Crystal Plamondon doesn’t come up this way too often anymore.
In fact, the last time the bilingual singer/songwriter performed here was in 1991 as the opening act for Celine Dion when she debuted at the Arden Theatre. Dion had just signed with Sony and was looking to break into the English-speaking market in a big way.
Afterwards, Dion’s agent helped Plamondon get a television gig in Montreal as host of a country music show. However after six months, the die-hard Albertan whose grandfather founded the town of Plamondon returned to her roots. “I missed the sky,” says Plamondon.
In fact, one of the patriotic singer’s most thrilling events was singing O Canada as the 2010 Olympic torch passed through Calgary. “It was such a thrill to see everyone come down and be unified. Canadian’s aren’t usually flag-wavers.”
In the past 20 years, she’s released six albums — all with an emotional range from heart-warming ballads and sultry jazz to rockin’ country and toe-tappin’ zydeco.
In particular she chuckles at the Queen of Cajun label she picked up in 1990 while opening for Louisiana swamp fiddler Hadley Castille.
“They were blown away and they sent me a scrub board as a gift. The media picked up on it and called me the Cajun Queen of Canada.”
Now Plamondon acknowledges her deep love for Lafayette. In fact, she once lived in a Bayou swamp cottage near Butte LaRose.
“I loved the country. It was very Catholic, very French and very family oriented. It was what I grew up with and I fit right in.”
Although Plamondon now lives on an acreage just outside Longview, she continues making yearly jaunts to Cajun country to perform and returns with mementos of coffee, spices and dried grits.
Despite her deep-seated passion for the infectious Cajun music, she’s not above stretching her musical muscles. Just last spring she released Torch, a 10-track jazz CD on her indie Avenir label. “People like to put their artists in a box. But if you work in a cubicle for 20 years, you get stagnant and singers need to try new things.”
Although jazz is strictly a sideline, this was a project she’s always wanted to try with songs such as Louis Armstrong’s sentimental What a Wonderful World and Edith Piaf’s powerful anthem Je Ne Regrette Rien.
Plamondon has toured extensively, playing small venues to full-blown festivals. But in the last few years, she’s dipped her toes in acting, co-starring in the musical theatre production of L’UniTheatre’s Cowboy Poetre.
And she’s co-written and produced three songs for the CBC television series Heartland. Unbeknown to many, she is also the singing voice of Grandpa Jack’s deceased wife, a singer, who occasionally shows up in his dreams.
Along with Dayle Simpson, Myran Szott, Fred LaRose and Gord Matthews, Plamondon performs this Saturday at LB’s Pub on 23 Akins Dr. starting at 9:30 p.m.
