Houghton performing Coldsnap show
Isabelle Houghton’s limelight isn’t fading, it’s just going through a coldsnap.
The 10-year-old singer was the winner of this past summer’s Limelight Quest competition, and part of the reward is a showcase concert at the Coldsnap Music Festival. She will open for established acts The Eisenhauers and James Hill & Anne Janelle on Sunday night. She’s the youngest act on the whole festival’s marquee and she is the youngest winner in Limelight’s history.
“I’m feeling kind of anxious and nervous, but at the same time also thrilled to be performing at such an amazing event,” said Houghton. “It’s a special occasion so I have been working on a song I wrote myself. I’m going to try to perform it at Coldsnap.”
Her articulation is not isolated.
She routinely projects an old soul out of her child’s form. Her song choices that won her Limelight Quest and continue to be the backbone of her setlist are tunes like the Dolly Parton classic Jolene and the airy folk-pop anthem Riptide by Vance Joy.
She said she’s beefing up the Coldsnap show with Ring of Fire and Sea of Heartbreak. Huh? Where does a 10-year-old get to hear the likes of Johnny Cash and Don Gibson, let alone gravitate to that shade of gold?
Houghton’s equally assertive mother Meghan Buehler said that came from a number of sources. Houghton’s grand- father Steve Houghton was one, with his collection of guitars he’d play for his granddaughter. Also big on the influence scale was Big Bill Roberts, a family friend who also played a lot of music in their presence.
Those two played the early soundtrack of Houghton’s life, and were larger than life in her eyes. But it was a pair of more grassroots life-leaders who got her to lay hands on her first instruments.
First it was Dan Scott and then it was Chris Goodwin. Both were her teachers at Spruceland Traditional Elementary School.
“Mr. Scott was my Kindergarten teacher. He was always really fun and finished off each day playing the ukulele and making us feel happy,” said Houghton. She and a friend approached Scott about starting a ukulele club. He agreed and gave up his own break time at school to teach them the instrument even though it was often only them in the club.
Her school has a rare thing in the modern school contect: a music program. “It’s an amazing program. It’s so good for the school and for me,” said Houghton. That’s where Goodwin comes in. As the STEM music teacher, he took Houghton’s skills to new levels and came to Limelight Quest sessions to support his student.
“If it weren’t for Mr. Scott and Mr. Goodwin, she just wouldn’t be where she is today. I can’t image who she’d be if she didn’t have music, it’s just such a big part of who she is,” said Buehler.
There’s a school play in the works at Spruceland and it includes a ukulele part that Houghton gets to play. It may not be Massey Hall, but it’s a stage and it’s rehearsals and it’s an audience.
“It’ll help me with my confidence,” Houghton said.
“I get the jitters back stage, but once I start singing it all goes away and I feel better.”
Her mother wasn’t sure her little girl would be open to the Limelight Quest competition, with its rounds of elimination and grand finale at the BC Northern Exhibition, but she casually brought it to Houghton’s attention and she launched herself at the opportunity.
“I told her yes, of course I wanted to do it, this was what I’d been waiting for,” Houghton said.
“I knew I probably wouldn’t win, the older performers had so much more practice, but I knew I could enter again next year and even if I just got to place, that would be really exciting, and you never know what can happen. I just new it would be a great experience.”
She’s clearly happy with the small things, like the chance to play a halfhour set at the Festival of Trees this winter. The allure of that gig for her was the free ticket to walk around the event and marvel at the amazing charity trees.
Now she gets to perform with two acts that are renowned for their acoustic skills, and she’s especially excited to meet James Hill who, like her, is a ukulele specialist.
The three-band bill happens at the Prince George Playhouse.
For a full schedule of the Coldsnap festival visit