The statistics were staggering and many of us are still trying to find our way out of this nightmare. There has been a lot of loss in my world. Loss is a part of life, but the tragedy
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I had a three hour phone conversation with my agent last week.  We covered a lot of ground and at the end of the conversation I was left considerably more informed on what my year is going to look like.   With some hope and luck, I will be fully back in business by Spring of 2022.   I’m not kidding.   This year might grant us a handful of gigs from late summer onwards, I’m told.  Perhaps our vaccination rollouts in Canada will pick up steam and we will be busier this summer than we anticipated.  It’s all up
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Like every year, 2020 has both gifted me with some mega wins and some heartbreaking losses. At times I have felt overwhelmed with excitement and hope and in other moments, I have felt like I’ve been punched in the gut.   I know I’m not the only human on planet Earth who’s felt this way this year. Perhaps our appreciation for certain aspects of life has improved? Perhaps our ability to make the best of a difficult situation has advanced our skill set? Our perspectives are different and our individual stories are different, but at the end of the day,
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HOLD ON TO YOUR PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES, PEOPLE!!   I’M RELEASING A NEW ALBUM!!!   That’s right.  The studio album scheduled for release this past summer has evolved into a case of “making miracles happen in the music industry!”  Hahaha…  Ok, this isn’t a musical miracle perhaps, but it certainly required some brainstorming, organizing and a good attitude.  😉   ‘Miss Emily LIVE at The Isabel’ was birthed from a series of sound board recordings over the course of 2 ½ years and 6 sold-out Miss Emily shows at The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in Kingston, Ontario,
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If I still wrote things on paper, there would currently be a pile of crumpled up pieces lying at my feet as I write this.   What to say…   It’s not like pandemic times have been the greatest for full-time musicians. Losing all of our performances, therefore performance income, and trying to stretch online tip jar money to the fullest extent. As creative minds we try to think outside the box and be hopeful, but to say the least – it’s been a challenge for the music community.   Several months ago now I reached out to the new
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I grew up in a small rural community in Southern Ontario.  It’s called Prince Edward County, otherwise known as “The County”. It is familiar to the provincial tourists who love sandy beaches and the adorable small villages and towns, connected by rural roads along farm fields.  It was a beautiful place to grow up.  Small schools, small class sizes, knowing all of your neighbours (being related to many of them too!) and popular community events like the strawberry social and the village fair (not the kind with rides).    *Note: This was the 1980’s and 90’s, not the 1880’s and
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!   Today I turn 39 years old. Why give the gritty details, you ask? Because I’m one of those people who is grateful for each year I’ve been able to adventurously journey through life. Some years are better than others but I’m guessing it’s the same for you. If I could take a snapshot of just this past month of February and send it to my younger self (age 15, 25, 35 even), I might have enjoyed some of those years a bit more.   It’s the challenges in life that make us appreciate the rewarding
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In all seriousness, I actually do have 2020 vision.   Poor eyesight runs in my family but somehow I’ve been spared. However, as I approach the next decade of life, I’m told by my ‘slightly more mature’ friends that the eyesight will start to go and I too will be changing the font size on my iPhone and holding menus an arm’s reach away. Maybe my New Year’s resolution should be to take care of my eye health, or health in general, so I can keep this ironic 2020 thing going for at least another year.  😉   This new
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So there I was…just taking a quick moment between album demo takes to check my email. I opened a new message from my publicist Eric Alper that was a forward with “Maple Blues Awards” as the subject and only three words he’d written: “Way to go!” Something super cool had happened, but I could never have guessed to what extent.   I can’t fully recount what happened next, but my long time friend and sound man Geoff Chown, sitting only about two feet away from me, must have jumped when I immediately burst into tears bellowing “NO WAY!!!!” through my
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It’s September!!!  Back to school is in full effect (my daughter just started high school!) and the leaves are starting to change colour.  With the feeling of fall in the air, I have to remind myself that the summer festival season is still in full swing! We have two big festival performances just around the corner and almost immediately after, the start of concert season – the first of which is in Whitby as part of Music By the Bay LIVE on October 4th!   It’s hard to put the happenings of the past three and a half months into
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It’s a beautiful time to be alive here in our nation’s first capital – Kingston, Ontario, Canada – for those of you from other parts of the world! Lake Ontario is bustling with swimmers, boaters and kite surfers. The 1000 Islands are a mere stone’s throw away and lots of tourists descend to appreciate our city’s history, art, culture, and waterfront.   Even with all of the excitement that summer weather brings to most parts of Canada, I am still always overwhelmed by the number of people I see out and about in our small city. We know how to
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It’s that time again… Album making time!  As much as I enjoy the thrill of pouring myself into the creation of a new compilation of recorded tunes, there is some of it I don’t enjoy as much.   “I can’t wait to hear the new songs,” people will say to me. “I can’t wait for you to write some more music!!” Well, to be completely honest, I don’t always look forward to the writing process.  Most of my writing happens while hovered over my keyboard or guitar, weeping uncontrollably and scribbling my thoughts onto my tear soaked pages. (Ok, not
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To give credit where it’s due, I have to tell you that the heavy lifting of this blog you’re about to read is being done by my awesome manager of the past four years – Gord Hunter.  Gord is the Branch Manager of St. John Ambulance in Kingston, Ontario. He works diligently for causes like the Light Of Day organization (amongst others) which raises money for Parkinson’s Disease research. Also, Gord Hunter is MY manager.   When I look at the growth our little team of band mates and crew has seen over the past several years, Gord is a
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If we were to start to list the incredible milestones we have achieved as citizens of the world in recent decades, the list would be long and impressive. With two steps forward there is often one step back, but I like to consider myself as a ‘glass half full’ person. There are many horrible atrocities in the world, but there are also some beautiful improvements to how we ethically conduct ourselves as humans on this planet.   Some of my favourites in my lifetime include: the legalization of gay marriage in some parts of the world the end of residential schools in Canada which have
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20 YEARS My career has consisted of highs and lows.  I don’t think I’m the only one who’s had an entrepreneurial experience with ups and downs.  I think it’s relatively common. Also, I’m a LOT of years in at this point. I started regularly gigging 20 years ago this past summer.  That’s right! 20 YEARS!!! (I started young.) 😉   Life, in general, often has a mix of highs and lows, so why would our careers be any different?  We appreciate more of the great stuff when there are some less great moments thrown in the mix (most of 2007,
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