Preview
Heidi Little
Tuesday, August 19
Karma Local Arts House
With a new album on the go, a solo tour imminent and rave reviews for a two-person play she’s acting in at the Saskatoon Fringe Festival, singer/songwriter Heidi Little has a lot to be thankful for.
But sometimes it’s the little things that are most important. This explains why the young songwriter is exuberant not over her good press, nor over the chance to play live in the festival beer garden, but about something that happens for many of us every day – someone else made and served her breakfast at the quiet bed and breakfast lodging where she’s staying for the duration of the show.
"It’s been 10 years since someone made me breakfast!" the Regina-born songstress says. Little luxuries became rare as the single mother of a 10-year-old boy completed her bachelor of fine arts at the University of Regina while recording albums and gigging around the city. Her CD Live in a Shoebox, recorded with Jason Plumb at the Shoebox Theatre at the university and released a few years back, sold over 1000 copies. Not bad, considering her commitments to her son and education kept her from touring to promote it.
As Plumb prepares to release a solo album in September, Little is hopeful that she will soon be travelling the country as his opening act. But if that doesn’t happen, she can still look forward to her live show being aired on CBC’s "Gallery" in the autumn, finishing her own solo tour in September and to playing with the Heidi Little Band at the Western Canadian Music Awards on September 28, where Little plans to put her recently completed theatrical training to good use.
"I’m going to try and put the performing back in live music again. Ozzy Osbourne and Kiss and all those guys had a nice show, a great live show that was really stunning. So I’ve got a great lighting designer from the university who’s going to help me out with the show and I’m going to try doing a bit of a performance thing in between the music," Little says, adding that the band will provide ambient music during her delivery of the third person script.
Although Kiss and Ozzy may have influenced her take on performing, Little says her musical influences are more in line with her uncluttered, sweet sound, citing Joni Mitchell, Tori Amos, the Pixies, XTC and Heart as influences on her life and songs.
"I guess I am a songwriter who basically never writes when I’m in something – I write to get me out of something. So when you’re all depressed or something, a lot of songwriters write some melancholy song to deal with (it) … but generally, I write to get out and bring myself up.
"So the songs all relate back to the kind of situation that most of us have been through. My life is always a challenge so I’m always writing songs about standing up and moving on and learning lessons." |
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