Singer/songwriter Lizzy Hoyt will be coming to Athabasca for the first time with her own show on Nov. 1.
The Calgary-based multi-instrumentalist will be coming to town as part of both her CD release tour and the Heartwood concert series.
She is a more recent addition to the series, playing at the United Church instead of the Nancy Appleby Theatre.
Her music is Celtic-inspired storytelling, but she doesn’t like to pigeonhole herself with just Celtic music.
“The fiddling style that I play is Celtic-rooted fiddling, so I do have quite a repertoire of Celtic material and there’s definitely that influence in my music,” said Hoyt.
“But, I don’t consider myself a traditional Celtic artist either. I have some influences from country and bluegrass, but all of the music I do is acoustic.”
She plays a mix of traditional music and her own songs. While her songs stretch over a lot of topics, they tend to focus on history. Specifically, she focuses on the stories surrounding history.
“Rather than thinking of history as ‘Well, this happened and then that happened,’ I really like trying to think about what would that experience have been like for a person and have that really personal connection come through,” she stated.
This type of song writing has a way of connecting with people. Her most famous song Vimy Ridge – she’s won many awards for it – is one such piece. People will come to her after her concerts to tell their stories about Vimy.
This, she stated, is one of her favorite parts about performing.
“I love the fact that just about everywhere I play when I sing this song, usually someone will come up to me and be like ‘Oh, my uncle fought at Vimy,’” Hoyt explained.
“And they tell me some personal tidbit about this person, and I really love that. I love that music has a way of connecting people.”
Her new CD is called ‘New Woman on the Prairie.’
The title track is about her great-great aunt’s immigration to Canada from Ireland.
“I’ve had a few projects where I’ve gone to visit some place and it’s knocked my socks off and I’ve been really inspired to share a story of that through music,” Hoyt said.
“And even on this new project, there are quite a few songs inspired by history. Some of them are family stories that my Granny has told me.”
Tickets for the show are $22 in advance or $25 at the door. For those 19 and under plus 65 and over, tickets are $19 in advance or $22 at the door, while children under 10 are free.
Tickets are available in Athabasca at Rexall Drugs, Value Drug Mart and Whispering Hills Fuel or through any member of the Heartwood Folk Club.
