It’s no secret
The Secrets may well be on their way to the ‘Big Time’
The Secrets are going places and one of the places they’d like to play is Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. Their blended harmonies are showcased in their latest CD and a video just released for “Big Time.”
It’s the Friday afternoon of East Coast Music Week in St. John’s and The Secrets have got to be run ragged. Between a showcase here, a red carpet there and the scattered media appearance — not to mention an award nomination for Country Recording of the Year — they’re tired, but their energy levels don’t show it. In fact, their excitement is mesmerizing. Watching them prepare to record a video to accompany this story is a bit like watching three of your sisters get ready for a night out.
“Why didn’t you tell me my hair was sticking up behind?” asks one, looking at herself on her phone.
“I told you when we came in you looked like Alfalfa! That’s your cue to fix your hair,” responds another.
“I need some lip gloss,” the conversation continues.
It’s not the first time Terri Lynn Eddy, Renée Batten and Karla Pilgrim have fascinated someone with their banter. Exactly a year ago, the trio was in a recording studio in Nashville, laying down the vocals for their CD, “Break Even,” with a room full of Texas natives.
“We were so excited to be in the studio,” Eddy says. “We were talking amongst ourselves and we were talking really fast, like you do. Do you guys remember?”
“We realized it and we stopped and looked up and everyone was like, ‘Y’all got the craziest accent,’” finished Pilgrim, laughing. “I was like, ‘Oh really, and yours is not? Yes b’y.’”
The Secrets are enthralling on all counts. They’re each accomplished musicians in their own right — Eddy and Pilgrim as solo artists and Batten as a guitarist and member of a family band, with backgrounds ranging from trad to rock to gospel — and tight as a musical act, known for their incredible harmonies.
They have a comfortable stage presence and exude friendliness (what other band do you know with merch that includes handcrocheted hats embroidered with their name?), and they’re genuine — something Pilgrim says is both a blessing and a curse.
“Our vocals are the things people say stand out,” she responds when asked what kind of feedback she’s been hearing from audiences. “But I think it also has to do with us not being very good at faking things. We’re pretty real. We are who we are. I think sometimes it could be a bad thing, especially for me because most of the time I’ve got stuff coming out of my mouth like, ‘Oh crap, why did I just say that?’”
“No matter where we go, our accent never changes,” adds Eddy. “I’m not going to go to Toronto and get up on stage and speak proper English just because I’m there.”
Their speaking accents are straight-up rural Newfoundland, and they’re proud of it. Their singing accents are from a place a little more south, with a nailed- down country twang (Pilgrim admits she can’t sing any other way — even a Pat Benatar song comes out country).
It’s no wonder they felt so at home in Nashville, and got on perfectly with country star Tim McGraw, for whom they opened when he played three sold-out shows in St. John’s last year.
Batten, Eddy and Pilgrim met at College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville, when they were each studying music performance and recording.
Realizing the natural blend of their voices, they moved to St. John’s and started performing as a trio called Forte, doing mostly ’80s rock songs.
Pilgrim decided to leave to work on some country material, and Eddy and Batten continued on as the Terri Lynn Eddy band, as they had done previously. The band earned five MusicNL nominations for their album “Tonight” in 2008, and an ECMA nomination in 2009 for Sirius Satellite Radio Rock Album of the Year.
Pilgrim’s solo recording, “I’ll Think of You,” saw her win the 2009 MusicNL awards for Fe- male Artist of the Year and Country Artist of the Year, and earned her an ECMA nomination for Country Recording of the Year.
“When I released my album I needed some backup singers, so of course I got the girls, and it ended up coming right back around to how we started,” Pilgrim says.
“Break Even” was released early last summer and while it didn’t take home the ECMA trophy this year (the girls lost to veteran musician Jimmy Rankin), it’s been serving them well: it won the MusicNL Award for Country Recording of the Year last fall, and propelled the women on a summer tour which included mainstage performances at the World Pride Festival in Toronto and a spot at the Cavendish Beach Music Festival in P.E.I., as well as a gig opening for Serena Ryder during the George Street Festival, among other opportunities.
They’ve released a video for “Big Time,” the second single from the album, and on Tuesday The Secrets learned they had made it to the regional shortlist for CBC’s Searchlight competition.
The album features a collection of polished and radio-ready songs, including originals written by the trio, co-writes with Peter Daniel Newman, Chris Kirby and Tim Chaisson, and a bluegrass cover of the Avicii hit “Hey Brother.” There’s a hidden track, written by Eddy’s mother, Marg Eddy and a friend.
“It’s called ‘Strong Newfoundlanders’ and it’s all about when we lost our fishery,” Eddy explains. “Back in 1992, my mom was working in the fish plant, and it’s all about our moratorium. It’s a bit different from our country stuff, but we wanted to put it on the album. It’s part of our culture.”
The song was recorded, she says, due to the response the ladies get when they play the song on tour, especially outside the province.
The Secrets’ ultimate goal for the band, they say, is to make a full-time living from music, with the one dream of every country artist: to play onstage at the country music mecca, Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. They took a tour of it last year, and were thrilled, but intimidated, to stand in its famous circle of oak onstage.
“It was almost like I was a little afraid of it, like, ‘I’m here, but if I step on it, I’ve done it,’” Pilgrim says. “To get to play the Grand Ole Opry would be a really big deal.” Batten and Eddy agree. “If we ever got to play there,” Eddy says, laughing, “I’d be willing to die.”
Visit The Secrets online at www.thesecrets.ca to listen to their music, buy their CD and check out their show schedule.
“Our vocals are the things people say stand out. But I think it also has to do with us not being very good at faking things. We’re pretty real. We are who we are.”
Terri Lynn Eddy “Back in 1992, my mom was working in the fish plant, and it’s all about our moratorium. It’s a bit different from our country stuff, but we wanted to put it on the album. It’s part of our culture.”
Terri Lynn Eddy