New Music Video!

All at once, I awake to the realization I have not yet posted my new video to my website. This should be something I should have done the same day I released said video, if not before! I guess it is true, I won’t shift into the Bright Eyes Bushy Business Tailed Artist anytime soon… Much to the chagrin of that part of me that lives in me. Yes, she is in there, but her voice seems to remain at whisper level. I hear her, I just talk above her most of the time. Well, this morning I awoke to a much louder version of Bushy Tailed Me, and thought, alright, alright, I will get to it, in the case that there are actually people who return to my website looking for something new, well, here it is …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfToMd32zrc

SIREN was written through a stream of consciousness, one of those songs that comes out in poetic form and quite quickly! This is rare for me, usually I take much longer and over analyze every word, but somehow, this one just arrived. And BOY! Did it ever! What a message. Not the most playful or the sweetest tunes I have written, that is for sure! Alas, here it is, out for the world to take on as their own and make of it what they will. I hope it will inspire you to want to be better, be better to yourselves, each other and oh so importantly Mother Earth. Step by step we can be the change!

This video was recorded in Wakefield, Quebec by David Irvine of Red Boler Videos. The theater I performed it in was also used in a photo shoot I did with David ten years earlier. Time flies when you are having fun!!

Enjoy the new music…

Here are the lyrics:

SIREN

Sitting around on this old couch, strumming my guitar up here in this old farmhouse

I have so many questions I don't know where to start, and I don't know if I even want to go there

See, it's 2019 and there's just so much plastic, filling up the sea, killing you, killing me

That six letter word has become too common, "Capital C" doesn't surprise me

Oooo Ooooo Oooo (etc)

I've lost all sensation, I don't get shocked, I can't be heard, I don't listen, nothing means a lot

Sensory deprivation, over medication, can't hear right, see right, do wrong

You take my joy, filling me up with gray, poisoning my food, taking my innocence away

Too many guns, they're not emptying themselves out, same hands could have pulled me up instead

Ooooo Oooo Ooo (etc)

Talking about triggers, even fireworks, unexpected fears, they even pop pills in your beer, gotta be careful, gotta stay on top, can't take a break, can't think, can't breathe, can't stop

Happiness is just a word on the tip of my tongue, climb another rung, get rich, get higher, go bigger, go better, spend a thousand bucks on a sweater

Made in China, made in Taiwan, made in India "made with Love"

Made in China, made in Taiwan, made in India "made with Blood"

We are all tuned out, tuned into our phones, building walls. protection, stone by stone

We don't talk anymore, I can't look into your eyes, won't get my hands dirty but I'll help you spread your lies

What garden? Where does food come from?

I live in cement, metal, glass and iron

Oooo, oooo oooo (etc)

The Truth And Nothing But The Truth

About a year ago, I called a psychic. Not a psychic who advertises, but rather a man who spends his time with his dogs in St. John’s, Newfoundland. A man, mostly unknown for his intense abilities, except to a rare few, and I was lucky to meet him, even if our encounter only lasted forty five minutes. Some of you started shaking your heads at the word psychic, I too am mostly a skeptic but the stuff he came out with! There was just no way he could have known the things he did. Something he said, (after he proved himself) was that I spend an awful lot of time smiling on the outside, when I am doing exactly the opposite on the inside. A lot of us probably do this, but this rang true to me. It seems like I am always wanting to be at the next place, doing the next thing while I am actually doing something I was (at one time) excited for. I find this strange!! So these days, I really am trying to live more in the moment, and do more of what I really want to do. Sometimes though, you have to go through stuff you do not want to do in order to find the right way, to get back on the right path.

I had to take a step back from music this past winter. It was not a very large step, to be sure, but it was the first time in my life, since I started making music in my twenties that i had such a notion to change focus. Believe me, as an artist with many faces, I have other things that keep me artistically busy. I like to paint, craft jewelry, write, create healing salves. oils and teas from the plants and flowers on our land. There are other ways that I can express myself and I started diving into those more. We watched a movie called “Maudie” and since seeing that, I have been painting our kitchen, colours and shapes and more, stroke by stroke (our kitchen is very small, so this is relatively easy!)

Because I took a step back, I was able to really look at my life as a musician, my life as a singer, my life as a songwriter, touring troubadour, booker, manager, guitarist, and so much more, ME as a performing artist from a bit more of an outside perspective (or so I thought.) Ultimately I was forced to ask myself, why, why do it at all?

You see, a strange reality came into view. I was forgetting the wise words of Keith Urban (yes, I was given a small window of time with him to ask him some questions, once upon a time) Keith said that we must always remember we have our very own path to travel, to stay true to it and not try to get on someone else’s, that our path matters just as much as the next person’s (or something like that.) In February, I was in the throws of a HUGE music festival, called Folk Alliance International, where thousands of people in the music industry come together searching out each other, over the course of five days, in a hotel with five or six floors dedicating every room to live music, workshops, or panels, talks, etc etc. A whirlwind of sights and sounds (see my last blog about it, I found some EXCEPTIONAL new talent to add to my roster of sound.) It was all extremely exciting, but left me feeling like I wasn’t good enough. (I am good enough, I have been working at my musical craft for over fifteen years and when you work at something that long, you simply get better, it is what it is, ego aside.) But I am not good enough within some of the aspects of what I do… I do not have a team, I never check my plays, I don’t know much about what is happening on my Itunes, or Spotify. I just get my music up and out but do not really know what to do after that. (Yes, I have a Spotify channel as well as a Bandcamp platform and a Soundcloud, a Website, two Facebooks, a Twitter and an Instagram, PLUS I like creating music, and learning more about my guitar and what IT can do. There are just so many things we must take care of in the industry that have nothing to do with music. So far, I have few connections with the right folks who can help me get my music played/heard anywhere aside from a few radio stations, (how amazing it would be to get a song of mine on a show I Love.) I can not tell you how many people have come up to me after a show with a “Why haven’t I heard of you yet? I thought by attending this festival I might make some contacts and learn a few (more) things. Instead it made me focus on what I did not know, what I did not have, what every one else’s path looked like. I stayed in this perpetual place of “What is it all for?” for quite some time. After what was supposed to be a life changing event, for the better, it took awhile to see it for what it really was… a life changing event for the better! Some of you may be reading this and you might be thinking “Well. you simply can not have expectations.” But when you spend countless hours honing your craft, and countless dollars trying to get it out there, there simply IS a seed (or three) of hope planted within every musical endeavour that I am a part of.

So, I was down, and questioning it all. I did not even look at my guitar, but still, out on my hikes in the forest, I was writing lyrics and still every morning I awoke with a song in my head. The Universe was giving me signs that I really had no choice, that music is and will be flowing through my blood, and I simply can not (snaps fingers) stop it. I might press pause on the outside world of Music Industry, but the inside world is full of song colour and creative ideas. Once I put my ego aside, there was no more question, one can not silence the soul’s call, and for this I am eternally grateful.

Apologies for not keeping up to date with my gig dates over here on my website but please follow the links to my other sites where you will find out about my next concerts or email me at contact@lindsayferguson dot com…

Here is a poster I created, Lovingly, for a show that I KNOW I will be in the moment for, as it will happen in one of my favourite music venues of all time, The Ship Pub in St. John’s, Newfoundland (where I bought my first guitar those many, many moons ago!)

Poster I painted for my our show in St. John’s!

I will continue to plug away, finding my own way into the hearts of you, through the one I wear on my sleeve. Ultimately this pause gave me new insight, that the music is also for me, not just for you, and I am delighted to have such a gift and happy to have learned that it is NOT a need to share, but rather, a want. The connection we have while I am in full swing of song and you are in full swing of the feel and sounds, that is what it is all about. Also, absolutely nothing beats the feeling of putting the finishing touches on a new song (I JUST finished writing one yesterday!!!) So, I continue to sing and all I can ask is that you will continue to feel those vibes and that we can have that, together.

Seventeen WOWS in A Sea of Sound @ Folk Alliance International 2019

For four days and four nights, Folk Alliance International stormed the Fairmont Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and I was there. You couldn’t help but to experience all the feels; the highs, the lows, ultimately ensconced in a mix of awe, chaos, spirit and crazy.

Imagine music rooms, set up for performances from the Lobby of the hotel through to the fifth floor. Musicians attending from all over the world, playing Official Showcases from 4pm and Private Showcases from 10pm through to until 3:30am. Music for almost twelve hours, non-stop, for four days, nights (and mornings.) Close to two hundred concerts happening at any given time. If your imagination is overwhelmed at the thought, and your heart is palpitating just a little, then you are on the right track.

Last Spring at Canadian Music Week, the seed was planted to attend FAI 2019 in Montreal. This outstanding (if a little overwhelming) music conference is usually held in The United States, so when I found out that Canada would be its 2019 home, I jumped at the chance to be there.

Thanks to Scott Doubt for the photos!

After a lengthy application process, with hopes to be given an opportunity to play an Official Showcase, I would be informed with a polite no. So instead I applied as a First Timer and was even awarded a scholarship to help with the registration fee. I sent out a tonne of emails, filling out more applications for a variety of Non Official/Private Showcases, to which I would recieve a handful of “Yes’s” YES! We music creators/bookers/managers LOVE a Yes. So there it was, a seed sprouted!

I have attended a variety of Music Festivals/Conferences but nothing could ever prepare a person for what could happen. Heading into something like this, you need an open heart, a fierce drive and a thick skin. FAI developed an app so we could attempt at making a schedule, a schedule for your daily workshops, panels, talks, inteviews etc and a schedule for performances. Sticking to the day time plan wasn’t so hard (on very little sleep, I might add) but sticking to the performance choices previously made was, at the best of times, quite difficult! One could very easily be swayed into a room by the sound of a harp, a voice, a familiar face or a fiddle (to name a few.) Great surprises are so rare it seems, but not at Folk Alliance International. There were surprises around every corner.

Here are my TOP SEVENTEEN picks, in no particular order, and please excuse the Ipad photos (I have now learned that snapping shots with an IPAD is SO uncool. Ha!)

1) Sara Ajnnak is a Sami artist from Sweden. I happened upon her in a tiny hotel room, her voice called me in and put a spell on me, taking me across the hills of the North, along cold, fresh rivers into a future of quiet beauty. I was fortunate enough to catch both a Private Showcase and an Official one.

Sara_Ajnnak

2) Gangstagrass, you really could not have come up with a better name for this American Bluegrass meets Hip Hop combination of sound. Their music beckoned me into a few different rooms, PACKED rooms, touching on all the senses….

Gangstagrass

3) Harrow Fair is a BOMBPROOF duo based in Toronto, Ontario. I was in complete awe, mesmerized by their musical prowess. Just WOW.

Harrow Fair

4) Alash Ensemble is a trio of throat singers from The Republic of Tuva. Tuvan Throat Singers who will blow your mind into a million pieces. #icanteven

Alash Ensemble

5) Ordinary Elephant is a country/folk duo out of Texas, now living across The States in a tiny home on wheels with their dogs. This music is brutal honest truth about what it means to be alive in this crazy world. Harmonies, Love and truth, cuts right to the heart.

Ordinary Elephant

6) Vishten is a spell binding “make you wanna dance” trio from Prince Edward Island & The Magdalin Islands, an Acadian trio who I fell in Love with.

Vishten

7) The Way Down Wanderers are a five piece Bluegrass/Pop band out of Illinois. Their subtle playing and sweet, playful stage presence captivated me in such a way that I could not look away (if but for a moment to snap this photo.)

The Way Down Wanderers

8) Mama Mihirangi & The Mareikura were an outstanding trio of fierce, firey and friendly women from New Zealand. What a distance for this profound trio of Maori women to make, all the way to Montreal, Canada. I was blown away (to tears at some points) with their EPIC performance featuring soulfire, dance and siren sounds.

Mama Mihirangi & the Mareikura

9) BLISK is a quartet of Balkan singers from Eastern Europe. Their harmonies and traditional songs kept me entranced, their dancing and traditional garb and instruments make this Toronto based band stand out in the best of ways.

Blisk (sorry could not get all four ladies into one shot!)

10) Good Lovelies have been a favourite of mine for some time, but I had not the chance to see them live for many years. How lucky I was to have them perform in a cozy hotel room (right before me in the “Ladies In Waiting” Private Showcase room) Their music reminds me of honey, campfires, Canada and great lakes.

Good Lovelies

11) The Dardenelles are one of my favourite traditional Irish/Newfoundland bands from Newfoundland, Canada. I have all their records and LOVE their passionate playing and up beat sounds.

The Dardenelles

12) Vox Sambou is a collective of talented musicians based in Montreal, Canada. Their lively performance had the audience on its feet dancing to the large sounds of this amazing up beat group.

Vox Sambou

13) Nick Sherman in an Indigenous artist based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario from Sioux Lookout. His crafted songs take you for a ride through the life and times of a Dad on the road, a soul seeking troubadour who sings with a mighty set of vocal cords.

Nick Sherman

14) Joe Bel is a French Chanteuse who took my breath away. I was so happy to randomly find yet another amazing songstress. My cup runneth over!!! Love!!!

Joe Bel

15) Red Moon Road has also been a favourite of mine since I heard this soulful trio of talent, from Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada many moons ago…. I Love their harmonies and how they trade off songs, songs which take you to another time and place. Real music.

Red Moon Road

16) Lisa Canny is an Irish music maker from County Mayo. She plays a plethora of instruments but can really steal you away with her Harp playing. Her voice is also killer. I was very happy to stumble into her performance, a lucky find, indeed!

Lisa Canny

17) Jackie Venson is a riveting master of music, hailing from Texas. There are no real words to stick on this power force of a musician. I was very lucky to find her on my way to someone else. Sorry to that other person but MAN do I want to do better since hearing her.

Jackie Venson

So there they are. I could not possibly pare my top picks down any further, as it is, I am missing way more greats on this list. To say I am grateful and honoured to have been privvy to such a MASSIVE event doesn´t cut it. What a whirlwind of sights and sounds, a blast of Musical Chaos that will keep me fueled for quite some time. It was pure excitement and a true please to be among such wonders. Hopefully you can take some time out of your busy schedules and have a listen to some of these new introductions?? Have fun while you are at it, I know I will.

My Life In Pictures

We have floated on over into Autumn, and Summer, as per usual, has flown. For any readers who have visited from time to time for a new blog, apologies to you and hopefully you haven’t given up completely! This past weekend I shared a show with a new found music maker from England, living in Germany, Ben Meech. Thanks for the kind words, Ben. Sometimes all it takes is someone saying “Go for it! I will read your blog!” .

So here I am once again, after many moons and MANY life experiences, it’s hard to know where to start! Many times I thought of writing about our tour through the United Kingdom (mostly Scotland) but I was waiting for the wonderful Canadian musical website “Roots Music Canada” to post the blog I wrote for them, “A Soul Full-filling Tour in Scotland” which you can read here.

We spent six weeks on the road, driving through the U.K in a 1996 Mitsubishi which we Lovingly named “Gypsy Heart” or Gypsy, for short. I recommend this journey for any and all. There is just SO much beauty around every corner, I had NO IDEA the majestic beauty of Scotland. It simply blew my mind…..

Loch An Eilein Castle, just outside of Aviemore, Scotland

We did a LOT of wild camping, and saw a LOT of castles! Loch An Eilein Castle, (which I could swim to) is just outside the town of Aviemore (which reminded me a little of Banff, Canada.) I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Speysound, a local (and wonderful! community radio station) while there.

We toured a LOT of the country and one of our destinations was Urquart Castle, on Loch Ness. Once upon a time this castle was inhabited by the Grant family (my mother’s side are the Grant’s) so naturally we had to go have a tour!

Naturally, I had a swim in Loch Ness it was a MUST!! So coooold, but refreshing. No Nessie sightings, either.

Living on the road and camping in a tiny home on wheels, I might just have to devote an entire blog to just that subject but if there is any desire at all to do such a thing, I say go for it. We had a solar panel, which helped immensely, charging our Ipad/Iphone and the wee cooler (fridge) we took along.

We played a good few shows and really got to see the ins and outs of Scotland (again, to read more and look at more photos, click on the link above re: Scotland Blog on Roots Music Canada.) Of course we also had to take in a Whiskey Tour, which lead us to Talisker, the Lovely distillery on the banks of Loch Harbort, on the Isle of Skye. What a spot and I had no idea how it all went down. Yummy stuff!

Talisker Distillery

Also, we climbed a mountain. My first ever mountain! It was pretty much the hardest physical thing I have ever done. At the time I thought “GET ME OFFA THIS THING!” And I was cursing life. But the next day, as we were driving away from the area, I saw that majestic mountain from a whole new perspective and it got me thinking that I might even try doing another one sometime. Ben Hope…. A gorgeous rock!

Holding on for dear life at the top of Ben Hope 937metres

Moving on from that EPIC adventure in Scotland, and onto some great news…

After months of waiting, I finally received a few boxes of freshly pressed brand new CD’s. A lot goes into the manufacturing side, not to mention the performance side! There were NERVES let me tell you. The past winter, I had a concert in the city of Bern with a fellow (wonderful!) songwriter Peter Finc, who happens to also record LIVE SHOWS! Double whammy of goodness… So we recorded this “Live In Bern” project And I am happy with the way it turned out, even if a few of my nerves are present… You can order a copy from ME personally and I will send it to you snail mail style. I am not releasing this one online. Just shoot me an email lindsay@lindsayferguson.com

Onto deliciousness… We are into the third year now, of having a garden/food forest. It has been so generous this year. Every day heading outside with a basket, collecting free organic, no pesticides, food grown from seeds. It blows my mind. My husband is more the green thumb but slowly I am getting into it. I SURE Love to cook and prepare the stuff. Small miracles in the back yard…

Calendula and Green Onions

Oven roasted potatoes and beets from our garden

The last weekend of Summer, 2018 was a goodie. I had the opportunity to sing in Osogna, Ticino, Switzerland. It is the Italian part of Switzerland, you have to cross the Gotthard pass (mountain) to get there. What a weekend of beauty. From mountain water pools, to balmy nights eating figs to glaciers…

I welcome Autumn. It is my favourite time of year. I look forward to the nights geting longer, making pumpkin soup, eating by candlelight, wrapping up in sweaters and scarves. Hikes through the forest in the Fall, there is nothing like it! I am happy for it’s arrival and that I too, am here to enjoy it.