Megan Nash

Over coffee, Megan Nash shares an anecdote that exposes her adventurous spirit.

When the Moose Jaw songwriter travelled to Whitehorse for the Western Canadian Music Awards last fall, she booked a cheap flight there and planned to stay awhile with no solid plans for a return trip. Then she got an unexpected gig in Saskatoon and had to bus back to Saskatchewan. The trip was nearly two days long.

“I was so gross by the end of that,” she laughed. “I walked on that bus a girl and I walked off a woman. It was definitely intense.”

In person, Nash is a stunning redhead with a big smile, sporting a dress covered in tiny horses. She’s the voice of the Roughrider’s new theme song Ride On. She and Regina producer David J Taylor were commissioned to produce it. She comes from a rural upbringing and a love of country music. It would seem intuitive for her to pursue a country sound, but she calls herself “genre-confused,” revealing a sense of humour belonging to a talented songwriter itching to expand her reach beyond the confines of country music and her farm-girl roots. Nash grew up outside of Mortlach but it wasn’t until her teen years that she first dabbled in music, playing AC/DC covers on guitar. Her parents were convinced she’d be a lawyer someday and didn’t support her new hobby.

“I wasn’t allowed to take lessons,” she said. “They thought it was a phase.”

After the death of her grandfather, Nash discovered songwriting as a means to express her emotions. Soon she found an audience singing “three chord country” in small-town Saskatchewan. After high school, she attended music school in Nova Scotia, worked for SaskMusic and studied songwriting at the University of Saskatchewan. She toured the prairies and she released her debut album in fall, 2011.

The self-titled record, produced by Taylor in Regina, crackles with pop country elements — familiar harmonies, bursts of lap steel, driving rhythms and a bit of a twang. The release has earned spins on both commercial and CBC Radio. For now, she’s playing music full-time (while picking up some gigs as a radio host) and trying to figure out which direction to point herself in.

“The fact of the matter is, I’m not a musician. I play guitar for myself,” she said. Nash has no qualms with the singer-songwriter label, and her versatile voice and seasoned perspective on the music business conveys a maturity well beyond her 22 years. She knows who she is.

“I’m not a band leader and I’m kind of a control freak and I don’t like telling people what to do. When you combine that together, that’s a solo artist,” she said.

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/entertainment/Megan+Nash/6049649/story.html#ixzz1ky5Q7GuW
- The Star Phoenix