“Chameleon” from my latest record Painting With Tides was recently announced as a semi-finalist in the Nashville, USA based International Songwriting Competition. Other east coast semi-finalists and finalists include Joel Plaskett, Jimmy Rankin, Tanya Davis, The Keats, Andy Brown, Ryan McGrath, Keith Mullins, Steven Bowers, Molly Thomason, and The Hupman Brothers. Congrats everyone! Watch a video about the writing and recording of “Chameleon” and get a free download of the track here.

I’ll be in Toronto this week for two showcases during Canadian Music Fest. On Thursday night (March 10th) I’ll be at The Piston (937 Bloor St. West) for a 9:30pm set. This show is open to the public. Information on tickets and wristbands for my show at the festival is available here on my Canadian Music Fest Artist Profile. I’ll also be playing an industry showcase Saturday night on the Delta Hotels Music Nova Scotia Tiki Stage at the Rivoli. This annual stage has become known as one of the best industry events at Canadian Music Week – if you’re a conference delegate I hope we’ll see you down there for some of the best music (and seafood) Nova Scotia has to offer the world.

Finally, I just posted a new live video on Youtube. It’s a clip from my show at The Savoy in Glace Bay, Cape Breton during the Rawlins Cross “Heart Head Hands” tour this winter. Their whole band backs me up on this tune from Painting With Tides and the result gives me goosebumps! Many thanks to the boys for the great memories made on that tour.

As you may have heard, Painting With Tides was recently nominated for “Female Solo Recording of the Year” at the 2011 East Coast Music Awards.  I’m grateful to be recognized in this category alongside some of the strongest and best female artists in Atlantic Canada, many of which I’m honoured to call friends.

Of course, I couldn’t have made this record without the help of some more incredible Atlantic Canadians, some of whom are also up for ECMA Awards this year. Working with incredible artists like Joel Plaskett, Old Man Luedecke, Thom Swift, Carmel Mikol, David Bradshaw, Rosie MacKenzie, Geoff Arsenault, Brian Bourne, Kev Corbett, Phil Sedore and more while Charles Austin, Graeme Campbell, Dale Murray and J. Lapointe oversaw the technical aspects of recording, mixing and mastering, I was able to capture exactly what I was looking for. I owe everyone involved in creating and releasing this record a great deal of thanks.

Here’s a bit more about “The Making of Painting”, mostly in my own words. Use the links below to check out a series of video clips we shot during the recording of Painting With Tides:

The Recording Process
Painting With Tides
Chameleon
Roots
Rhythm of the Road

Special thanks to Warren Robertson and Scope Digital Media for shooting and editing these clips!