Alberta musician AV (AKA Ann Vriend) has long drawn artistic inspiration from her community in the vibrant, inner-city Edmonton neighbourhood of McCauley. Now, that community has served as both the creative catalyst and the namesake for her latest musical project. The vocal ensemble AV and The Inner City was forged out of a series of collaborative front porch concerts that AV began putting on in 2020, during the earliest days of the pandemic.
The project, which has been evolving ever since, is now a major part of AV’s new album Everybody Matters, and is the subject of a brand-new mini-documentary. The just-released music video for AV’s “Don’t Wait” is embedded within a short doc about her inner-city Edmonton ensemble, as they head to Toronto to play a high-profile showcase at the biggest blues gathering in the land, the annual national Blues Summit.
Along the way, we hear the story of how the women in AV and the Inner City came together, we’re treated to the summery music video for “Don’t Wait,” and we get to hear the band pouring their hearts out in a live onstage performance of the song.
AV herself joined Grant Stovel to talk about the new group, new mini-doc, and all about how she’ll be returning to Toronto November 25th as one of the stars of the 35th annual Women’s Blues Revue, on the stage of the iconic Massey Hall.
