Bowen’s bluegrass-singing daughter, Sarah Jane Scouten, has returned home to the West Coast where she has recorded a new EP and is about to make her Vancouver Folk Music Festival debut this weekend.
Scouten, who now lives in Toronto, racked up a couple nominations at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, including Album of the Year for her latest release, The Cape, which is partly inspired by her growing up on Bowen.
The Undercurrent caught up with Scouten for a Q&A via telephone last week from Prince George, one of many stops on her band’s tour of the B.C. Interior.
Bowen Island Undercurrent: What was the process like for recording your new EP, Strathcona Sessions?
Sarah Jane Scouten: About a year and half ago I got a call from (Vancouver producer/musician) Andy Bishop and he said do you want to come and make this EP - it’s part of a series that I’ve been cooking up and I think you’d be great for it. I didn’t know any of the musicians, I didn’t know the producer, and I was concerned, but he (Andy) kind of talked me into it. I did a little sleuthing around and I was like, ‘OK, these players are great and the studio’s great.’ It’s a series of four Vancouver songwriters. And they’re going to be releasing my EP the first in the series, which is kind of lovely.
BIU:What was the inspiration behind the music?
SJS: These songs were just sort of part of what I was working on at the time. We did one traditional song and arranged it in a way that’s probably at lot more modern and spacey and maybe indie-sounding than I’ve done before, as someone who is very interested in traditional music.
BIU: What song resonates with you the most?
SJS: The song that’s probably the most personal to my life is called “Mount Royal Cemetery.” I was living in Montreal at the time and I was walking up in the Mount Royal Cemetery and I was quite moved by just the sight of people visiting their loved ones. And you know, to be close to
them even if it is just to their bones or their ashes or their memory, just having a place to connect to them. So that’s what that song is about. And about what was currently going on in my family situation as well. There’s one part in the song (that moves me): ‘Bury me at the Mount Royal Cemetery, lay my bones where so they will know in their hearts, we’re just six feet apart. Bury me at the Mount Royal Cemetery.
BIU: Talk about the experience when you went into the studio.
SJS: It was very quick and very collaborative. It was hard to give up a lot of the creative control that I’m used to having. In the previous albums, I’d sort of worked as a co-producer in many ways and arranged the songs very much. All the creative choices came down to me. With all the guys in the studio it was much more collaborative. And that has informed the way that I’ve been running my band and making records since then. So it was kind of a pivotal experience. There are four different songwriters and we all used the same band. It’s pretty interesting, because of the style of each songwriter the music ends up sounding very different. And it will be interesting to see how that unfolds as the releases come out.
BIU: How does Bowen factor in to your songwriting?
SJS: It’s always in the back of my mind and I know that there are at least two (Bowen) songs on the last record we made called The Cape, which is named after Cape Roger Curtis. And there’s the song called “Our Small Town,” which in my mind is based on Bowen. I think as people listen to the lyrics they can kind of tell. But Cape Roger Curtis is no longer what it is. It’s completely unrecognizable to me. That’s what that song “The Cape” is about entirely. This wasn’t the first little bit of land to be developed … and I’m sure other Bowen people have had different experiences with land that was developed that used to be their stomping grounds, but that was the first experience to happen to me.
BIU: It’s your first time performing at the Vancouver folk fest. How does that feel?
SJS: I’m so excited. It’s kind of a pot of gold situation. I just got an email (from the festival organizers) out of the blue. I was in Portland, Oregon. It was a surprise. It’s one of the most coveted festivals just because it’s so close to my heart. So that was a good feeling. I guess if you keep at it long enough and if you are putting out good material and you are touring and you’ve got a good band, then eventually the larger folk festivals in Canada will hopefully take an interest in you. But this one’s very special to me because I volunteered (at the Vancouver folk fest) for years. And it’s one of the larger reasons why I pursued this lifestyle. I could have just as easily stayed at home and sing songs for myself and for my friends. In order to be a songwriter, it doesn’t mean you’ve got to go out on the road. But the lifestyle attracted me and the community, and my first real taste of that was at the Vancouver folk festival. And I think I just wanted to figure out a way to feel the way that I did there more often.
BIU: What’s your favourite folk fest memory?
SJS: My strongest memory there was seeing (PEI singer/songwriter) Catherine MacLellan sing. And she sang a song about mental illness. There was a huge crowd there. I was just so moved to tears. It was embarrassing, I was sobbing. I was trying to control it and I couldn’t. And this girl who I didn’t know just turned around and hugged me. Folk festivals, when you’re listening to music that’s moving you and the sun is shining and you’re sitting on the grass, it brings out the best in people.
Sarah Jane Scouten takes to the stage at the Vancouver Folk Fest at 6:10 p.m. on July 16. For more information visit: thefestival.bc.ca.
