Babette Hayward
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada | SELF
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I first heard Babette Hayward a year or so back, opening for another singer-songwriter I was friends with, and very excited to see. I didn't know a thing about this young Saint John, NB performer, other than I had seen her name a couple of times listed for venues, and since it's an uncommon first name, it stuck in my mind. But really, I wasn't expecting much, I saw she was just a kid, something like 19 at the time, and I was there to see the other performer.
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Um, not many other people were. There were perhaps 10 or so the whole night, and even less when Babette, our opening act, took the stage. We'd shaken hands and said hi by this point, the other people there were the next band, and the bartender, and one of my musical colleagues, so the show started pretty informally, Babette saying, "Well, I guess I should play," leaving the table, walking five feet and stepping up to the mic.
Sometimes you just can't believe your ears. This was one of them. As soon as she started singing, I knew this was a confident young woman with talent. And I knew she could sing, I'd never heard a voice quite like hers. Sure she was young, lacking experience, shakey at times, but it was all stuff that would come would practice and more stage work. Ooo, time for a sports metaphor! It's like one of those raw baseball draft picks, the kid they say has all the tools, speed, strength, throwing, it's just a matter of teaching them the game. In Babette's case, those tools are singing, songwriting, melody, spark. In her short set, she played mostly originals, including a couple that made me shake my head. I can distinctly remember being bewildered about how someone so young could write so well, had accomplished something so difficult already. How a couple of her first songs were better than those many 40 and 50-year old pros had written or would ever write.
Go forward a few months, and my next Babette sighting was as part of a tour of the province in Fall 2010, called the New Brunswick Emerging Artists, with three other up-and-comers. By this time, she had her first recordings, a 6-track EP, some unpolished numbers, hand-packaged in a paper bag of all things, pretty cool. And she was, as predicted, sounding more confident, the songs more fleshed out, and she was now able to appear pretty relaxed on the stages of our bigger theatres in the province, enjoying herself, and belonging there. All was going good.
Then, last month at the East Coast Music Awards, Babette was shining again, getting her name out, showcasing, and had a special treat to hand over. Her first full-length, fully produced album, all her own songs, with a band and strong arrangements behind her. It's a winner for sure, called You Might Be Somebody. I'm really pleased with the results, the producers and Babette didn't drop the ball or overdo the material. It still has the basis of what she's about, an acoustic guitar player with a strong voice and even stronger lyrics. The melodies are allowed to come out, there's no tricks, but lots of good accompaniment. I'd describe it as subtle and sweet backing, not showy. You get to pay attention to that voice.
It's the voice that sounded a lot older and wiser to me a year back, and I'm still bothered and bewildered by her ability to write like this. Now I know she's a big music fan, especially of the greats, and works at a record store, so she hears lots, maybe that's part of it. Anyway, see for yourself live, that's the best introduction to her music. Babette's playing Friday night, May 27th at the Red Herring in St. Andrews, and Saturday night the 28th at the Capitol Complex in Fredericton.
The new collection, You Might Be Somebody, actually isn't being released for sale until July, but there are some early copies available at her website, babettehayward.com. - Bob Mersereau (Top 100 Canadian Albums) CBC
It’s been three short years since Laura Marling released her brilliant debut Alas I Cannot Swim. In that time, Marling, along with her contemporaries, has helped to forge the folk revival. This has seen, amongst others, Marling, Fleet Foxes and Mumford and Sons swamp the radio airwaves, decorate the upper echelons of the music charts and receive recognition at awards ceremonies. Are we now beginning to see first wave of acts inspired by the success of the folk revivalists? If so then, Canadian trouvère Babette Hayward can certainly be classed among this second wave of revivalists.
Her voice is a little like Gillian Christie, of For Folks Sake’s New Bands Panel fame, who in turn sounds not unlike Laura Marling. There is also a hint of Cat Power, in the way that Hayward lets her vocal melodies hang, adding a delicate and poignant tone to her music. As for the music itself, ‘Star in Me’ has a chord change that could have been born from the Moldy Peaches’ excellent ‘Anyone Else But You’. ‘Spinning Out of Control’ has an introduction that recalls Tracy Chapmans ‘Fast Cars’ and a bridge that brings back memories of the Stereophonics ‘Hurry up and Wait’.
What I really like is that Hayward starts with strong song writing which is simple, but never repetitive or derivative. She is at complete ease with her approach to crafting music and is confident enough in its quality to add string elements, such as in ‘Break Line’ and the brilliant ‘All in Good Time’. Consequently she is able to sound like a number of different artists and also retain her individuality. This is a very accomplished and enjoyable record, one that fans of the aforementioned folk revivalists will certainly enjoy. The question one might ask, having laid such strong foundations, is ‘Where next for Babette Hayward?’ My answer would be ‘To England, to play some gigs’! - For Folk's Sake UK Blog
Shortly after, Babette Hayward put on a lovely performance by playing some of her new songs released on a six track EP that she sold at the show. She comfortably switched up the set, playing songs on both acoustic and electric guitar, which her memorable voice accommodated very well. - Mt. A Argosy
New Brunswick’s Babette Hayward warmed things up at the Company House. With her sweet demeanour and well-written folk songs, she reminded me exactly why I love this time of year. Not only is it a chance to catch up with old friends, it’s the perfect opportunity to discover new talent.
With her hair piled high in a pony tail, Hayward’s got a sense for tying quirky phrasing and artful melodies together. Her delivery is earnest and innocent. - The Coast
Babette Hayward is a poet at heart.
"I like the sounds of words together. I like playing around with words and the rhythm of words. When I piece them together later I make the connections."
The Saint John songstress has just completed her first full-length studio album, You Might Be Somebody, a follow up to her EP, Six Songs. She recorded the new album at the Ripple Effect Music studio in Saint John, where Michael Dalton of gypsy-folk band The Transatlantic Zodiac Ensemble produced the recording. She's currently on tour in Quebec and Ontario.
Hayward, 21, has only been playing professionally for a couple of years. Her first gig playing her own music came in her late teens at Backstreet Records in Saint John, where she currently works.
There's a melancholic maturity to her songwriting, wherein she grapples with death.
"It's something that piques my curiousity, something that I had to write about," she says.
When she was immersed in songwriting at 19, two of her grandmothers passed away.
"I was living in my grandmother's house afterwards, which was kind of weird, but they needed someone to live there for a while. I wrote Say Grace at our dinner table, where we had all of our Thanksgiving dinners."
In October and November of 2010, Hayward was a part of the NB Songwriter's Showcase theatre tour with Owen Steel from St. Andrews, Andy Brown from Fredericton and Lisa LeBlanc from Rosaireville.
"We all had a really good time, and we're all friends now so that was really neat."
Hayward notes that on the East Coast everyone is involved in one another's musical projects. With a sunny voice, she says, "Everybody knows each other." - Here NB
Discography
Six Song EP - 2010
You Might Be Somebody- 2011
Photos
Bio
Meet Babette Hayward: Watching the promise come true
You really ought to get to know Babette Hayward. Attractive young songwriter from Saint John, New Brunswick. She’s 22, wise beyond her years, a writer with startling images and a singer with a voice that overflows with heart, nervousness, passion and compassion.
At 22, most pop music artists don’t have the 10-page ”official” biographies that list their accomplishments, triumphs, records made and sold, their favourite colours and their boyfriends’ names.
Simply, they haven’t acquired all that baggage, yet. What they do have to talk about is getting started, maybe their first recording, their musical influences and their heroes and heroines. And, of course, their hopes and plans for the future.
The forecasts and the conclusions, however, are made by managers, fellow musicians, publicists, club owners and concert promoters — and, most of all, by the people who listen, truly listen, to the music. And their verdict, simply, is that Babette Hayward is an artist ready to break through nationally. Listen to the songs, they say; watch her likeable demeanour on stage, note the way audiences respond.
So, here’s Babette. Loved music from the beginning, starting to play violin when she was six, but began the guitar when she was 13. Soon she was playing for – and with — high school friends, and occasionally at local coffee houses. Working part-time at a record store, spending her summers on Belle Isle, she stumbled into university, taking a studies in philosophy, drama and literature, but walked away a year later to focus on developing her craft and becoming a full-time songwriter.
There was always music going through her head — late at night in quiet times, or at the record store when business was brisk.
And here comes the first break. She’s just 19, her first time playing original songs in front of an audience. In comes a man with connections in the music business; a real life manager, with lots of experience, links with record labels and agents. He senses a spark, a feeling, and his intuition hasn’t let him down yet. So, says Jeff Liberty — one of the best-known music people in Atlantic Canada — let’s talk.
What do you want to do? Play music, sing. And write songs? Yes, that too. So the process began.
“(Writing songs) seems different every time,” she says. “I sit with the guitar, write a part, a phrase and keep playing it over and over and then a melody seems to come, and then the lyrics — I write thoughts down all the time, lines I find interesting, ideas…“
Last February, she recorded her first album. With the support of a group of seasoned musicians and with friends Michael Dalton and Tim Davidson as co-producers, she began to record the songs she had been writing. The result was You Might be Somebody, a collection of 10 songs that mix folk and pop idioms with gentle strokes of acoustic guitar, restrained accompaniment, and dream-like backup vocals. Sometimes, gentle sounds link the songs — a lonely train whistle, soft rain, the rattle of a streetcar.
With the record finished and released independently with the assistance of Liberty, she began the next part of the process. Out there, on the road, in neighbouring Atlantic provinces, then into Quebec and Ontario. Sharing a van and opening shows for Australian guitar hero Kim Churchill, touring with fellow-newcomer Jadea Kelly, sharing bills with friends and other artists, bringing her songs to audiences in cafes, small clubs, at house concerts, and occasionally in concert halls and at festivals. It’s not easy, it’s often lonely, it’s frequently exhausting, and the financially the rewards are hardly handsome.
But the songs take on lives of their own. The songs find friends; listeners in audiences who share the moods and the messages, understand the lyrics, and believe in the young woman who is singing them.
And there are many moments when it seems that the stars have aligned and all is well with her world. She was on the road when her album won Female Recording and Pop Recording honours at the Music New Brunswick Awards; Jeff Liberty, obviously thrilled, accepted for her. She was signed to Indica Records the same week who will be releasing and promoting her next album later in 2012.
So, now, the promise makes itself clear. Babette Hayward is writing songs for the next CD; she’s an outdoor girl who swims every day, and she runs when she gets the chance — she wants to complete a marathon someday. Sometimes ideas come as she pounds the pavement, but she knows, now, that you just have to sit down and work at it.
She’s cut the first demos for the new record in a Montreal studio. There’s a confidence now that wasn’t there before. The songs are coming a little easier. She’ll be touring more when the CD’s finished, and she’ll be playing further afield. Life is good — and there’s a brand new year to get started on.
Chances are this’ll be HER year. And the next “official bio” wil
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