Amy Nelson is looking forward to a summer with numerous festival appearances. “I feel very lucky to have a full summer of gigs,” she says. “I’m playing Sled Island on Thursday night, at the King Eddy, and then the next day we drive to North Country Fair.” Joined by Jeff Oman on drums and JJ Mayo on pedal steel, the trio will also make stops in Pigeon Lake, Hudson’s Hope, Golden, and Revelstoke.
It’s all part of a life in music with strong Alberta roots. “I grew up in Grande Prairie,” says Nelson, “and I didn’t play music growing up. I don’t come from a family of musicians, but I come from a family that loves to listen to music. I spent most of my days playing basketball and rolling around outside, and being a kid.”
A few years after moving to Calgary as a teenager, Nelson started learning the banjo. It immediately felt like “her” instrument. “I played banjo for about three or four years before I ever wrote a song or played guitar. I really started to play music in adulthood.”
She knows that to start on banjo is rare. “I learned banjo first, so when I started playing guitar later, it kind of contributed to the finger-picking style that I like, and how I write. If my heart had a shape, it would be the banjo. The banjo is responsible for why I’m playing music at all.”
Guitar might sound better with a group, and might lend itself more to being plugged in, she says. However, she adds, “I wouldn’t have found the guitar if I had not found the banjo first.”
Stories are at the core of Nelson’s work as a musician. “Folk music is for everyday people. Storytelling is a way of connecting with an audience. It makes them feel like they’re being heard. That’s what drew me to folk music. It makes sense of the daily grind, going to work, paying the rent, and relationship negotiations. The best feeling is when you meet people at the show and they say, ‘I feel that way, too.’”
Find info and get tickets for Sled Island at sledisland.com.
Find info and get tickets for North Country Fair at northcountryfair.ca
For other Amy Nelson dates this summer, go to amyflyingakite.com
