Looking For The Magic Records' monthly (ish) programme of Sunday late-afternoon sessions of live music continues with a sensational line-up of artists from Canada and the USA. This month we welcome Sarah Jane Scouten, Jeffrey Dean Foster and Elise LeBlanc.
In March 2020, Canadian folk & country artist Sarah Jane Scouten was living in rural Scotland. With tours cancelled, days stretched endlessly, punctuated only by the steady unfolding of Scottish springtime. Growing up on the west coast of Canada, to her the flora of Dumfries and Galloway was a pageant of scent and colour, altogether new but still strangely familiar.
This is where Sarah Jane was initiated into herbal medicine: hawthorn, valerian, yarrow. The plants’ subtle power drew her onto an unexpected path. In May 2020 she applied to a professional programme in herbal medicine in the UK. Training in an entirely different field gave her perspective and space from a career in music which demands everything. It renewed Sarah Jane’s love of live performance, which had been diminished by life on the road. Studying herbs, and just as importantly people, gave her music a deeper dimension and she began to write again. Now for the first time this decade, she is releasing new music.
Sarah Jane Scouten’s fifth album Turned to Gold (Light Organ Records) is a road trip album, drawing on Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Christine McVie. Opening up the record, “Wanderlust” is a highway dream. “Wilder When I Was With You”, with its irresistible chorus, was co-written with Samantha Parton (Be Good Tanyas). “Rose and Carnations” is a tribute to John Prine and “The Great Unknown” reveals a family experience of medical assistance in dying. In the title track “Turned to Gold”, Sarah Jane revisits the impact of the sudden loss of her biological mother, exploring the theme of alchemical transmutation. Made in a heatwave in Vancouver, she collaborated with producer Johnny Payne (The Shilohs), Matt Kelly on keys and guitars (City and Colour), Leon Power on drums (Frazey Ford) and James McEleney on bass (Andrew Collins Trio).
Sarah Jane Scouten has been nominated for 4 Canadian Folk Music Awards; a Western Canadian Music Award and an International Folk Music Award. She has performed at Vancouver Folk Music Festival, MerleFest, Calgary Folk Music Festival, Salmon Arm Roots and Blues, Dranouter Festival, Maverick Americana Music Festival and more. She has opened for Corb Lund, William Prince, Ron Sexsmith, The Sadies and has shared the stage with Martha Wainwright, The Strumbellas, Allison Russell, Martin Carthy, Mandolin Orange (Watchhouse) and more. According to CBC Q’s Tom Power, "Stan Rogers was able to do it, Ron Hynes was able to do it, Kate McGarrigle was able to do it – and Sarah Jane Scouten is able to do it."
Jeffrey Dean Foster is a singer, songwriter, and composer from North Carolina. He first attracted attention playing in the 1980s indie-roots-pop band The Right Profile who featured on the famed Welcome To Comboland compilation, signed with Arista Records, and recorded with Jim Dickinson.
Stymied by internal label politics he then formed The Carneys; their misfortune was to arrive too early for the 90s alt-country boom but his next band The Pinetops were right there, and their 1998 album Above Ground And Vertical was much praised, notably in No Depression:
“Above Ground And Vertical is as lean and graceful as a shortstop, but the twin guitars are ready to rear up when called upon... in general, the Pinetops fall between Neil Young, and Tom Petty at his Stonesiest. And, yes, that could make them Chuck Prophet’s slightly younger brothers.”
Come the new century he would release two extraordinary solo albums Million Star Hotel and The Arrow, gleaning comparisons to Brian Wilson and Chris Bell, with a supporting cast of renowned musicians and the recording maestro and REM producer Mitch Easter.
“Just listen to The Arrow. If the target Foster is aiming at is your heart? Bullseye! Foster’s new album is so full of strong yet winsome melodies, catchy hooks and vocals that like being smart, it will soon be cool to cop to the fact that you like tuneful Rock.” American Songwriter.
“Million Star Hotel is like a multi-faced diamond reflecting light into a hall of mirrors. A classic pop album from North Carolina that unashamedly mines past glories. Made by someone whose teenage years were spent in the 70s in cars with radios. You hear late Beach Boys, Neil Young, Bolan, and of a time when music and romance were inextricably mingled.“ Bucketfull Of Brains.
Most recently he’s released the I’m Starting To Bleed EP, the title track responding to the murder of George Floyd, and provided soundtrack music to, and briefly appeared in, Angus MacLachlan’s movie A Little Prayer which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
A poet at heart, Élise LeBlanc (She/They) is inspired by the romance of wild things. Heavily influenced by classic country, Appalachia, and western swing, her songs explore queer desire, betrayal, hope, and nature lore. Her gentle twang and rich, expressive vibratto nods to classic crooners Patsy Cline and Peggy Lee.
Her 2024 record "The Fiddle & The Fire" was produced by Leeroy Stagger (whose roster includes: Corb Lund, Joel Plaskett, Mariel Buckley), listed in the top 10 "Best Country Records on Bandcamp" review in 11/2023, and featured in a recent CBC Radio-Canada interview on "Culture et Confiture".
Élise has played over 100 shows from Vancouver Island to Nashville, and has been a mainstage performer at prominent BC festivals including Cowichan Bluegrass Festival, Islands Folk Festival, Filberg Festival, and Tofino Jazz Festival.
“Her voice captivated the room from the first song." Oregon Music News
"An old-world sound, deep-steeped in the old Southwest, traditional folk and bits of Appalachia." Country Queer Magazine
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Doors 3pm. Show 4-8pm
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