Hi Folks,

I've made some lasting relationships with people I've met in a wilderness context.  When I travel through the bush, meeting other humans is significant.  A chance meeting on Shipyard Island at the junction of the Yukon and Teslin Rivers brought me to Denmark, led to my canoe trip on the Big Salmon River and inspired the song 'The Danes Have Landed' from my 2019 album Taken by Surprise.

'Taken by Surprise' is the title track of the new album.   As I was writing for this album I wanted to capture some of the surreal beauty that I experienced on the Lofoten Islands in Norway.  I travelled to the Lofoten's with my roommate from the Malangen Resort, where I worked during the winter of 2017 as a dog mushing guide.  We went in early April when our contracts had finished.  We rented a car and drove on narrow roads that arched up into bridges, connecting the small fishing villages perched on the rocks. 

‘Johnny’ is a love song.  It’s the tale of 2 people who love each other deeply, build a boat and head out to sea.  Their boat sinks and as Johnny lovingly coaches the protagonist to swim to shore, she hears the Sirens call and turns away.   When she looks back, Johnny is gone.  The song is sung from her perspective as she stands in front of an icy fjord, mourning her loss and blaming herself.  Oy. 

Kinda heavy, but its fictional – right?

I began the summer with a canoe trip on the Big Salmon river.  This was a personal trip with one of my best buds from Ontario as well as 2 dear friends from Denmark.  We laughed and laughed and saw many moose.  It was a cold trip with rapid water, crisp mornings and beautiful mountains. 

Hi Folks,

I have begun to record a new album of original material and I've launched a crowd-funding campaign to help raise the money for it.  My goal is to raise $8,500 in 30 days.  So far the campaign has been incredibly encouraging with letters of support accompanying contributions from friends, fans and family.  I feel grateful for the enthusiasm about this project and it is wonderful to have a team behind me, cheering me on as I dive into this endeavour.  The campaign is through Indiegogo and you can watch a cool video shot at the studio by Stephen Fuller Intermedia to learn more about the process and goals:

Intellectually, it makes sense that I would go through some culture shock upon my arrival in Kingston.  Nonetheless, I think that feeling out of place in my home town is much harder than feeling out of place in a foreign country.  Its difficult to describe this experience but it is something like walking around in a strange dream where everything seems wrong but everyone is acting like all is as it should be.

Bloggitty Blog Blog Blog.....

The big news is that my song 'Sing it to the Hills' won the political category for the Songs from the Heart songwriting competition through Folk Music Ontario!  I am humbled and delighted to receive this news and also wish to congratulate the winners in the other categories.  

Beyond that.....I've just moved to Kingston Ontario.  Ahhhh  Kingston.  I last lived here as a 20 yr. old, just before heading up to the Yukon for the first time.  I'm excited to spend the winter focusing on musical projects and reconnecting with the arts community here.  I will be working on my writing, offering guitar lessons and considering my creative objectives.  Its been interesting be backin my old stomping grounds and to walk past the street corner where I spent a winter busking to pay my rent.  

I've been back in Canada for a week now and am digesting all that has transpired; searching myself for signs of personal growth, clues of where to steer my heart next.  Here follows, the tale of a winter at 69 degrees on the coast of the Norwegian Sea...

Good 'eh Folks,

I recently turned 34 on a mountain by a glacier in Kluane National Park.  I usually write a reflective journal entry on my birthday but because we were back-packing and tenting, I left my 'morning pages' book at home to cut weight.  As I lay in my tent on the eve of my birthday I reflected on this past year and decided it was by far, one of my favourites thus far.

Greetings from the melting Canadian North.

I am in Whitehorse right now after spending the first month and a half of 2016 in Alberta and BC.  I headed west on the train from Toronto to Jasper at the beginning of January.  I played my way across the country and as always, reveled in the experience of soaking up the Canadian landscape from the comfort of the train.  I am reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' (Robert M Prisig) right now and one of the lines that stuck with me as I neared my destination was:  "Sometimes it is a little better to travel than to arrive."  It is my sense of adventure that drives my life, however, sometimes I find myself nervous of life's vicissitudes.  I wonder what the next chapter will bring, what will happen next.  A friend had told me that the Ice Field Parkway between Jasper and Lake Louise was one of his favourite drives in the world.  I planned my trip accordingly.  I spent a night in Japser and in the cold and dark of the following morning, boarded the bus that would take me down this road.