Biography
Gifted with a sharp pen, a quirky musical sensibility and a wicked sense of humour, musician, spokenword artist and ironic social commentator evalyn parry “breathes new life into the folk tradition with her politics, passion and poetry” (Penguin Eggs). “Engaging, clever and constantly surprising, Parry evokes tears and laughter in equal measure” (Herizons).
One minute she's singing a ridiculously cheery countrified number about her stalker ex-girlfriend; the next, she's performing a powerful spoken word piece about "the bottled water scam" and its devastating environmental consequences. Moments later, she gives the audience goose-bumps with a poignant true-story song about a Great Lakes sailor reflecting on the miracle of his life after surviving terminal cancer and visiting the watery grave of the Edmund Fitzgerald on the 29th anniversary of its sinking. She rounds out the set with a hilarious song written from the perspective of a maxi pad.
A dynamic live performer, parry's recent touring highlights have taken her from music festivals to storytelling festivals to theatre festivals; from St. John's Newfoundland, to Whitehorse, Yukon; from Pride festivals and campuses, to coffee houses and house concerts to political events across north America. Past festivals include: New York's City's Lincoln Centre Out of Doors Festival, The Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, Hillside Festival, The Vancouver Storytelling Festival, Halifax Pop Explosion, The Ottawa Folk Festival, North by North East, and many more. Parry has also toured extensively to colleges and universities in both Canada and the USA.
parry’s third release Small Theatres is a double CD package from Borealis Records, featuring one disc devoted entirely to her musical offerings and a second devoted to her performance poetry. Produced with renowned Canadian producer John Switzer (Jane Sibbery, Nathan), musical accompaniment on both discs is provided by parry's many talented musical collaborators, including Suzie Vinnick (Betty and the Bobs), Anne Lindsay (Blue Rodeo), Brad Hart (Claire Jenkins Avec Band) Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) two-time Juno-winning roots artist Jenny Whiteley, Treasa Levasseur, and legendary Canadian roots musician Ken Whiteley.
Her video "Weed Free" (a comic spokenword video about the evils of chemical lawn care) has been in rotation on Bravo, and she has been a frequent contributor to CBC Radio with her "socio-poetic" commentaries. Parry was the inaugural recipient of the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award from the Ontario Arts Council, and the Beth Ferguson Upcoming Songwriter Award from the Ottawa Folk Festival. All three of her albums have enjoyed critical acclaim and charted high on national campus and community radio charts. In addition to touring extensively with her music and spoken word performances, evalyn is also an actor and playwright. She is an Associate Artist at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre (www.artsexy.ca) and a founding member of Independent Auntie Theatre (www.independentauntie.ca), best known for their award-winning comedy "Clean Irene and Dirty Maxine”, which has toured all over Canada.
Instrumentation
Evalyn plays as a solo artist (vocals, guitar, concertina), and also with an elastic band of between 1 and 6 additional members (bass, drums, horn, strings, keyboard, guitars)...in various permutations.
2 piece: Evalyn on guitar, vocals and concertina; David Celia on guitars and vocals.
3 piece: Evalyn on guitar, vocals and concertina; David Celia on guitars and vocals; Brad Hart on drums, percussion, harmony vocals
4 piece: Evalyn on guitar, vocals and concertina; David Celia on guitars and vocals; Brad Hart on drums, percussion, harmony vocals; Trevor Mills on upright bass
Full band: Evalyn on guitar, vocals and concertina; David Celia on guitars and vocals; Brad Hart on drums, percussion, harmony vocals; Trevor Mills on upright bass; Beth Washburn on horns, Anne Lindsay on fiddle and keys, Karyn Ellis on backup vocals.
Discography
2007 - Small Theatres (Borealis Records) * 2 CD set, music / spokenword
2006 - Live at Lula: concert DVD (Borealis Records / Riddle Films)
2004 - Unreasonable (Borealis Records)
2001- Things That Should Be Warnings (Pony Girl Records)
Links
| http://www.evalynparry.com |