Inspiration is never in short supply for Okotoks singer/songwriter Jennifer Fulton, and it’s no wonder.
With God by her side, a childhood spent on a rural Manitoba farm and having resided in six countries, material is always in abundance for the original artist with a gift for creating folk, rock, country, jazz and blues tunes.
“Every morning I start my day focusing,” she said. “First I try to renew my mind. I focus on God and his love for me and for mankind and I relax. Then I pick up my guitar and write a song.”
The songs flow effortlessly.
“I play something that makes me exited,” she said. “I’m looking for something cool or different. Then the fun part is finding a chorus or bridge that takes it somewhere, creates an atmosphere.”
The Okotoks artist is celebrating the release of On the Rise, her first album as an independent artist, with a concert at the Holy Cross Lutheran Church June 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Music is a passion that has been driving Fulton since she was a child.
She began writing at age 10 and by 16 she was singing professionally. Having joined Winnipeg dance party band, Whazitoooyah, and ska/reggae/dance cover band, The Beans, Fulton spent a year with each touring western Canada.
Always ready for an adventure, Fulton expanded her horizons and moved to Japan, where she played in the folk-rock band E-Yo.
She also lived for a time in Singapore, Brunei, Holland and Oman, where she sang in the jazz band, Freetime, before settling in Okotoks in 1999.
“I’ve lived all over the world in six different countries,” she said. “It gave me a sense of pioneering. I learned a lot of about difficult cultures and places.”
In Okotoks, Fulton became known as the singer/songwriter and bass player for the roots band Standing Stones. The band released two albums and toured Alberta and Saskatchewan during its existence from 2002 to 2015. The group created The Soul Café concert series at the Holy Cross Lutheran Church, giving lesser-known musicians in the area a venue to perform once a month.
“It wasn’t until Standing Stones fell apart that the songs just kept coming,” she said. “I could never stop playing music. I would start writing these songs in my quiet meditation time. I just decided they needed to get out there.”
The substitute teacher with the Christ the Redeemer School Division performed where she could, including Thursday evenings at Narrow Road Home, a women’s healing house for recovery in High River.
“Some of the songs I specifically wrote for those girls,” she said. “One girl took me aside and said, ‘You’ve got to publish these songs.’”
It was this statement that prompted Fulton to send record demos of five songs she recorded last summer to a Nashville producer, recommended by a friend, last winter.
“My whole world stopped,” she said. “I had this huge feeling that I just changed my life.”
She was right. Five days later, Fulton received a reply from the producer.
“He said, ‘Love your songs, love your lyrics, you got a voice. Write me two more,” she recalls. “I sat down, I wrote one and wrote another. They just came.”
She wrote On the Rise, about looking ahead and leaving worries behind, and Highway 83, named after the highway along her childhood farm about seizing the moment.
Fulton recorded 10 original songs in a Nashville studio over 10 days in January, then went to the Bahamas where she plays in an Americana folk-rock band, The Core, every winter before returning to Nashville to complete the album.
Fulton’s vocals for On the Rise are supported by drummer Charlie Morgan, of The Swampers who has recorded with Elton John and Trisha Yearwood, Jeff Taylor on keyboard, John Szetela on guitar and Brian Zonn on bass.
The album combines old folk-rock with blues, rock and country.
“It’s all the things I’ve always listened to,” Fulton said. “Americana is what they call it. I grew up in the prairies and I’m a combination of rock, country, blues and jazz.”
Fulton said that despite learning to play the piano as a child, she’s had no professional musical training. The closest she had was when she learned to the play bass with the Victory Church band in 2002.
“The guitar and drum players were incredible bass players - their first instrument was bass,” she said. “All they did every time I played was say do this and do that. It was really intense but I learned so much. They bossed me something terrible but I really improved.”
Fulton’s inspiration comes from music she’s listened to from her childhood into adulthood.
“I started off loving rock,” she said, adding the first song to influence her was It’s Judy’s Turn to Cry by Lesley Gore at just three years old. “I discovered country in the 80s - old country like Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette. I do a great version of Stand By Your Man. I like all of that music coming out of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.”
In addition to Fulton’s performance this weekend, the concert also includes High River singer/songwriters Vanessa Adrian, Kendra MacCarl and Wayne Corner. There is no cost to attend the concert and albums will be available for purchase.
To learn more about Jennifer Fulton go to Jennifer-fulton.com
