Alberta’s own Jann Arden will be making a Red Deer stop on her current tour later this month.
She plays the Memorial Centre on March 25th.
“It’s a lot of music and it’s very conversational - the set is very different and the way we are approaching the songs - we bring a lot of them down and we talk a lot about the song writing - it is really funny as well,” she said about the show.
Arden is a Canadian born singer, songwriter, broadcaster and author. The much celebrated multi-platinum, award-winning artist catapulted onto the Canadian music scene in 1993 with the release of her debut album Time For Mercy featuring the hit single, I Would Die For You. A year later with Living Under June, she would have her career breakout hit Insensitive that would solidify her position in the music world.
Arden has released 12 albums with 19 Top 10 singles. Her most recent recording, Everything Almost was released in 2014. With Grammy Award winning producer Bob Rock behind the console, the 11-track disc is considered to be amongst Arden’s finest work – progressive, yet retaining the magic that is distinctly Jann. In her career to date she has received eight Juno Awards including Female Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year and in 1997 she hosted the awards ceremony. Arden has again been nominated for a Juno this year for Adult Contemporary Album Of The Year for A Jann Arden Christmas. The awards show takes place in Calgary April 3rd.
“My music is about personal consumption and about a personal experience. It’s about someone spending time in the car driving or sitting in their house having coffee or locked in their bedroom because they are inconsolable otherwise and putting me on repeat,” said Arden. “That to me has been a real triumph within my career - I certainly didn’t expect to be that - I didn’t know what I would be.
“I love music - I think it’s the common denominator with all of humanity. We all have a story and we all have a soundtrack to our lives. We all have songs that uncover memories whether they are good, bad or indifferent or about old relationships, losing a loved one, a happy time or a first concert,” she added. “Music really unifies - it rarely divides people.”
Music was a part of Arden’s life early on when she lived in a rural part of southern Alberta.
“When we grew up out here we went to a really small school - there was only 40 kids. My mom tried to drive as around as much as she could to all these sports things. I joined up for hockey because there wasn’t a lot of options out there and she went and took guitar lessons - I guess I was about 11-years-old - it coincided with the same time the hockey practice was on,” said Arden. “She dragged home this giant Yamaha guitar and I just became fascinated with it. It was far too big for me to even get under my arm. I couldn’t even get my arm over the side of the guitar - that is how little I was. I just learned where to put my fingers on the little dots and the chart they showed you - I never learned how to read music.
“Really within a few months after learning a few chords, I started writing. I never looked back. It’s almost like when you discover something very secret - I felt like I was part of a secret society.”
As for inspiration for new material, Arden takes it from all aspects of life.
“It’s a mishmash of all kinds of things - from friendships to relationships and people that you meet, things you see on the news, stories that you talk about, things that concern you. You never know until you fiddle around on the guitar or the piano and it kind of happens at the same time. People ask me if I write words or music first and usually I do them simultaneously,” she said. “It’s almost liking tuning an old AM radio and you’re slowly turning the dial to find the station and you go by the station and you are trying to find that sweet spot where you’re hearing it as clearly as you can - for me songwriting is like that.”
As for hitting the tour, Arden said she is excited to hit the road and there is more touring to come later in the year as she will one again head out for a Christmas tour.
Tickets are available at the Black Knight Inn Ticket Centre by visiting www.blackknightinn.ca.
efawcett@reddeerexpress.com