It’s a road many musicians take. Sing a few songs out loud in a café or on some sidewalk corner. Try to earn enough money to head into a recording studio. Make an album. Tour.
Blues-rock-roots artist Norine Braun knows the drill, but she started her career a little differently. The Alberta native, who has lived in Vancouver the past 25 years, began her career as a songwriter years before she started performing her own songs.
“I started recording in the mid-to-late ‘90s and it wasn’t until 2001 that I started performing live,” said Braun. “I was putting my work out to A&R companies and they asked me, ‘why aren’t you performing this.’ I had tremendous stage fright, but the more you do it, the better you get.”
Braun is glad she listened to that advice. About to perform at Vernon’s Gallery Vertigo Thursday, she has overcome adversity even greater than stage fright, which can be heard on her latest and ninth album Conventus The Eye of the Heart.
Described by the artist as a labour of love, the album, released in November, is a joyful listen despite it being born out of a year of struggle, and on a happier note, a union.
“I had colon cancer, which is now in remission. I had the surgery at the beginning of 2012. I also married my partner of 27 years. Her mom had dementia so (the album) has that depth of that mother/daughter relationship,” said Braun. “The songs are about being alive in the moment and connected, trusting what we have to face and having the courage to get through it. It’s a heavy subject matter, but I am grateful to have been able to get it out. I tend to be inspired by a catharsis or journey experience.”
That resonates well with Braun’s next project, which she just received a Canada Council grant to start composing.
Instead of being a story about her personal life, it’s about a subject she encountered five years ago, revolving around the story of a 19th century indigenous warrior woman who lived and died in the south-west Kootenays near Creston.
“I have a friend who is an archaeologist and he saw the story about her in old explorer/trapper journals. He said, ‘you should write a song about her.’ I decided that it would be perfect to do an album on her so I wrote a grant application. I didn’t get it when I first applied five years ago, so I decided to make the story more accessible to people.”
This time it worked, and Braun hopes to have the project completed in the near future.
But first, she has a vast songbook to bring to the stage, which also includes a Wednesday on the Wharf performance in Salmon Arm this week.
Touring as a trio, Braun (on guitar and vocals) will be joined by “Queen of the Trills” Alice Fraser on keys, and the electrifying Huggybear Leonard on ukulele, penny whistle and blues harp.
“We will be playing songs from the new album and from the previous ones, and will cover a wide range of music,” said Braun.
Doors to Thursday’s performance at Gallery Vertigo, #1-3001 31st St. (upstairs) open at 6:30 p.m. Showtime is from 7 to 9 p.m. Admission is $10 to $20 suggested donation.
Information on Braun and her work is available at www.norinebraun.com.
