Slean crosses country with Huron Carole tour
The Huron Carole When: Monday, 8 p.m. Where: Jubilee Auditorium Tickets: $40 to $60 plus service charges at Ticketmaster
By land and maybe even by sea, Sarah Slean will be crossing the country in her first Huron Carole tour.
“I bought myself a parka,” the singer-songwriter said recently from her home in Montreal. “I’m so delighted to have been invited.”
Tom Jackson’s seasonal campaign to help the nation’s food banks returns to Edmonton on Monday with a performance at the Jube.
Slean isn’t quite sure why she was chosen. “That’s the nice thing about my job. I wake up and I don’t know what’s going to be in my inbox.”
Although she’s a Huron rookie, Slean actually hosted her own holiday fundraising concert with special guests in Toronto for half a dozen years, so the feeling is familiar.
Family togetherness and Christmas music were the highlights of the season when Slean was growing up. Today, it’s the break from the chaos that brings relief.
“It’s finally time to stop, and it’s cold out, so people are drawn together. It’s being with people you love.”
Slean will sing three old favourites and one of her own songs. But she isn’t giving details — that would be like opening the presents before the 25th.
In addition to helping a good cause, the show is an appetizer for Slean fans because she will tour this winter and spring with her recent album Sea, part of her ambitious double album Land & Sea.
An artist through and through — including visual works — Slean is unique in her ability to join classical and pop elements in her songwriting. She at first thought it would be impossible to perform the meticulously orchestrated Sea in a live setting. But she plans to hire local symphony players to bolster her own band in each city.
“When you dream, it’s very surprising how the universe knocks itself out to orchestrate things for you,” she says.