Abby Pond

Recently I visited Miramichi's extreme western boundary, known to most as Calgary Alberta. I discovered there is a good chance you will run into one of our locals in the line-up at Tims in the airport concourse. I met four Miramichiers in Calgary on the way home and Abby Pond from Boiestown on the plane.

Now Abby Pond is one of the most interesting young women I've met in a long time. She was returning to home much to the delight of her family. Her brother was constantly text messaging her to check her progress across the skies. When she told me a bit about herself, I knew why they were checking to see if she was really on the plane. Abby is a "Travelin' Gal", a singer and songwriter who has veered off the track many times since setting out at the age 18 to pursue a medical career. "In fact," she says, " you could say I never really stayed on the track. . ."

Abby's journey began after completing her biology degree. She moved to Smithers, BC in March 2002 to complete a Wilderness Guiding Skills course. She became a canoe instructor and rafting guide, then came back to New Brunswick to work as a substitute teacher and volunteer volleyball coach. In spring 2003 she moved onto Algonquin Park, Ontario to work as a canoe guide and naturalist. Later that year and until this spring, she settled in Revelstoke, BC where she worked as worked as a waitress, tour planner, heli ski dispatcher, writer, and Bear Aware Coordinator and freelance writer. She visited Nashville this spring for "fun and shenanigans."

Though her location and employment opportunities have changed, the one constant in her life has been her music. In a family with uncles who sang and played guitar, Abby became a singer/songwriter at a young age. "I wrote my first real "song" at age twelve, but it's taken a lot longer to make them actually good!"

Abby took piano lessons and taught herself to play guitar and has played seriously since the age of 16. Her first guitar was a jumbo Yamaha lent by an uncle that made her fingers so sore, she taped them with hockey tape and band aids to keep on playing. She now owns a vintage Gibson Guitar that was purchased in England in 2007.

Her songwriting influences include Canadian singer/songwriters Jann Arden, Victoria Banks, Tragically Hip, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Gordon Lightfoot, Stephen Fearing (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings), Terri Clark. Other influences include Patti Griffin and Jewel.

"I don't have a particular taste in music; I listen to everything, though country was my first love. I am interested in re-learning the Miramichi folk songs of my youth. This area has such a rich musical history."

Her one claim to fame, she says, is losing a radio contest to sing on stage with Shania Twain in 1999. The girl who won was Avril Lavigne.

"It is easier to sing in front of strangers, and singing my own songs is sometimes harder. They are a piece of you, so it's hard to put it out there for judgment. But I've always believed that if you wanted to do something, then just go do it. If it doesn't work out, you can always try something else. And I like to try everything."

Her zest to explore the world, to experience everything and embrace uncertainty shows in her lyrics. In her song "Self Defense" as the speaker is flying across no man's land she sings, she'll "keep running till it all makes sense... I won't fall in love in self defense.".

Her travels and life experiences lend themselves to her music.

"I have paddled canoes, walked by snowshoe, lived with no electricity, taught schoolchildren science, written songs, left the continent for the first time, loved and been loved, broke and had my heart broken. Each day is different and uncertain, but involve certainties. It is certain that I will wake up in uncertainty. That I will write, that I will sing. That I will pass this on to you."

Abby is currently planning to record her first studio album, and a fall European tour.

Watch for her at a musical Words on Water this summer and check out her great music at her website www.myspace.com/abbypond. - Miramichi Leader