Carrie Catherine

Wanting a child inspires performer - Prairie Post
Thursday, 14 April 2011 19:24
By John R. Statton

Motherhood didn’t stifle Carrie Catherine’s music career, it was part of the process.
“I definitely enjoy what I’m doing more, as well as stay focused and have fun with it all,” said Catherine.

She wrote a song while unsuccessfully trying to have a child with her husband.

“It was kind of a heartbreaking experience, because like any couple when they decide to have a baby they just expect it to happen right away and it didn’t happen that way for us,” she said.

“I continually encountered other people who had the same problem, so I wrote the song Rockabye which is just about this really deep desire to have this child, and yet there’s nothing you can do to control it.”

Catherine had performed the song and various shows, until she encountered a couple who told her they got pregnant after listening to Rockabye.

Several friends approached her with similar stories. “And then finally it worked for me,” she laughed. Catherine is now the proud mother of eight-month-old Eliot Olson.

Her first album Out the Car Window was recorded in Edmonton in 2003. Her sophomore effort Venus Envy was produced on the west coast in 2006.

“I think with every album you’re struggling to find your voice, and dig into who you are as an artist,” said Catherine.

“With Venus Envy I rediscovered my love of soul music.”
Her third release was Green Eyed Soul, produced in Toronto in 2007 was more of a live-off-the-floor recording.

In 2009, Catherine released a two-song recording which won the New Folk songwriting competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas with the singles Believe and Sunshine Baby.

“It was really a serendipitous kind of event,” she said.
Her latest album will feature the track Rockabye, and was recorded in Nashville. Wilderness is set for a 2011 release date, and features Emmy Lou Harris’ rhythm section.

“I feel like every album has been getting closer to that authentic voice, and just tapping into who I am as an artist,” she said.

“I totally felt that way in Nashville, because those guys were just all about the music and I found jamming with them to be a sort of spiritual experience.”

Catherine will perform at the Lyric Theatre April 16. Tickets are $25 and available at Pharmasave.
“I can’t wait; I love playing Swift Current,” she said. “I always have great shows there, and I’ve met so many great friends.” - by John R. Statton

Wanting a child inspires performer - Prairie Post
Thursday, 14 April 2011 19:24
By John R. Statton

Motherhood didn’t stifle Carrie Catherine’s music career, it was part of the process.
“I definitely enjoy what I’m doing more, as well as stay focused and have fun with it all,” said Catherine.

She wrote a song while unsuccessfully trying to have a child with her husband.

“It was kind of a heartbreaking experience, because like any couple when they decide to have a baby they just expect it to happen right away and it didn’t happen that way for us,” she said.

“I continually encountered other people who had the same problem, so I wrote the song Rockabye which is just about this really deep desire to have this child, and yet there’s nothing you can do to control it.”

Catherine had performed the song and various shows, until she encountered a couple who told her they got pregnant after listening to Rockabye.

Several friends approached her with similar stories. “And then finally it worked for me,” she laughed. Catherine is now the proud mother of eight-month-old Eliot Olson.

Her first album Out the Car Window was recorded in Edmonton in 2003. Her sophomore effort Venus Envy was produced on the west coast in 2006.

“I think with every album you’re struggling to find your voice, and dig into who you are as an artist,” said Catherine.

“With Venus Envy I rediscovered my love of soul music.”
Her third release was Green Eyed Soul, produced in Toronto in 2007 was more of a live-off-the-floor recording.

In 2009, Catherine released a two-song recording which won the New Folk songwriting competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas with the singles Believe and Sunshine Baby.

“It was really a serendipitous kind of event,” she said.
Her latest album will feature the track Rockabye, and was recorded in Nashville. Wilderness is set for a 2011 release date, and features Emmy Lou Harris’ rhythm section.

“I feel like every album has been getting closer to that authentic voice, and just tapping into who I am as an artist,” she said.

“I totally felt that way in Nashville, because those guys were just all about the music and I found jamming with them to be a sort of spiritual experience.”

Catherine will perform at the Lyric Theatre April 16. Tickets are $25 and available at Pharmasave.
“I can’t wait; I love playing Swift Current,” she said. “I always have great shows there, and I’ve met so many great friends.” - by John R. Statton

Carrie Catherine is a prairie chanteuse and awardwinning
singer/songwriter born and raised in
Saskatchewan. One frosty February a couple of
years ago, Catherine packed up her guitar and traveled
1700 miles south to Tennessee to explore the culture
of the southern music she adored. She never imagined
that this journey would lead to her recording her fourth
album in Nashville with producer and blues great Colin
Linden and Emmylou Harris’s rhythm section. In the
tradition of Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, and Norah
Jones, Catherine’s Wilderness is a rootsy, sensual sounding
album due for release and available on iTunes and
at the Saskatoon album release party on Thursday May
26, 2011.
Catherine explains, “Wilderness is about the thrill and
discomfort of moving beyond the known terrain of your
own backyard and venturing into uncharted territory.
While the recording of this album started with a trek far
south of my backyard, the real trip into the ‘wilderness’
began after we finished recording, and I found out I was
pregnant!” The album anticipates the theme of motherhood
with a personal song “Rockabye” about a woman
unable to have the baby she so desires, which was a
struggle Catherine and her husband were facing at the
time. With a happy resolution, Catherine is launching
her new album on the “Baby on Board” tour. Not only
will her own baby, Eliot, be on tour with her, Catherine
will also use the shows to find sponsors for needy children
through World Vision. As an added bonus, she is
partnering with local designers and crafters to create limited
edition merchandise (including baby onesies) which
will premiere at her Saskatoon concerts.
Music journalist Christa O’Keefe of SEE Magazine said
“A confident entertainer, the tiny musician commands a
stage like a cabaret figure, working the room from behind
an enormous guitar like a prairie version of Eartha Kitt,
with a voice that seems a cross between the stylings of
’50s girl groups and vintage country chanteuses.”
On the “Baby on Board” album release tour, Catherine
will launch a highly imaginative live show, full of stories
and surprises. The shows will feature percussionist
Hal Schrenk (2011 SCMA All-Star Drummer), who
entertains the audience with inventive instrumentation
(including a guitar case, shovel, and even a hockey
puck!) The Saskatchewan tour has begun and will be in
Saskatoon on Thursday May 26th and Friday May 27th
at 8pm at the Refinery each night. Tickets are available
on Picatic. Catherine and her troupe will continue with
touring throughout Western Canada in June, venturing
to Ontario in October.
Carrie Catherine has earned local and national recognition
including: 2011 Canada Reads Soundtrack Selection
for ‘Rockabye’, 2010 YWCA Woman of Distinction
Award (Arts & Culture), 2010
Lieutenant Governor Arts
Award Nominee (Leadership),and Winner at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival’s songwriting
competition. Her songs have been heard on TV’s Joan of Arcadia,
Beautiful People, and the Food Network. As an avid community
builder, Carrie presents a vibrant house concert series in her home,
a renovated grocery store in Saskatoon called The Hayloft, when
she’s not on the road. She nests in the Hayloft with husband, Curtis
Olson, and baby, Eliot Olson. Together this family creates events,
spaces and communities where the arts can flourish.
Carrie Catherine on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/carriecatherinemusic - by Susan Busse

Singer creates music that's fun
BY MIKE SHIPLACK, FOR THE LEADER-POST MAY 12, 2011

CARRIE CATHERINE Creative City Centre Saturday
Award-winning singer/songwriter Carrie Catherine is going on tour with her new album Wilderness and, as a warmup to her Canadian tour, she performs Saturday at Regina's newest venue, Creative City Centre at 1843 Hamilton St.

Catherine is also an advocate for World Vision and people can sponsor a child at the show. She recently sat down for a Q&A session with the Leader-Post.

Leader-Post: How would you describe your music?
Catherine: If I had to choose a genre I'm just a singer/songwriter because I'm really focused on telling a good story and creating songs that people can relate too. We did the album in Nashville and I'm a huge fan of soul music, so there is a little bit of soulful influence there and a little bit of Blues.

L-P: Explain the type of performance people can expect from the Baby On Board Tour.
Catherine: I'm doing all my shows right now as a duo. We get really imaginative because it's percussionist Hal Schrenk and myself. He plays everything during our show from a shovel to a guitar case to a hockey puck. We also use wilderness sounds and samples to make it a really theatrical and dramatic presentation of the music. It's not just the songs. The songs and the stories have a unique presentation that, I think, really carries the audience away.

L-P: You're playing at a new venue in the city, the Creative City Centre. Are you familiar with the venue's concept?
Catherine: I know Marian Donnelly and she's been a mentor of mine since I've started in the music business . She's building these creative centres and spaces for artists, and my husband and I are really involved in doing the same thing, but in Saskatoon. So we've had great conversations about how to nurture an arts scene just by creating a space that brings together a lot of creative people . I'm really excited to be performing in it during the opening weekend. Hopefully it will be a big community builder for the people of Regina.

L-P: How does being a mother impact your performance?
Catherine: I'm shocked at how different I feel on stage these days. I think the biggest difference is that being a mom I have less time. So I'm cutting out all the irrelevant stuff. When I'm at work and have to
be away from my baby, I want it to be worthwhile work. I appreciate that time on stage, that time to myself and that time I can give back to my audience. I'm really focused . Elliott, my little guy, he's training me to do that. I'm excited to be going on tour because I'm taking everyone I love on the road with me. I think that that transcends into the show. People feel the joy, feel the fun and it comes through in the music.
© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post - by Mike Shiplack

Journey Into Wilderness
BY le´Vi sOUlODRE FOR THE sEssiOn

Carrie Catherine’s got it covered.
the prairie chanteuse, known for her personable nature and sultry yet snug vocal stylings, vigourously welcomes the session into the hayloft, her saskatoon home.

the space is a beautifully renovated and decorated modern loft-type artistic home that she and her husband, property developer and musician Curtis olson, have made all their own. Adjacent to the front door are two special rooms. to the right, a classic Wheat Pool elevator fac¸ade decorates the exterior to her office space. to the left, a barn-like fac¸ade built with au- thentic prairie barn board yields a small doorway where Car- rie’s guitars can be seen, and which leads to Carrie’s rehearsal space. And this is just the front of the hayloft. A small stage
beckons in front of the barn music room, which then opens into a living room and kitchen area adorned with all forms of art. “It’s really gratifying to be able to bring all sorts of events, from group performances to book readings, to this space,” says Carrie proudly.
the hayloft was built as a “doll house” safeway – a small, one level mini grocery mart, one of the smallest in Canada in the 1930s. When they bought the building, it had been aban- doned for years. “We gutted it, and found out it had these great ceilings beyond the lower suspended ceiling.”
Community is a big part of everything Carrie does. she was recently a key contributor in producing lugo – a multimedia art exhibit/showcase at the mendel Art gallery in saskatoon.
“the whole idea was to bring together different disciplines, create collaborations and just create a sense of community.” she also immerses herself in the community through her teaching work. With a masters in english, Carrie has taught a class on gender and popular music at the univer- sity of saskatchewan – and today, greatly values the symbiosis between her teaching and music. “When I was teaching, I felt I should be doing music, and when I was doing music, I felt that I should be working on the class...for a lot of years I was doing a lot of different things, and I always felt I wanted to be more immersed in music, and I realized that it provided a really great balance,” Carrie explains. “going to school gave me a break from the industry and provided perspective on music, and being in music gave me perspective on teaching...it also introduced me to different communities, which could translate into potential audiences for my music. I just kind of stopped thinking about it distracting me from music, and trusted that it was leading me in the right direc- tion. that was a big moment.”
now a proud mother, a theme reflected through and through upon on her latest album, Wilder- ness, Carrie is finding balance between her family responsibilities and the demands of her grow- ing presence in the greater music world. “People now say, ‘do you make a living with music?’ my answer is, ‘yes and no,’ ” she chuckles. “All of these things are moving in the direction – I’m doing songwriting workshops in schools, and I could’ve said that’s taking me away from my real direction with music, but it’s not; it expands my audience... those kids teach me more about creativity than any songwriter I’ve ever met, and it’s all what I love! so I stopped trying to define it, and go with it.”
Perhaps the greatest test of Carrie’s balance was to be found on her inaugural “Baby on Board” Western Canadian tour, with full family in tow, including newborn son eliot. “We just got off tour with eliot, and it was the best tour we’ve ever had,” Carrie enthuses. “We were forced to take breaks while driving. We were forced to slow down and enjoy where we were at, and I had everyone I love in the van with me!”
aRTisT FEaTURE
“I think years ago I realized I’m not just a musician; that’s a huge part of my life but my family [provides balance]: we all work around each other so that they can come on tour, and then there’s times when I need to give up music opportunities to be there for them; it all works out.”
Carrie’s tour was supported by the saskatchewan Arts Board’s Culture on the go program, and through FACtoR (the Foundation Assisting Canadian talent on Record). Carrie emphasizes that while she’s grateful for the as- sistance, she’s hoping to use the opportunity as a launching pad to pursue tours independently, without necessarily having to depend on external financial contributions: “using [the funds I’ve received] to build a tour that then doesn’t require funding support,” Carrie says. the second leg of the tour will occur through october, to ontario and Que´bec. “I have a lot of family out there, a lot of musicians that I’ve worked with, and it will be a great time to connect,” she adds.
not that touring wasn’t without its share of challenges “We did the full tour as a duo,” Carrie explains. “[Percussionist hal schrenk and myself ] really crafted the live show to a new level with backdrops – trees - by Levi Souiodre

The Wonders Of Wilderness: LOCAL SINGER-SONGWRITER EMBRACES LIFE OUTSIDE OF COMFORT ZONE

It’s been a whirlwind year or so for songstress Carrie Catherine, who’s just released a new album, Wilderness. She’s also a relatively new mother to a bouncing baby boy named Eliot, and she was named a 2010 Saskatoon YWCA Woman of Distinction (for Arts, Culture, and Heritage). To top it all off, her song Rockabye was selected to accompany Ami McKay’s book, The Birthing House, by the CBC’s Afternoon Edition.

It’s all been great — but it’s pretty clear which event is the most important for Catherine.
“Having a baby last July has totally changed everything,” she says, “and this is a change you’ll also hear in my music. As a model for this new little being in the world, I feel compelled to always do my
best, not apologize for anything and live up to my fullest potential all the time: as a lover, singer, mother, friend and more.”

“When I first had Eliot, I was songwriting for another project. Often it’s hard to get time to write with my guitar in hand, especially in the early months when I had Eliot in my arms all the time. But I did a lot of songwriting in my head, and singing melodies out loud, which I then figured out on the guitar. [As well], touring with a baby is busy — so there’s just no time to fret about the small stuff! That’s a welcome change, actually; I play and perform with more abandon and I’ve stopped thinking about what I’m doing. Now I just do it.”

A lot of the album was conceived in Nashville, as Catherine travelled there with the goal of learning from the greats and improving her craft. She met some great people, played with some stellar musicians, and even got to see the man himself, Al Green.

“I took some good advice,” she says, “and went to the place where the best writers in the world thrive: Nashville. I’m also incredibly inspired by soul music and wanted to go where that musical tradition emerged. Visiting Memphis for the first time — and seeing Al Green preach in his own church — was life-changing, and I think the experience really informed my writing. Recording in Nashville really forced me to play in the moment with confidence, without any doubts or questions in my mind or heart.”

Wilderness was recorded in Nashville, and produced by Colin Linden (of Bruce Cockburn and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings fame). Catherine says Linden dialled up a warm percussive sound that reminds her of Stax Records recordings — and like those early recordings, much of the album was recorded live off the floor.

“I think it’s really rootsy and sensual,” she says. “The first track on the album, ‘Lullaby,’ is the first take of the song, and the first song we recorded. So you’re literally hearing the excitement and anticipation of bringing together amazing musicians and unleashing their passions.”
As for the title, Catherine had a loose concept or inspiration point that went along well with all the uncharted territory she was heading into.
“I think Wilderness is about breaking out of the routine and predictability of everyday life and opening myself up to new possibilities — literally getting out of the charted territory of my own backyard and diving into the unknown. I think my first journey down to Nashville was a trip into the metaphorical wilderness, and I remember feeling totally disoriented when I first arrived in a city where I didn’t know a soul. But what an exhilarating experience to go there and then find my way.

“The process of becoming a mother has also been a trip into the wilderness, where I’ve learned to look and listen, pay attention and be intuitive. I think there are a lot of ways that we can stay safe and confined. Wilderness is about change and movement and bravely stepping out of those confines.”

Catherine is heading off on a cross-Canada tour in support of Wilderness, but keep your eyes peeled for a chance to see Catherine live when she gets back. I was lucky enough to have Catherine and her percussionist, Hal Schrenk, as guests on my radio show, and they did a lot with a little.

“Hal and I have developed a really imaginative live show together. I love telling stories during the show, and Hal pulls out a lot of surprises as well. For example, he’ll perform on a shovel, hockey puck, and guitar case throughout the course of the show. So it’s more than just a simple repetition of the songs — our shows are all about creating real connections with an audience.” - by Craig Silliphant

New mother singer-songwriter performs in Edmonton
BY TOM MURRAY, JUNE 2, 2011

EDMONTON - There’s much more to touring with Carrie Catherine than there is with your average folk singer-songwriter.

Unpacking at the venue, verifying drinks and meals and setting up accommodation amounts to much the same as with anyone else, but Catherine also has a 10-month-old baby to factor into the equation when playing out-of-town gigs.

“Everything becomes complete chaos during sound check,” laughs Catherine over the phone from the Saskatoon home she shares with baby Eliot and her husband Curtis, who also doubles as sound person, lighting tech and roadie.

“Curtis and (drummer) Hal (Schrenk) will be unloading gear and setting up, and I’m in this weird space between being a mom and a performer.
There are moments onstage during sound check when I’ll be going ‘OK, can I get maybe more guitar in the monitor, and some reverb on my vocals, and oh, could you change Eliot’s diaper?’ I’m doing both roles at once. Best of all is playtime at the back of venue, when we’re rolling around on the floor. Those are interesting times of the day.”

The two-week western Canadian tour that sees Catherine performing an early show at the Haven Social Club came about after a number of smaller jaunts, where the couple got the feel of travelling as a family. Catherine acknowledges that those first few shows were exhausting, but for this road stint, she’ll be employing the services of her mother to watch over Eliot during the concerts, including Friday’s stop at the Haven Social Club.

“I’ve had Mom on the road before. She’s done short stints with me on long drives, like to Toronto, basically just to keep me company. I think she’s probably looking forward to this.”
Catherine and her husband are prominent members of the Saskatoon music scene, not just as performers but also for the house concert series in their home, a renovated grocery store called The Hayloft. Considering the amount of promoting she does in town, it’s astonishing that she’s had time to release three acclaimed albums (Out the Car Window, produced by ex-Captain Tractor member Brock Skywalker here in Edmonton; Venus Envy and Green-Eyed Soul). Her latest, Wilderness, was overseen by producer and guitarist Colin Linden in Nashville, with musical help from much of Emmylou Harris’s band, as well as legendary harmonica player Charlie McCoy (Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley.)

“Saskatoon can feel isolated to a certain point, and I wanted to work at being a better songwriter. I started putting out there that I wanted to take it to the next level, and people said that I had to start co-writing. I’ve never been very successful at that,” she admits, “but I thought that the place to go would be Nashville.”

After some loose conversations with Linden about possibly working on an album, Catherine contacted a label owner she knew in Nashville, and made the decision to travel there. She showed up alone and somewhat disoriented, but was impressed by the musical community she found there, one that judged songwriters on the merit of their work, not their connections.

“It didn’t matter how big a name you had, or your experience, or how many hits you had. All they cared about was if you could write a good song. If you could prove yourself, the rest was moot. I co-wrote a couple of songs on the new album with Vince Melamed, who wrote Trisha Yearwood’s Walk Away Joe, and it worked out so well. The scene was easy and fun, and the business side never entered into it.”

Concert preview Carrie Catherine With: Paul Bellows and Daniel Huscroft
When: Friday at 6 p.m. Where: Haven Social Club, 15120 Stony Plain Rd.
Tickets: $10 in advance at yeglive.ca or $12 at the door © Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal - by Tom Murray

There is a heartbreaking longing on Rockabye, a song on Carrie Catherine’s new album Wilderness. The song and its singer ache for a baby.

Today, the song retains a powerful sense of waiting. Catherine, on the other hand, can celebrate both the new album and her new addition, Eliot.

Balancing a coffee, bouncing baby boy and a conversation, Catherine sat down recently for an interview and explained how inextricably linked her lives as a musician and mother are.

“It’s funny how these two processes have really evolved side-by-side and they’re helping each other. Music is teaching me how to be creative and intuitive with Eliot and he’s teaching me how to just play with total abandon, be in the moment and really be bigger than I’ve ever been on stage,” she said.

Wilderness is the product of years of work for Catherine. (The album’s release was delayed after the musician found out she was pregnant.) The process began before Catherine even planned on an album. The catalyst was Colin Linden, a musician producer known for his work with Emmylou Harris and Bruce Cockburn. Catherine kept seeing his name on projects she loved.

Then, Catherine tried to snag a venue in Wakefield, Que., only to find out Linden was playing that very night. Catherine saw it as a sign and took the night off to attend his show. Things clicked, and the seeds of a new album were planted.

Catherine recorded the album with Linden in Nashville.

“When I finally got to Nashville and got the chance to sit down with Colin and jam, it was total magic. He would play the songs as if he’d played them a million times before, so we started talking about doing an album.”

Wilderness also contains two songs co-written with Vince Melamed (who penned Trisha Yearwood’s Walkaway Joe).

The album was nearly finished when Catherine found out she was expecting.

“I was in Nashville doing the last set of recordings. I bought a book called Taking Charge of Your Fertility because we’d been trying for years. The irony is that I was pregnant at the time,” she said.

Catherine will embark on a western Canadian tour following her Saskatoon dates, on a sojourn appropriately titled the Baby on Board Tour. On a couple of Saskatchewan dates earlier this month, Catherine learned that touring with a baby comes with a unique set of challenges.

“The biggest challenge was sound check. I’m trying to be a mom, so we’re having play time. Eliot loves cords so he’s getting into everything. Then at some point I have to get on stage and find out how everything sounds. I’m on stage going ‘A little more guitar and can we change his diaper?’ ”

Catherine said she’s excited about the new live show, calling it better than anything she’s done before. The singer will be accompanied by percussionist Hal Schrenk, who helped create a backdrop for the stage. The concerts will include set pieces and lighting to create a more theatrical atmosphere.

“It’s just about bringing the theme to life. We’ve also used wilderness audio samples. It adds to the music and helps tell a story. It’s also just a little more unique and expresses who I am,” she said

THE FACTS

Describe the album in two sentences: It’s rootsy, live off the floor and I think it’s very sensual with themes of motherhood and femininity. It crosses folk, roots and Americana and because I recorded it in the south, some soul made it in.

Favourite childrens’ song: The foolproof song in the car when Eliot’s freaking out is You Are My Sunshine. That song might make a special appearance on tour.

Favourite wilderness activity: Swimming, for sure. I can name some of the best swims in my life. I love the water and I grew up spending summers at the lake.

Best way to spend an afternoon: A perfect summer day involves a walk by the river, a great cafe and hanging out with Eliot and my husband Curtis.

New song you’re most excited to play: I still always get chills performing Rockabye. It’s something I wrote before Eliot was born about wanting to be a mom. It’s a song that people really resonate with. Everybody seems to know somebody going through that. It’s a song I’m really proud of.

Tour staples: A cooler of fresh fruit and a good book. Now we also have a stroller and a high chair.

Road trip theme song: Road Regrets by Dan Mangan and You Can Sleep While I Drive by Melissa Etheridge.

Last album you purchased: Repeat Offender by Peter Elkas.

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/entertainment/Catherine+finds+wilderness+Nashville/4840411/story.html#ixzz1Ny4XtnHL
- by Stephanie McKay

Carrie Catherine hasn't quit the Saskatoon music scene. Like many before her, it was a desire to infuse an air of Southern authenticity into her repertoire and to collaborate with Nashville's finest that brought her to that Southern Mecca, and eventually into the hands of producer Colin Linden (Colin James, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn). Wilderness was recorded to tape with the help of seasoned musicians, including Bryan Owings and Chris Donohue (bassist and percussionist for Emmylou Harris), and most notably, the legendary Charlie McCoy, whose mastery of harmonica and vibraphone brought him work with the likes of Presley and Dylan. With or without all that stellar support, Catherine's warm, malleable voice, floating with ease above her carefully crafted melodies, demands recognition. Her slice-of-life lyrics, spun into captivating shorts, complete with characters, plots and conflicts, go a long way in staving off any criticism of pop pretence. - by Nereida Fernandes

Curtis Olson and Carrie Catherine are no strangers to urban renewal.
?Olson, formerly a musician and now an engineer, and Catherine, a musician and event producer, have brought new life to a number of old or abandoned buildings in Saskatoon’s historic Riversdale area, creating trendy studio and performance venues for Saskatoon’s arts community. An abandoned church became The Cherch: A Place of Art Worship that brought a variety of arts organizations and performers together for the first time; amid so much enthusiasm, Olson and Catherine knew they were onto something. An empty neighbour- hood grocery store in the same area was converted into The Hayloft, a building that not only serves as the entrepreneur- ial couple’s home, but includes offices and a space used to host house concerts.
The most recent example of the duo’s vision for integrating urban renewal and development with an artistic and creative vibe is The Two Twenty.... - by Elaine Carlson

How Curtis Olson and Carrie Catherine are challenging perceptions and revitalizing neighbourhoods.

Curtis Olson remembers when he stopped think- ing about what was and started thinking about what could
be. Today, more than six years after an offhand remark reshaped the way he imagined Saskatoon, the memory is still clear. “In one second my perspective changed,” Olson says between sips of coffee. “I came down here with Jyhling Lee, who is an architect and a friend. We were standing on the corner of 20th and Avenue B. Jyh- ling said, ‘I love it down in Riv- ersdale. It reminds me of Queen Street West in Toronto ten years ago.’ I understood everything she was talking about because I was
a touring musician for awhile, and we played in Toronto in
the late 1990s. Queen West was filled with used record shops, CD shops, tons of quirky little bou- tiques — it was cheap, it was in- teresting, it was diverse.”
The insight came like a flash of light: Olson saw the potential of an
otherwise unremarkable street in the Saskatoon core. Just as Queen Street West became a bastion of social dynamism and carefully-managed growth, so too could Riversdale. Six years later, he and his wife, Carrie Catherine, have emerged as the vanguard in a dramatic urban transformation. Their vision of a mixed neighbourhood overflowing with exciting businesses and interesting people is now a reality.
Ten years ago, many people thought of Riversdale as a hive of transient businesses and dodgy characters. Anchored by the infamous Barry and Albany Hotels, the old neighbour- hood on the western edge of Saska- toon’s core was best forgotten. Not Olson and Catherine. Where some people saw decay, they saw oppor- tunity. Where others noticed derelict buildings and crumbling fac¸ades, they saw a vast urban playground. Olson and Catherine saw Riversdale for what it could be, not what it was.
“We’ve always been firm believ- ers in the notion that a city is what you make it,” says Catherine, a singer-songwriter who is well-known as a social and developmental activ- ist. “We loved the notion that a lot of people feared, which was that it was a very mixed neighbourhood — a
lot of older residents who had been there forever, a lot of new people moving in, and a lot of rentals. Cul- turally diverse. All of those things, to us, were assets.”
The pair have spent several years building an ideal that reflects their belief in the benefits of diversity. They see the natural intersection
of communities in Riversdale as something to embrace, not ignore or correct. Olson and Catherine believe diversity breeds stability: “It’s a good thing because it drives compassion,
it drives charity, it drives all of these other positive social aspects — just because of people crossing paths with each other.” - by Alex J MacPherson

Ms Chatelaine for the month of January, singer and social maverick Carrie Catherine, unites people both on and off the stage

CARRIE CATHERINE is bringing artists of all kinds under one roof in a contemporary creative enterprise. She and her husband, Curtis Olson, a developer, recently set up the Two Twenty, a communal office and event space with studios and a cafe´, to give artists, freelancers and entrepreneurs a place to work together and inspire each other. “We wanted talented people to have a professional and creative shared environment,” she says of the property bordered by second-hand shops in Riversdale, a west Saskatoon neighbourhood in transition.
This is the second time the couple have tackled a community-building project: Their home is a converted 1930s grocery store that doubles as an intimate gig venue, the Hayloft (from where CBC’s Canada Live music show has been broadcast).

When Carrie’s not instigating social innovation, she’s a singer-songwriter. She won the 2009 Kerrville Folk Festival’s prestigious New Folk songwriting competition in Texas, as well as various other accolades. Her fourth CD, the rootsy Wilderness, was recorded two years ago in Nashville with Colin Linden, the Canadian producer and Grammy- and Juno-winning tone master. “Wilderness is about the thrill and discomfort of moving beyond the familiar terrain of your own backyard,” she says.

Just after she finished recording, Carrie found out she was pregnant. Almost four months pregnant, in fact. “I’d missed my whole first trimester!” she says. The couple had been trying to have children for years but had been so unlucky they gave up on the idea. (Her song “Rockabye” shares their pain of desperately wanting a baby but being unable to conceive.)

Eliot was born in July 2010 and Carrie waited until the following May to release the album so she could take him on the road with her. In June she began the aptly named “Baby on Board” tour of Western Canada, Ontario and Quebec. It involved serious multi-tasking, she says: “I’d be on stage telling Curtis, who’s also my sound technician, ‘I need more guitar in the monitor, some more verb on the vocals, and I think Eliot needs a change!’”

Carrie wants to take things a step further and get an Airstream trailer and portable stage so she and her music mom friends Coco Love Alcorn and Keri Latimer can tour together. “It’ll be called Babies on Board--we’ll be exhausted, but we’ll be having so much fun!”?? - by D. Grant Black

Carrie Catherine
Green Eyed Soul (independent)
Attention, indie music radar watchers: if Saskatchewan singersongwriter
Carrie Catherine hasn’t blipped onto your screen yet, you’re spending too much time listening in the wrong direction. Her third disc, Green Eyed Soul, more than delivers on the strong promise of her first two releases (Out the Car Window, Venus Envy), helped along by producer deluxe Don Kerr (Rheostatics, Ron Sexsmith). While Catherine’s smooth-as-old scotch voice is still reminiscent of a young Bonnie Raitt (and just as growly sexy), both her vocals and guitar work on Soul seem to be moving into the Ani DiFranco territory (especially on “Wineglass”)—a canny move when it comes to building an audience, but one that doesn’t exactly make her stand out from the girl-with guitar pack. Still, she’s got a knack for penning a good tune, as these 10 strong tracks prove. Less rootsy than Venus but with a greater range of material, Soul is dense with intelligent pop songs that should have good crossover radio potential with the 30-plus crowd. Based on these songs, I’m expecting to hear her on CBC’s Fuse anytime now.
- Monday Magazine February 2008

Carrie Catherine
Green Eyed Soul (independent)
Attention, indie music radar watchers: if Saskatchewan singersongwriter
Carrie Catherine hasn’t blipped onto your screen yet, you’re spending too much time listening in the wrong direction. Her third disc, Green Eyed Soul, more than delivers on the strong promise of her first two releases (Out the Car Window, Venus Envy), helped along by producer deluxe Don Kerr (Rheostatics, Ron Sexsmith). While Catherine’s smooth-as-old scotch voice is still reminiscent of a young Bonnie Raitt (and just as growly sexy), both her vocals and guitar work on Soul seem to be moving into the Ani DiFranco territory (especially on “Wineglass”)—a canny move when it comes to building an audience, but one that doesn’t exactly make her stand out from the girl-with guitar pack. Still, she’s got a knack for penning a good tune, as these 10 strong tracks prove. Less rootsy than Venus but with a greater range of material, Soul is dense with intelligent pop songs that should have good crossover radio potential with the 30-plus crowd. Based on these songs, I’m expecting to hear her on CBC’s Fuse anytime now.
- Monday Magazine February 2008

Songwriter teaches her craft - Carrie Catherine tells vivid stories in her soul-filled songs, and she wants to teach Swift Current teens to do the same. The Saskatoon chanteuse recently released her third CD...While she was here [Swift Current] she met with students where she will be teaching songwriting workshops in the new year. She grew up playing classical piano, but found her songwriting voice when she learned the guitar. Her album's name, "Green-Eyed Soul", is how Catherine described her musical genre. Her sound is influenced by artists like Al Green, Macy Gray, and Aretha Franklin, but also by her life as a prairie girl. Her songs tell simple stories from her life, and come from sentimental, meaningful events, to offhand comments she might hear during the day. Teaching people to write songs is difficult because everyone has to discover his or her own process. But she's has some practice now, after taking part in workshops in Sasktaoon schools during the Junos, and again in Val Marie, where she did three sessions with students there. Maverick [High School] has applied for an ArtsSmart grant through the Saskatchewan Arts Board to fund the workshops Catherine plans to hold in 2008. - Praire post - November 2007

Songwriter teaches her craft - Carrie Catherine tells vivid stories in her soul-filled songs, and she wants to teach Swift Current teens to do the same. The Saskatoon chanteuse recently released her third CD...While she was here [Swift Current] she met with students where she will be teaching songwriting workshops in the new year. She grew up playing classical piano, but found her songwriting voice when she learned the guitar. Her album's name, "Green-Eyed Soul", is how Catherine described her musical genre. Her sound is influenced by artists like Al Green, Macy Gray, and Aretha Franklin, but also by her life as a prairie girl. Her songs tell simple stories from her life, and come from sentimental, meaningful events, to offhand comments she might hear during the day. Teaching people to write songs is difficult because everyone has to discover his or her own process. But she's has some practice now, after taking part in workshops in Sasktaoon schools during the Junos, and again in Val Marie, where she did three sessions with students there. Maverick [High School] has applied for an ArtsSmart grant through the Saskatchewan Arts Board to fund the workshops Catherine plans to hold in 2008. - Praire post - November 2007

Green Eyed Soul has given Carrie Catherine's career a new focus. The Saskatoon singer-songwriter has introduced theatrical elements to her love show and has written songs specifally for the stage in her latest CD.Thanks to a Saskatchewan Arts Board grant, Catherine was able to grow as an
artist as she developed the concept. She’s studied performance and created a set featuring a large farmhouse-type window that frames a projection screen showing
slides of the Prairies to go with her original songs.Artistically, the project brings various
disciplines together, like music and
theatre. Proving that an independent musician doesn’t have to be isolated, she’s formed partnerships with private companies like Festival Distribution, which will give Green Eyed Soul and her previous album Venus Envy national distribution. She’s backed by Turner Coben Event
Management to give her promo more zing. Meyers Norris Penny is sponsoring the release party, as is Deja Vu Salon. She’s even landed a clothing endorsement with Dace out of Vancouver.Catherine’s CD release show will be like no other. Fans can enjoy a green martini before the show sponsored by Flint, the proceeds of which will support The Songs of Prairie Kids, a series of song creation workshops
Catherine plans to do with children and youth. - The StarPhoenix - Saskatoon - November 2007

Prairie girl brings sound to Okanagan. In her third, and newest, album, Green Eyed Soul,
Catherine further examines day-to-day events that many people lose sight of — something she enjoys writing and singing about. Her soul and folk sound has brought her fans. Songs from her first album, Out the Car Window, have been featured on such television programs as Joan of Arcadia, Beautiful People and Catherine had a cameo on Fresh with Anna Olson. - Penticton Western News - February 2008

Green Eyed Soul has given Carrie Catherine's career a new focus. The Saskatoon singer-songwriter has introduced theatrical elements to her love show and has written songs specifally for the stage in her latest CD.Thanks to a Saskatchewan Arts Board grant, Catherine was able to grow as an
artist as she developed the concept. She’s studied performance and created a set featuring a large farmhouse-type window that frames a projection screen showing
slides of the Prairies to go with her original songs.Artistically, the project brings various
disciplines together, like music and
theatre. Proving that an independent musician doesn’t have to be isolated, she’s formed partnerships with private companies like Festival Distribution, which will give Green Eyed Soul and her previous album Venus Envy national distribution. She’s backed by Turner Coben Event
Management to give her promo more zing. Meyers Norris Penny is sponsoring the release party, as is Deja Vu Salon. She’s even landed a clothing endorsement with Dace out of Vancouver.Catherine’s CD release show will be like no other. Fans can enjoy a green martini before the show sponsored by Flint, the proceeds of which will support The Songs of Prairie Kids, a series of song creation workshops
Catherine plans to do with children and youth. - The StarPhoenix - Saskatoon - November 2007

"The echoes of some of the folk greats can be heard in Green-eyed Soul. Listeners can find the ghosts of such folk-rock luminaries as John Fogerty, Ani DiFranco and Jewel swirling in the undercurrents and lurking in the darkened corners of songs like "Promises" and "Like a Book" as Catherine invokes those spirits--shining light on them to illustrate that they're there--but never bowing down to them and thus maintaining a spirit and voice all her own.

Enhanced by Don Kerr's inspired percussion work and Drew Jurecka's sympathetic string arrangements, Catherine is able to coax every emotive drop out of these songs too; the heartbroken and introspective melodies that grace the album (but in "Promises" in particular) are knee-buckling in their candor and keep listeners glued to their speakers to find out, as in the best fictitious memoirs, how it's all going to end and who winds up on top. Of course, the narrative is left unfinished here which makes the album that much more inviting.

Like every great serial character, Carrie Catherine leaves the end of Green-eyed Soul open to let her music go in any direction she chooses from here; she's set the wheels in motion but doesn't close the book at the end of the album which leaves the singer's listeners hungry for more and while the singer does concede that what appears on the record isn't what fans can expect from the stage show is something equally titillating.

"The live show is definitely quite a lot different from the album," says the singer frankly. [. . .] "I do genuinely love performing live and I pay a lot of attention to putting on a good show and telling stories that really engage the audience so for me, the album's done and I'm promoting it, but the show has to diverge from the album; I don't want to just get up there and play the same ones. A lot of the time, things that we did on record don't translate live so regardless of whether or not it sounds exactly like the record, I'm more focused on what makes a really great show." - ECHO Weekly March 2008

"The echoes of some of the folk greats can be heard in Green-eyed Soul. Listeners can find the ghosts of such folk-rock luminaries as John Fogerty, Ani DiFranco and Jewel swirling in the undercurrents and lurking in the darkened corners of songs like "Promises" and "Like a Book" as Catherine invokes those spirits--shining light on them to illustrate that they're there--but never bowing down to them and thus maintaining a spirit and voice all her own.

Enhanced by Don Kerr's inspired percussion work and Drew Jurecka's sympathetic string arrangements, Catherine is able to coax every emotive drop out of these songs too; the heartbroken and introspective melodies that grace the album (but in "Promises" in particular) are knee-buckling in their candor and keep listeners glued to their speakers to find out, as in the best fictitious memoirs, how it's all going to end and who winds up on top. Of course, the narrative is left unfinished here which makes the album that much more inviting.

Like every great serial character, Carrie Catherine leaves the end of Green-eyed Soul open to let her music go in any direction she chooses from here; she's set the wheels in motion but doesn't close the book at the end of the album which leaves the singer's listeners hungry for more and while the singer does concede that what appears on the record isn't what fans can expect from the stage show is something equally titillating.

"The live show is definitely quite a lot different from the album," says the singer frankly. [. . .] "I do genuinely love performing live and I pay a lot of attention to putting on a good show and telling stories that really engage the audience so for me, the album's done and I'm promoting it, but the show has to diverge from the album; I don't want to just get up there and play the same ones. A lot of the time, things that we did on record don't translate live so regardless of whether or not it sounds exactly like the record, I'm more focused on what makes a really great show." - ECHO Weekly March 2008

“With a rich, jazzy voice C.C. . . .plays it cool and confident, with soulful pop and cocky delivery. Her own songs show her to be a thoughtful writer, from the Natalie Merchant school, with an ability to have some rockin’ fun. The lone cover is a brave and competent take on the Supremes’ Baby Love, a tune you can’t do without vocal chops and guts.” - New Brunswick Telegraph Journal August 9, 2006

“Slickly produced—but not overworked—by John MacArthur Ellis . . . Venus Envy is the kind of disc Liz Phair used to make before she started churning out Clear Channel crap. And you’ve just gotta dig anyone who’s not only got the guts to cover the Supremes’ “Baby Love” but also be able pull it off with style and sass.” - Monday magazine February 2006

“A confident entertainer, the tiny musician commands a stage like a cabaret figure, working the room from behind an enormous guitar like a prairie version of Eartha Kitt, with a voice that seems a cross between the stylings of ’50s girl groups and vintage country chanteuses.” - SEE magazine February 2006

“If there is such a thing as a prairie sound, Catherine may or may not fit the description. If you could, try and imagine Diana Ross growing up in Saskatchewan without the pretensions and you may get a feel for Catherine's spin on green-eyed soul. It's a sound and a style that is celebrated on Venus Envy, arguably the best Saskatchewan independent release of 2005.” - Leader-Post November 2005