Sharing their music
Meaghan Blanchard, Jim Bryson team up for concert at The Pourhouse in Charlottetown tonight
Today is a special day for Meaghan Blanchard.
The P.E.I. singer-songwriter will share the stage with Jim Bryson at The Pourhouse (above The Old Triangle) in Charlottetown at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s going to be an intimate night of song for song-sharing,” says Blanchard, adding the concert is special for a variety of reasons.
Bryson is the producer of her new CD, “The Great Escape”. The Ottawa resident has also produced albums for Oh Susanna and Ken Yates and toured with the Tragically Hip and Kathleen Edwards.
In addition, Bryson is a folk/ indie rock musician.
And they’re getting together for a night of stories and songs in support of their 2018 releases.
So, while Blanchard performs songs from her new album, Bryson will showcase material from his newly-released EP, “Tired of Waiting”.
“He’s an amazing performer and a great person. When we met we clicked, and I fell in love with his entire family,” she tells me.
It’s the latest gig in a busy year
of milestones for Blanchard that took her to the United Kingdom.
This summer she played at the Cambridge Folk Festival with the East Pointers, Vishten and Gordie MacKeeman and his Rhythm
Boys.
“It was an amazing, awesome experience.”
Then, this past week she released the music video/single, “The Great Escape”, to radio and online.
The video, filled with dreamy images and filmed by Millefiore Clarkes of One Thousand Flowers Productions, can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/ w at ch?v=ijo2Lj18thc
It was inspired by her move “up west” from Charlottetown, over a year ago.
“I followed my heart and my husband, Thomas Webb, and we moved closer to his family’s farm (just off the O’Leary roundabout on the North Cape Coastal Drive).”
The song is filled with feelings of fear and self-doubt as she settles into her new life.
“I did some soul-searching and realized that I wasn’t feeling very happy at all.”
At one point, things got so bad she had to “go away and be quiet” so she moved to the Mill River area with her husband and spent the whole summer “reading selfhelp books and doing more soulsearching”.
“So, the video and the whole album, which is about taking a leap of faith and not knowing that the other side looks like, comes from that.”
Blanchard also took a leap of faith and released her new CD in stages.
“It started on June 29 during a performance at the Indian River Festival. The place was so full. And everyone who was there got to take home copies of the CD.”
Tonight, she’s excited about introducing even more people to “The Great Escape” in Charlottetown.
“I’m looking forward to chatting about the record and the songs with folks that come by. I’m also excited to share the stage with Jim. He’s become a great friend.” Sally Cole is an entertainment writer with The Guardian. She welcomes comments about her column as well as suggestions for future columns from readers. She may be reached at sally.cole@TheGuardian.pe.ca or by phone at 902-629-6000, ext. 6054.