Years spent teaching creative writing to inmates and at-risk youth in a maximum-security prison stemmed some intriguing tales for a Nashville singer/songwriter.
Linda McRae will share her experiences in California’s iconic Folsom State Prison through music at the Beneath the Arch Concert Series’ Nov. 21 performance at 7:30 p.m. in the Flare ‘n’ Derrick Community Hall. Also performing will be Montreal roots musician Sarah Jane Scouten.
“Some of the songs were written as a direct result of our involvement in the arts and corrections program,” she said, adding one of her songs is an inmate’s poem set to music. “A lot of it is personal experience and just things that I’ve picked up eavesdropping.”
Four years ago, McRae and husband James Whitmire were invited to teach a creative writing course at the prison, the second oldest in the state.
They enjoyed the experience so much that they began hosting regular workshops at the facility.
“We’ve had incredible experiences and met some wonderful people and had some great times,” said McRae. “The art has really helped a lot of them come to terms with their decisions and where they are at in life. Some of the kids that we’ve been working with, it’s wonderful when you see their faces light up with things that they’ve actually written themselves.
“It surprises them with what they’re able to come up with.”
The experiences are peppered through McRae’s latest album, Shadow Trails, a 12-track CD released in September.
McRae will sing a range of songs from all seven albums this weekend, with stories ranging from people’s hardships to family.
“It’s about all different kinds of situations and people that have influenced my life,” she said. “There will be a lot of laughs and maybe a few tears. I’m really looking forward to it.”
McRae rose to fame as a member of the platinum-selling band Spirit of the West.
She started with the band in 1988, but in 1996 launched a solo career and has charted at folk and roots radio stations since.
The Vancouver Island-raised Canadian has called Nashville home since 2007, but she and her band tour Canada’s west frequently to cater to her fan base in Alberta, which she attributes to the support of CKUA Radio.
“I think that CKUA makes a really big difference in people’s awareness and connectivity as far as the music goes in Alberta,” she said. “I wish every province in the country had a CKUA. The DJs are so supportive of Canadian music and the roots musicians in particular. It enables us to come back here two or three or four times a year.”
Scouten also credits CKUA to the surge of folk and roots music in Alberta.
The west has been a big supporter of the international touring songwriter, who is returning with 20 performances during the next few weeks.
“We’ve been touring Alberta for the last few years,” she said. “That’s one of the places we started touring initially was B.C. and Alberta.”
To further suit her Alberta fan base, Scouten is learning traditional ranching songs from fellow folk singer and Calgary musicologist Mike Tod.
“He comes from a long line of Alberta ranchers,” she said. “He remembers his grandfather singing these traditional songs about ranching life.”
One story that really touched Scouten was about a man whose friends convinced him to be a rancher - a decision he regretted.
“I’m excited about this kind of music, but it takes a long time to dig it up,” she said. “There are a lot of songs that exist, but I’m waiting to find the ones that really speak to me. I’ve always been interested in historical songs.
“There was a time when I was completely obsessed with different kinds of eastern European music and even South American music for the folklore element.”
Scouten is the first to admit her musical tastes aren’t modern.
“I feel a lot of musicians end up regurgitating what they listen to and if they listen to something that isn’t in the mainstream you are not going to be writing something that’s not coming out in mass production,” she said. “In high school I was concerned with being a little bit edgier, not going with the flow. Maybe it’s just my personality.”
Scouten will also sing songs from her award-winning full-length album The Cape, released last year, with its range of honky-tonk to Cajun tunes.
She’s eager to perform in Turner Valley for the first time and share the stage with friend McRae.
“We’ve performed together before,” she said. “She’s as concerned with traditional music as I am. I feel like it’s getting back to the roots of what folk music is about through expression. Almost like a therapy feeling with being able to tell your story in a creative way and often dealing with trauma and heartache, which most folk music is going to touch on.”
Tickets to see Linda McRae and Sarah Jane Scouten perform cost $25 for adults, $10 for children and youngsters six years and under are free. They can be purchased at Coyote Moon Cantina & Espresso Bar in Turner Valley, Bluerock Gallery in Black Diamond, the Millarville General Store and Okotoks Country Florist.
For information go to beneaththearch.ca.
