For Julia Lynx, music and life are pretty much synonymous, but not when it comes to instruments.
The Canmore resident can strum a guitar, but she makes no claims of being able to play musical instruments. What she can do, however, is sing.
Lynx is an event planner, a doula (known to families as Julia Doulia), an outreach co-ordinator for the local non-profit Bison Belong in Banff National Park, and now, she’s added singer-songwriter to her resume.
Lynx is unveiling her debut CD, Wild Patience, featuring 10 songs of her own at Communitea Cafe Friday (Oct. 25) with special guest Marc Atkinson, who produced Wild Patience. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show begins at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $24 at the door.
Lynx said she has always loved to sing. She performed in her school’s choir and took some training through The Royal Conservatory music program, but it wasn’t until about six years ago when her first song – “Sweet Song” – literally popped into her head and had to be put down on paper.
“I don’t want to sound hokey about it, but it was ethereal, just sit down, get a pen and write,” she said. “I remember feeling that I had a churning going on inside of me, something was shifting inside me.”
The inspiration stemmed from a friend’s ceilidh – an Irish or Scottish house party – that led Lynx to go out and buy a guitar just to have in the house.
“Just to have it so it’s there, so if somebody wants to play it or I want to pick it up I can,” she said, adding she learned just enough to be able to begin a melody.
She wrote her first songs for herself, performing them for friends around the campfire. And between her friend’s urging her “to step it up” and her own inner voice, Lynx took it a step further.
“I just had a really persistent inner voice that I would ask for help if I would ever take it up a notch and that inner voice became really annoying. I also set a deadline. I said if I don’t do this by the end of May 2012, forget about it.”
With that firm deadline looming over her, Lynx contacted Atkinson, a Juno-nominated singer-songwriter who lives on Hornby Island in B.C., who she admires.
Lynx sent him an email, not even certain Atkinson was a music producer, saying that she had seen him perform and that she wanted to work with him to produce a demo.
Atkinson sent Lynx a one-line response saying, “I think I can help.”
“The neat thing about Mark is he just wants everyone to play music. He wants kids to play. He wouldn’t necessarily turn anyone down, but in terms of investing in a whole project, he would be more picky,” she said.
And what she thought would be a demo with a few songs grew, turning into an album recorded over three sessions.
Lynx describes the songs on Wild Patience as songs about everyday living, relationships and love with influences of folk, pop and roots.
Wild Patience is also a full community effort, as Lori Reid, Darren Reeder, Julian Norris, Kristy Davison, Pamela Alexander, Bob Everett and Rob Moss will perform with Lynx during the Oct. 25 CD launch.
Atkinson will kick the evening off with a few songs as well and Canmore artist Janice Tanton painted the album artwork.
“A lot of this whole album has been about hunches, connections, people popping out of nowhere to help,” she said. “I just feel like I have a whole community to thank. It’s a pretty nurturing feeling that these people have popped up and have these gifts to share. It’s pretty reflective of so many people that have been kind and generous.”
The CD launch will be followed by gigs in Alberta and B.C. early next year. Lynx is already planning her second album.
Go to www.julialynx.com for more information and to hear samples from Wild Patience.
