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Jann Arden
Jack Singer Concert Hall
Jack Singer Concert Hall
Monday, November 23 - Monday, November 23 Tuesday, November 24 - Tuesday, November 24

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The irony is a palpable presence here, sitting down with local heroine Jann Arden at the Raw Bar in Hotel Arts. This very space was previously the infamous Westward Club in the Westward Inn, the venue that introduced Calgary audiences to rising stadium stars like Nirvana and Lenny Kravitz, not to mention CanCon classics like 54-40, The Tragically Hip and Arden herself. Walking to the meeting, First Street S.W. that is virtually unrecognizable from the Westward and Night Gallery heydays, it occurs to me that Arden is something of a Calgary constant, a rock in a prairie sea of change. On the eve of the release of her 10th studio album, Free, Arden remains a proud Calgarian, although she now technically resides outside the city on an acreage near Bragg Creek.

Arden acknowledges the profound changes to her hometown and admits that a lot has changed for her, as well. Four years ago, she parted ways, amiably, with her long-time guitarist and writing partner, Russell Broom. She also dissolved her self-management company and signed with heavy hitter Bruce Allen. After a quarter century of playing music publicly, Arden says she found herself “standing there on my own, going, ‘What am I gonna do? What do I want to do? Do I even want to do this?’”

“I just wasn’t writing,” she explains. “There was no crisis, there was no nothing. If anything, I was very disinterested and I didn’t even know if I wanted to keep going.”

An interim album of cover tunes, Uncover Me, fulfilled Arden’s contractual obligations to Universal, her record company for almost 20 years. It was also a huge commercial success and won her kudos from her peers, and from early inspirations like Janis Ian and Carly Simon. When Arden teamed up with fellow Calgarian Bruce Leitl to produce a record for Nashville group, SHeDAISY, her connection with the band lead to co-writing opportunities with Kristyn Osborn and Connie Harrington.

“The irony is that they flew up here to write with me,” Arden says. “We’d do kind of a writers’ retreat at my house, put a fire in the fireplace and natter around about ideas. It was humbling — it drove me crazy, to tell you the truth, because I wanted to race ahead and do this and that and they’d want to stop and put the brakes on and interject. People would have such great ideas. I had to rein myself in and not be narcissistic, and to think that my ideas were better.”

When the songs were all done and ready to record, Arden and Leitl continued their co-producing arrangement. Arden entrusted the mixing duties to Ed Cherney, the Nashville icon who produced her breakthrough album, Living Under June. Cherney sorted through the “hundreds of tracks” Leitl and Arden had put down, leaving hours of hard work on the proverbial cutting room floor.

“If you’re going to give someone a job ,you’ve got to let them do it,” says Arden of working with Cherney, admitting it was sometimes difficult. “I’d go in and I usually would cry because it was so great and he found the heart of it. He was very much a band member. I think he made Bruce Leitl and I sound really good.”

In person, Arden is centered, funny, warm and has an uncanny ability to make you feel special, like you are somehow part her success. As a result of unshouldering some of the responsibilities and rekindling her initial artistic passion, Arden says she has never been happier with a new relief.

“[It was] very freeing, hence the title,” she says. “I know the title is contrite and it’s a worn-out word, but for me, it’s just exactly how I felt. I mean, maybe we should have called it ‘Relief,’ but that doesn’t sound very poetic. ‘Relief’ sounds more like a gas bubble.”