Blue Jay Sessions makes comeback
Blue Jay Sessions return with outdoor shows and new charity single
For Mariya Stokes, there was a thin silver lining to her life as a working musician operating under pandemic rules these past 16 months.
Like all performers used to a busy schedule, having her gigs more or less evaporate for most of 2020 and into 2021 was certainly a bummer.
But the extra time also proved handy for a singer-songwriter who likes to collaborate and technology allowed her to experiment with a new group of creative cohorts.
“I got to co-write with a lot of folks from different parts of the world that usually wouldn't collaborate, just simply because so much of the co-writing I've done was in person,” she says. “While it was really a tough time, there were some interesting opportunities that came out of it where I was able to create over different mediums and with different people than I usually would.”
That included songwriters in Canada and the U.S. who live in a similar musical neighbourhood as the Calgary-based Stokes, whose bio describes her output as the love-child between neotraditional country singer Kacey Musgraves and R&B soul-pop singer Meghan Trainor.
But she also collaborated with Tom Lewis, a U.k.-based EDM producer on a DJ project called Lost You. “It was really cool, we were able to write some great EDM tracks. It was really all over the world. We were writing with people from the States. The cool thing is that basically the entire music industry had a little too much time on its hands and it was cool to get to write over Zoom.”
So Stokes is a perfect candidate for the returning Blue Jay Sessions that kicks off July 7, the first for the Calgary-based, multi-night series in 10 months. Since starting in 2019, the series has celebrated music and food with lineups that celebrate diversity and inclusion. But it's also a celebration of the song, with writers taking turns offering their tunes and the stories behind them.
Stokes began her performing career early. Her parents owned the Stavely Hotel when she was growing up in small-town Alberta, roughly an hour's drive from Calgary. At eight years old, she would sit on the steps of her parent's bar and watch the bands. Occasionally they would pull her on stage to sing. So performance has always been a big part of her career. But the sessions also tend to attract audiences who are interested in the art of songwriting.
“I haven't played out in a few months,” says Stoves, who has released four singles and is working on a full-length album. “With the Blue Jay Sessions, what is really cool about it is that while I could show up and play a song that I already released but it's unique in that we have a listening audience that is there to listen to an artist's song.
“So it's a chance to try out some of these songs that I might put on a record that nobody has heard yet. I might do one or two of my own that people know, but also I'm going to try out different stuff. A lot of the time, those writers rounds in the Blue Jay Sessions help you figure out which songs are worth recording because the audience feedback you get in a room like that is incredible. And it's an opportunity for the audience to have a hand in what the artists are going to do next.”
Stokes, who will be performing as part of the July 10 sessions, was among the handful of songwriters involved in the inaugural sessions in September of 2019 at the Oak Tree Tavern.
Founded by Dan Clapson, a Calgary-based food writer and music promoter, the sessions went virtual through most of the pandemic. The return will see 24 musicians perform over four nights from July 7 to 10 at an outdoor stage adjacent to Ill-fated Kustoms in the Manchester industrial area.
The current sessions will feature artists such as British Columbia's Kristin Carter, Edmonton's D'orjay The Singing Shaman, Calgary artists Matt Blais, duo As High As We Go, Justine Vandergrift and Jess Knights and Nehiyaw singer Wyatt C. Louis. There will be two sessions per night.
The Blue Jay Sessions will also release a new single to all streaming services on July 7 to benefit Skipping Stone, a Calgary-based organization that supports trans and gender-diverse youth and their families. Twenty singers from across Canada, including Stokes, lent their voice to the single, a cover of Amanda Marshall's Sitting on Top of the World. The studio band was also made up of session alumni, including Blais, Bradi Sidoryk and Krista Wodelet of Calgary's Nice Horse and Devin Cooper.
It's the second charity single put out under the Blue Jay Sessions banner after last summer's cover of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now.
It all plays off of a distinct community vibe that the sessions and their audiences have developed, which may be one of the reasons that those involved have taken to calling themselves the “Blue Jay fam.” Clapson says the idea is to form a positive community among welcoming, engaged songwriters and storytellers in Western Canada.
“It's important to make sure we are a welcoming, safe space,” he says. “There are a lot of different musicians, whether they have an Indigenous background or part of the LGBTQ community. Some of the people aren't always comfortable with performing, especially in an intimate setting where they are meant to explain a story behind a song. That can be inhibiting for some people, especially in the country realm when sometimes events are not as diverse as other types of musical events.
“Creating the community or Blue Jay fam makes people feel it's something they are all a part of.”
The Blue Jay Sessions help you figure out which songs are worth recording because the audience feedback you get in a room like that is incredible.