SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Singer-songwriter and pianist Ann Vriend of Edmonton is kicking off her Canadian tour by playing a show at the Top Knight Pub Thursday night.

Singer-songwriter and pianist Ann Vriend of Edmonton will kick off her national CD release tour on Thursday night at the Top Knight. The show will also feature Dene singer-songwriter Leela Gilday and Yellowknife musician Jasmine Netsena. - photo courtesy of Leroy Schulz

Dene singer-songwriter Leela Gilday will be playing at the event as well as Yellowknife musician Jasmine Netsena. Gilday and Vriend first met while performing on the Babes For Breasts fundraising tour for the Canadian Cancer Society to support breast cancer research and programs, which included a concert at NACC in October 2009.

"She's a fantastic musician and just a really great person and you learn a lot about somebody when you tour with them, especially in close quarters in a mini-van," said Gilday.

"I became a big fan of her music and it's really great to host her up here and that she wanted to include Yellowknife in her tour plans."

Vriend said she wouldn't be able to make it up to Yellowknife without Gilday's help.

"Leela is a really busy person so I was really honoured that she was willing to take some time and put the show together and promote it," said Vriend.

"She is such a passionate performer and very truthful; it's very from the heart and that's inspiring. Also we just got along really well as friends and laugh a lot and agreed to help each other out."

Vriend, who is fresh from a tour in Australia, describes her new album, Love and Other Messes, as having an acoustic sound with a mix of Americana style that features a combination of blues, folk and soul.

"It's kind of all music that is folky in the sense in coming form the the part of the world where blues and soul and Americana meet," said Vriend.

She also said the album has a retro feel to it with much of the music recorded live off the floor, "so it sounds faithfully organic and not super-slick, although everyone is a real great player on the record," she said.

The singer songwriter said she think it's important to include some of the smaller locations on her trip across Canada.

"This is my national cross-country tour and I'm obviously not hitting every single place in Canada, but I wanted to hit representative areas of each part of the country," said Vriend. "So I know with the North it's harder to get to and there's (fewer) people so financially it doesn't make sense very often, but I think it's important."

After playing in Yellowknife, Vriend will make her way through Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, then out to the East Coast, and then back west again.

"For people in Yellowknife it's probably good to have as much variety as you can. And, like I said, it's expensive for people like me to go up there but if it can be made possible then it's a good sort of cultural exchange," she said.

Doors open Thursday night at the Top Knight Pub at 8 p.m. with music starting at 8:30 p.m.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.