Angela Harris

Artist Information

Biography

Roots/Canadiana Award winner and 18 time award nominee Angela Harris, is no stranger to the stage or the music business.

At the early age of 10 years, Harris was singing harmonies to old Folk, Country and Bluegrass songs for her mother at various performances.

By the age of 13 she had taught herself how to play the acoustic guitar and six years later Harris was fronting her first band and performing at clubs, pubs, rodeos, festivals, weddings, banquets and coffee houses.


In 1992, she took her guitar and a suitcase full of her demoed songs to Nashville, TN to study the craft songwriting, begin collaborating and hone in on the Country music business.

She commuted between home and Nashville over the next 10 years to perform, network and collaborate with hit writers such as Ron Harbin, Richard Wold and Cyril Rawson.

By 1999, she hired Producer John MacArthur Ellis (Ridley Bent, Jeremy Fisher, Dustin Bentall, Tara Oram) from Vancouver, BC to begin recording her self titled Debut album, Angela Harris, which she released on her own label in the year 2000. Soon after its release, Harris moved with her three daughters from her roots in BC’s rural Cariboo/Chilcotin region, to Vancouver, BC. "Leaving home and my family wasn't easy but I just really needed to follow my feet," says Harris.

By 2001, Harris was well on her way, garnering 2 charting CANCON singles on Canadian Country radio, 4 BCCMA (British Columbia Country Music Association) award nominations and her single T-t-talk to Me was licensed to the Leo Award winning feature film, Desolation Sound. That same year she took her tenth trip to Nashville, TN, solidifying her position as a prolific songwriter and a dynamic vocalist.

In 2003/04 Harris co-produced her 2nd album Roots - a tribute record to her life growing up in BC’s interior - with multi-instrumentalist, producer and engineer, Eric Reed (Barney Bentall, Sean Hogan, Wyckham Porteous, Ridley Bent). That same year Harris attained her Advanced Arts and Entertainment Management Certification and was immediately hired to teach as an industry professional at Capilano College (now Capilano University) in North Vancouver, BC - a position she held for 5 years before resigning to launch her own music services business, Fair Wend Entertainment Services.

By 2005, Roots was re-released in Canada by Maximum/Universal Music Canada, which included her Dig Your ‘Roots’ Tour - UK 2006 where she opened for Grammy Award winning songwriter Jackie DeShannon (Betty Davies Eyes, Put A Little Love In Your Heart, When You Walk in The Room) at Dingwalls in London, ON and a feature performance at the Boderline, also in London, ON, securing a UK distribution deal with Maximum/Rounder Europe/Proper. A year later, Roots garnered 2 BCCMA award nominations as well as a WCMA (West Coast Music Award) nomination for Outstanding Roots Album.

Over the next 3 years, Angela continued to write, teach, perform, mentor and grow as an artist. She released her third album Is Your Life as it Should Be in 2009 on her own label Routes Records, securing major distribution by Maximum Music Group/EMI Music Canada. An album focused on self discovery, reflection and forward thinking, it garnered Harris 4 BCCMA awards and ranked on the Folk/Roots !earshot charts in the summer of 2009.

In 2011, Harris co-wrote, co-produced and released her latest single Family Matters which garnered her a BCCMA SOCAN Songwriter of the Year nomination with co-writers Micheal Behm and Nat Jay, and was honoured with the BCCMA Roots/Canadiana award and a Female Vocalist of the Year nomination.

In addition to Harris’ solo career, she is a lead vocalist for the new feature Bluegrass group, The High Bar Gang with fellow artists Barney Bentall, Shari Ulrich, Wendy Bird, Colin Nairne, Rob Becker and Eric Reed with a string of sold out shows to report.

She has graced the stages with artists such as Emmylou Harris, Barney Bentall, Shari Ulrich, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Ridley Bent, John Reischman & the Jaybirds, Ruthie Foster, Ray Wylie Hubbard and many others at major festivals such as the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival, Hugh’s Room, Dingwalls (London, ON) and many more.

With 3 albums, a single and a string of successes to her credit, Harris’s 20 year music career has earned her the position as one of Canada’s most prolific Folk/Country and Bluegrass songwriters as well as a dynamic performers.

Instrumentation

Angela's music is acoustically driven with songs that are written about the lives and lifestyles of everyday people.

Discography

2011/Family Matters (Single)
Produced by: Michael Behm
Co-produced by: Angela Harris
Label: Premier Productions/Routes Records

2009/Is Your Life as it Should Be
Co-produced by: Angela Harris/Eric Reed
Label: Routes Records

2005/Roots
Co-produced by: Angela Harris/Eric Reed
Label: Routes Records

2000 - Debut/Self-titled
Independent

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• CD Baby
• iTunes
• Reverbnation
• Sound Cloud

Audio

• Family Matters
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• It's Lonely (That's Drownin' Me)
  Listen  
• Goin' Fishin'
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• I'll Be Your Friend
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• He Kissed Her
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• I am the Lucky One
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• Ego Can Kill the Pride
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• Way Down Deep
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• His Steady Hands
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• I'm Scared
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Lyrics

• I am the Lucky One
• Goin' Fishin'
• I'ts Lonely (That's Drownin' Me)
• Ego Can Kill the Pride
• I'll be Your Friend
• He Kissed Her
• Way Down Deep
• His Steady Hands
• I'm Scared

Video

Angela Harris_Bio_2011

Photo Gallery

Press

• Toronto Star [+ Show ]
  

  A multi-award nominee and ubiquitous presence in B.C.'s country/folk community, singer/songwriter An...A multi-award nominee and ubiquitous presence in B.C.'s country/folk community, singer/songwriter Angela Harris is blessed with a strong and honest voice and a way of stringing words into compelling personal vignettes that illuminate the corners of an interesting life. Melodies are strong, if somewhat constrained by three-chord structures, but her performance makes this one of the year's standout roots albums.

• Winnipeg Free Press [+ Show ]
  

  ...Angela Harris is more in line with the folkish likes of Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris (no r......Angela Harris is more in line with the folkish likes of Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris (no relation) than the twangy pop of Faith Hill and Martina McBride. Fiddle, viola, mandolin and slide guitar add to the rustic beauty and warmth of Harris's pleasing voice on the aptly titled Roots.
  
  Harris is more involved in her project than country artists usually are, as she co-wrote and co-produced with guitarist Eric Reed...For making intelligent, homegrown country that hasn't been soiled by pop over-production, Harris deserves attention.
  

• Is Your Life as it Should Be recieves 4/5 Stars [+ Show ]
  

  " Homegrown singer/songwriter Harris should rightfully be in the same league as Emmylou Harris, Shaw..." Homegrown singer/songwriter Harris should rightfully be in the same league as Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Lucinda Williams. Her idea of country music is great writing combined with timeless production and instrumentation. Overall she sounds like Linda Ronstadt fronting The Band. An exceptional album."

• 24 Hour Magazine - Vancouver, BC [+ Show ]
  

  "Harris is a compelling storyteller, with an angelic voice perfect for delivering the country, blueg..."Harris is a compelling storyteller, with an angelic voice perfect for delivering the country, bluegrass and folk music she writes. A small town girl from the Cariboo/Chilcotin region of B.C., Harris has spent a lot of time honing her craft in Nasvhille - the songwrtiers' Mecca - and it shows...Yep, I thought Harris' beautiful new release would provide the perfect soundtrack for my lazy afternoon of R&R (Rain and Rye), but just as I settled into my hanging basket chair the damnedest thing happened - the sun came out. Luckily, Angela Harris is such a good songwriter her music works with any kind of weather."...

Setlist

Angela Harris is a songwriter and composer - a storyteller through melody and lyric. She performs original material and sometimes a few of her favourite cover tunes for fun. A brilliant performer who owns the stage and captures her audience, Harris is an approachable and personable woman - a true professional on and off the stage.

She performs 2 - 45 min sets or 1 90 minute set and enjoys workshop stages at Festivals as well as 'songwriters-in-the-round' performances.

She also offers Songwriter Workshops and/or Music Business Basics Workshops.

Basic Requirements

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