Kelowna musician Calum Hughes has a new album out that should resonate with those participating in this weekend’s Relay for Life at Polson Park.
Two of the songs, And That’s OK With Me, the title track off his new CD, and If I Sing Loud Enough, are both empowering and emotional rock ballads which Hughes recently performed at the Independent Canadian Music Showcase at Vernon’s Powerhouse Theatre.
And they will be some of the tunes he performs when he kicks off the night of entertainment at the Canadian Cancer Society event.
Approximately 50 teams, and more than 500 people, will be walking, jogging and dancing their way around Polson Park’s track for 12 hours, with musicians, entertainers and activities to help them keep going.
As the fiddler and primary songwriter with well-known Kelowna Celtic band Kinship, which also features his brothers, Frank and Andrew, Hughes has been breaking out on his own for a while now.
“Kinship is still going, but we now mostly play for big events like St. Patrick’s Day,” said Hughes, who remembers performing in Vernon with the band at the long defunct Restoration Music Festival, as well as at a big music festival at O’Keefe Ranch in 2000, as well as at a Canada Day event in Polson Park.
This is a way for Hughes to give back to the community by volunteering to perform at Relay for Life, however, he also has his personal reasons.
“I have a friend who ran in the Kelowna Relay for Life last year. She survived breast cancer,” said Hughes. “I really respect the integrity behind the whole event: people coming together in support of fighting cancer and in remembrance of a loved one. That’s why I jumped on board.”
With Kinship winning Album of the Year at the 2010 B.C. Interior Music Awards for its third CD, Boneshaker, Hughes has been back in the studio with his guitar to record his debut solo effort, And That’s OK With Me, which also has a local connection.
The single, If I Sing Loud Enough, features Vernon-based choir, the Chorealis Music Ensemble, singing background on the chorus, he said.
Three of the album’s songs were recorded at Big Audio Studio at McKinley Landing in Kelowna, and the other tracks were recorded at The Warehouse (the Vancouver recording studio co-owned by Bryan Adams) with award-winning producer Vince Ditrich (also the drummer with Spirit of the West.)
Hughes is currently in talks with HMP and Recording Development Inc. for a development deal.
“It’s pretty exciting. There’s a lot happening right now,” he said. “I also have 320 Entertainment, who own a radio station in Pennsylvania, playing my song like crazy down there. They will be hosting an event for juvenile diabetes, and they are planning to fly us down there for it.”
Hughes has also been invited to partake in the upcoming Nashville Songwriting Festival.
However, he is first gearing up to take the Relay for Life stage Saturday at 6:10 p.m. to kick off the night’s musical entertainment.
Hughes will be donating 50 per cent of the sales of his CD, as well as any merchandise, from the night to the Canadian Cancer Society.
(More information is available at www.calumhughes.ca or check out his Facebook page at facebook.com/calumhughesmusic).
The Relay for Life starts at 6 p.m. Saturday with the victory lap featuring cancer survivors led by the Trinity Drummers.
Also performing will be singer Leah West (this year’s People Choice winner at the B.C. Interior Music Awards) at 7:30 p.m., guitarist Tom Stinson at 8:20 p.m., and singers Tanya Lipscomb, Sherie Erickson and Kailee Duggan, who will take the stage at 9 p.m. before the luminaries are lit around the track at 9:45.
Taking the stage at 10 p.m. will be guitarist Dave Anthony, followed by singer-songwriter Raquel Warchol at 11 p.m. Juno-award winner Jon Buller and his band will perform at midnight, followed by 2010 Our Kids Have Talent top 10 finalist Jeff Piatelli, and local bands Disengaged and Know Tomorrow performing in the wee hours of the morning Sunday.
More information on the event is available at www.relayforlife.ca.
