Tanika Charles plays Citadel this week
Juno nominee left Alberta with little musical experience just a decade ago
Ten years ago, Tanika Charles found herself sitting on a farm about an hour east of Edmonton looking for the courage to end “an emotionally challenging relationship.” By her own admission, she tried to steal her ex-fiance’s truck “to get away,” but finally had to call her brother for a ride because she couldn’t drive a standard transmission.
“It’s all quite funny when you think about it,” she admits, “but when I was in it, it was stressful.”
After recouping with family in Edmonton, Charles kept going, driving across Canada to re-settle in Toronto where she hoped to start a career in some branch of show business, maybe comedy.
A decade later, the singer is being celebrated for Soul Run, an uptempo pop-soul number about that day she left the farm. Soul Run is also the title of Charles’ remarkable first full-length album. Released last spring, it’s nominated for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year in the Juno Awards, the only nod to a female performer in that category.
“There was a lot to talk about, a lot to release, but I feel like we’ve all experienced so much, why not talk about it if you’re comfortable enough,” Charles said.
“Everything that’s happened since is just a beautiful thing. I’m starting to reap the benefits of a lot of hard work, but it feels like a drop in a pond, like it all happened so fast.”
This week, Charles is excited to be performing the songs from Soul Run and her 2010 debut EP What?What?What? with her group The Wonderfuls in her hometown for the first time Thursday through Saturday at The Citadel’s Club Cabaret. Together since 2010, the band includes guitarist Mike Celia, bassist Marlon James, drummer Tony Nesbitt and Casey MQ on keyboards.
Charles had virtually no musical experience before she left Alberta in 2007, beyond playing trombone in high school band class (she’s taking it up again for fun). She was raised largely around her dad’s jazz record collection and singers like Stevie Wonder, Patti Labelle and Bjork, and used to sing harmonies to those tunes, but never imagined it would lead to this. Then, after the move east, she auditioned for work as a backing singer, working for two years with Bedouin Soundclash, and on later tours with Zaki Ibrahim, Macy Gray, Emmanuel Jal and others.
“It was comfortable. You don’t have to worry about all the details and getting the band together to rehearse, all the work. It taught me to be on time. But now, if I’m not performing with my band, I start feeling antsy and anxious.”
More recently, Charles was on stage touring with the music theatre production Freedom Singer, and while she enjoyed that opportunity, she’s clearly committed to furthering her own sounds and setting up some extended touring.
Soul Run should fix that. Created with a handful of producers and co-writers, her band and her own overdubbed backing vocals, it’s a surprisingly cohesive hybrid of contemporary soul with some great hooks and lively retro touches that echo Motown and classic 1960s soul.
Charles credits “some pretty great producers and good friends” from Soul Run, including key overseer Slakah The Beatchild and songwriting collaborators Ian James Jones and Robert Bolton, but she emphasizes the songs come from real life experience. While a few numbers, like Soul Run, the slinky Heavy, and the closing Darkness and the Dawn, take on difficult times, the overall tone of the album grabs you with its uplifting vibe. Whether or not she picks up a Juno on April 2, here’s guessing Tanika Charles is a name you’ll be hearing about more often.
Charles and The Wonderfuls play The Citadel’s Club Cabaret 8 p.m., Thursday through Saturday. Tickets run from $34 to $46, available at 780-425-1820 or online at citadeltheatre.com.
BLUES GUITAR TIMES TWO
It doesn’t happen much anymore, but there was a time when blues and jazz musicians used to square off on stage in friendly competitions. Those devious blues guitar aces, Edmonton’s Marshall Lawrence and Calgary’s John Rutherford, are back for a re-match of their Battle of the Blues at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Blue Chair Cafe (call 780-989-2861 or book online at bluechair.ca).
Over at Blues on Whyte, it’s blues guitar of another stripe when Guitarface goes on stage Monday and Tuesday night around 9 p.m. That’s the new collaboration between Gordie Matthews and Jim Guiboche, tackling a mix of originals and cover material and an even wider range of roots styles from blues to surf rock, with bassist Chris Brzezicki and drummer Emmet Van Etten laying down the grooves.
The Edmonton Blues Society hosts Ottawa’s multiple Maple Blues award-winners Murray Kinsley and Wicked Grin for their latest event 8 p.m. Saturday at the German Club (8310 Roper Rd.). Tickets are $10 for EBS members, $15 for guests from Blackbyrd Myoozik or Myhre’s Music, or by reservation at edmontonbluessociety.net.
R.I.P. JAMES COTTON
Blues fans are mourning the final exit of harmonica great and singer James Cotton, who died of pneumonia March 16 at age 81.
Cotton made his share of memorable visits here over the decades, but even if you never got to see him live, his music lives on through numerous classic recordings for Chess Records and other labels. One of the last of the blues giants, he was a shining testament to that lasting connection between the Mississippi Delta and post-war Chicago blues traditions.
As then 75-year-old Cotton told this scribe in 2012 ahead of his appearance at the Edmonton Blues Festival, “What else would I do? I ain’t ready to go fishin’ yet.”
Good fishing, Mr. C.