If you listen to Lindsay May’s brand of roots/alternative country, sooner or later you’ll have a lump in your throat.
The Vancouver based singer/songwriter has a robust voice that carries a lot of the hope and hurt in the world and somehow finds the right tone to deliver her message.
“My songwriting style is rootsy and I have a softness and a grit to my voice,” May said.
On March 1 she released her second album, Shimmer, and as part of a western tour she’ll be dropping by LB’s Pub Songwriter’s Acoustic Showcase on Thursday.
Born in Kamloops and raised in Kelowna, May was destined for a musical career at an early age. She learned to play the organ and took up flute in the band program. By the time she was 12, she knew she wanted to be a songwriter. At 15 May purchased a three-quarter-size guitar from a teacher for $50.
“I bought an easy chord songbook, a guitar-chord dictionary and taught myself to play.”
But her family was clearly opposed to the idea of venturing into the music industry.
As her grandfather scoffed, “You can’t do that. Musicians are a dime a dozen.”
Mainly to appease her family, May completed a business administration degree in marketing at Okanagan University College.
“My friends tell me I’m the most organized artist I know,” May laughed, acknowledging that a degree helps in marketing yourself.
To pay off those dreaded student loans she moved to Vancouver and searched for business related jobs, all the while attending open mikes and song-writing on the side.
Her solo debut album, Bronze and Blue, came out in 2008 and since then she’s played high profile gigs at the Vancouver Folk Festival and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Bronze and Blue, which mirrored her sadness at not having family support, “was definitely moody. It was bluesy and tougher on the emotions.”
Shimmer, on the other hand, is delightfully hopeful and it’s coming out at a time when everything is falling into place – more family support, a new boyfriend and a widening fan base.
The 10-track CD came about when Mark Gordon, a good friend and instructor at Nimbus School of Recording Artists, invited May to record an album. Scrolling through her computer, she realized that 15 songs were immediately available.
The duo was in the studio on and off for six months and the result was two albums – Shimmer, which has just debuted, and a second as yet untitled CD still in the mixing phase.
From the self-titled song about that special someone to Lie to You, an acoustic version of a tune that propelled her as a finalist to the New Mountain Stage Songwriting Contest, there’s a quality of full-circle soul in her work.
If there’s one major event that still sticks in her mind, it’s the Olympics where she performed at the British Columbia Experience Pavilion.
“It was 14 degrees above that day and people were zip-lining above me. Honestly. It was an honour. It was fun and thrilling to be involved.”
The acoustic showcase starts at 9 p.m. No cover.
