#steph cameron

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Steph Cameron: That's What Love Is

Steph Cameron: That's What Love Is

The Saskatoon-based roots singer / songwriter Steph Cameron arrived on the scene like a bracing gust of fresh musical air with her 2014 debut record Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady, receiving unanimously enthusiastic reviews. “This is a monumental, brilliant album… heralds the crowning of a bright new tal

[cheatbook]

Steph Cameron: That's What Love Is

Steph Cameron: That's What Love Is

The Saskatoon-based roots singer / songwriter Steph Cameron arrived on the scene like a bracing gust of fresh musical air with her 2014 debut record Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady, receiving unanimously enthusiastic reviews. “This is a monumental, brilliant album… heralds the crowning of a bright new tal

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Steph Cameron - Goodbye Molly

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Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady by Steph Cameron

Shining a spotlight on one of the lesser-known artists among SONGbiscuit's Top 30 Albums of 2014 – Steph Cameron from Canada. 

Steph is a modern folk musician extraordinaire with a bluesy storytelling style reminiscent of Dave Van Ronk and early Joni Mitchell. Backed by her own remarkable guitar skills, her infectious sound has been honed through a decade or so busking her away all over the vast Great White North. 

Check out this sweet performance of Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady and check out Steph's debut album by the same name. It's easy to see and hear why I selected her album as one of the best of 2014.

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Home Game Six Pack Z022

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FIVE QUESTIONS WITH... STEPH CAMERON

Vancouver Island-based folk singer/songwriter Steph Cameron released her debut album, Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady, on Pheromone Recordings on Sept. 23rd. It is already eliciting rave reviews, and deservedly so.

Cameron is a breath of fresh air on the roots scene, seemingly blown in direct from Greenwich Village circa 1963. Powerfully poetic songs are delivered via a pure voice and fluent fingerpicking acoustic guitar, with the sparse sound neatly captured by producer Joe Dunphy at elite studio Revolution Recording.

The singer is also a refreshingly free spirit, one clearly more aligned to the beatniks and hippies of decades past, not the self-absorbed hipsters of today. Watching her progress promises to be interesting.

Cameron is touring Ontario in October with Del Barber. For tour dates, link here. 

Your finger-picking guitar style has been getting plenty of attention. How long have you been playing?

I have been playing for over a decade, but only seriously for about three years. That started when a friend gave me a set of metal banjo fingerpicks. That was a new challenge and from there I found guitar playing really interesting. It keeps me wanting to play and write now.

The lyrics of your songs seem to possess a strong autobiographical content. Is that correct?

The songs do all come from my experiences, but more and more I find my writing is coming from looking at people close to me who have lost people they’ve loved. They have had tragedy in some form, but have powered through it with courage. I see the songs as a sounding board. They come back as a reflection of what is going on in my community. The songs are sung to a larger audience once they have the approval of my community.

Sitting around the fire is where I test my songs. If there’s a positive response I’ll move forward with those songs and present them to a wider audience. If there is less of one I might play it a few more times, then let it sit in the corner! I am very lucky to have a really creative group of people around me who have produced amazing work. I trust their judgement.

How did you make the move from busking to getting a record deal with Kim Cooke at Pheromone?

I've been performing a long time, busking all over Canada for more than a decade. I'd-hitch hike, ride freight trains and get into cities with my friends and dogs. We'd take over a spot and play music for a week. Earn enough money to enjoy ourselves there, then move onto the next town.

About two and a half years ago a friend, Wilson, who runs Black Raven Records in Victoria, rather pressured me into making a demo of songs I'd been playing around the fire and that he really enjoyed. We recorded them in a bedroom, and he sent off my demo to Alan Anton from Cowboy Junkies. Kim got to hear it via Alan and he contacted me and brought me out to Toronto. This [a music career] was not something I was really pursuing or felt driven to. This is just something that has happened that I’m really enjoying and feeling really fortunate about.

I understand the recording of Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady was done really quickly?

When Kim flew me out to Toronto, we intended to do just one song, "Goodbye Molly", at Revolution Recording as a test run. We got that within a couple of hours and they had a rare free space at the studio so we decided to just keep going. We worked for three consecutive days and got all 13 songs done, all to tape. I was totally blown away that I had this short trip to Toronto and ended up with a finished record!

Can you tell us any musical or literary influences and inspirations for your work?

  I liked Joni Mitchell's early folk phase and Buffy Sainte-Marie was really influential. She's a brilliant activist too. I admire people who are bold in speaking about things they consider unjust or unethical, like Neil Young and Buffy. I grew up in Saskatoon, and the fact that Joni and Buffy were from Saskatchewan was a big thing for me then. I loved Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and Arlo Guthrie and Ramblin' Jack Elliott's guitar playing. Kurt Vonnegut is my favourite author.