Jenilyn Sheppard

Canadian country singer Jenilyn Sheppard will be performing Saturday evening at the 21st annual WAMBO.

Based out of London and Nashville, Sheppard has spent years touring the States, Canada and southwestern Ontario and is especially excited about coming to WAMBO.

Sheppard has ties to Wallaceburg.

"A few years back we used to play up at Roxy's a couple times a week and made some great friends. I was up here a lot and really loved the people. I actually just bought a place near the water not too far away that I can go to when I'm in town."

Jenilyn has been building her music career since she was a young child, winning competitions and performing with bands from the young age of 14. Opening shows for the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus and George Jones, Jenilyn quickly discovered that performing was what she was meant to do.

Sheppard describes her music as "southern country rock."

She said her style is new country and southern rock, similar to Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert.

"We try to keep it a little more rocking, but there are still those ballads, and that sort of thing in there," Sheppard told the Courier Press in a phone interview.

Along with songwriting and recording tracks for her new album, Jenilyn has also recently recorded "All I Want Is Everything" which was penned by famed Nashville writer Matraca Berg, who has written hits for Trisha Yearwood, Gretchen Wilson and the Dixie Chicks.

Sheppard will be performing her singles "That's Why I Hate Pontiacs" and "All I Want...Is Eveything!" this weekend at WAMBO. - Courier Press

Justin Bieber notwithstanding, most overnight hits are years in the making. Would-be music stars pay their dues travelling and performing, hustling to record their songs and reach a wider audience.

Jenilyn Sheppard knows all about this process. The London native grew up singing and performing; as a teen, she decided she wanted to sing for a living.

"I started in a band when I was 15," she recalls. "A lot of the gigs were in bars, and of course I wasn't allowed in there. So I had to wait just outside the back door, come in and sing and then leave again right away. Luckily, we also played at fairs and festivals, so I didn't have to do that all the time."

Sheppard grew up with music all around her. "My dad is a drummer, and there was music in the house. Singing was always my thing."

She transferred to Beal secondary school where she tried dance, drama, photography and fine arts. But she always came back to singing and playing guitar. The natural rasp and twang in her voice led her to country, and she has been following that instinct for two decades.

She writes her own songs and collaborates with others, often in Nashville. She was doing that a decade ago, slowly building a reputation and songbook, appearing on TV, opening for major country stars and getting some real traction, when tragedy struck.

Her younger sister, Jillian, fell from a balcony and died. It was an awful period for the whole family.

"I took about a year off, not just from music but from everything," Sheppard says. "I became numb to everything, trying to cope with her death. It was pretty tough."

Eventually, she felt ready to essentially relaunch her career. Whatever headway she had made prior to Jillian's death had evaporated. It was like starting over.

The good news was she knew how to do it. She started collaborating again, writing songs, touring and rebuilding her reputation as an energetic and talented performer.

"Something else I discovered was after you go through a death and some other tough life experiences, you don't analyze failure the same way. Things don't seem so scary or out of reach."

Three years ago, she gave birth to a son, Austin, and this year she moved into a Lake Huron cottage she bought two years ago. There was significant fire damage, so it took a couple of years to complete extensive renovations.

For the last couple of years, she has been working with John Pilat, on guitar, and Geoff Dunn, on bass. She has written some songs, and recently she picked up a song written by legendary Nashville writer Matraca Berg. A member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Berg has written songs for Reba McEntire, Randy Travis and Tanya Tucker, among others.

"The song she wrote for us is All I Want is Everything," Sheppard says. "It's very exciting." The song is on Sheppard's My Space page.

The plan is to record the song and some others and to release an album by year's end. Of course, the music industry has changed dramatically since she began building her career the first time. So she may decide to release songs as EPs.

She has a team of supporters working with her, including local designer Tony Arts, who is redoing her website and has designed a stylish and sexy logo.

Sheppard will be playing several events in London this summer and touring extensively to support the album she's still working on. Next month, she heads back to Nashville to continue collaborating there.

newsdesk@lfpress.com or sent to Enterprise, c/o The London Free Press, 369 York St., London, Ont., N6A 4G1. Contact Christopher Clark at 519-667-5529. He's online at www.christopherclarkwriter.com

Jenilyn Sheppard

www.myspace.com/jenilynsheppardcountry(links to her Facebook page)

519-466-2010

Upcoming London appearances:

* July 31, 4 p.m., Rib Fest

* Aug. 20, 9:30 p.m., FitzRays Restaurant & Lounge - London Free Press

Jenilyn is was of the most authentic and entertaining country artists we have seen in years. Jenilyn's performance at last night's concert was electric! From rocking out the country dance tunes to heart-wrenching ballads, Jenilyn captured the attention and hearts of everyone in the room. A bundle of energy, this girl is a ton of fun, but there is no fluff here. Jenilyn is very passionate about what she does and you can feel it in every note she sings. A true gem... and it doesn't hurt to be blessed with seriously good looks -- if Maxim Magazine hasn't called her agent about a cover shoot yet, somebody is sleeping on the job. - Toronto Sun