ATHABASCA – “Singer, songwriter and funny as s**t” is how Amy Bishop bills herself, and she’s looking to display all those traits during a performance in Athabasca this week.
Bishop will conclude the spring season for the Heartwood Folk Club May 12 when she’ll play a two-hour set, including an intermission, at the Nancy Appleby Theatre — tickets are currently available at Value Drug Mart or Whispering Hills Fuels.
The show by the Calgary-born singer-songwriter has been heavily anticipated as club music director Charlie DeShane talked her up during a Feb. 6 interview. This season was DeShane’s first as music director and part of the plan has been to showcase different acts for the local audience — Bishop first caught his eye during Alberta Showcase, an event where 35 musicians perform for an assortment of promoters, labels and more.
“I didn’t really know much about her. I had heard about her, she was on Canadian Idol. She did a set and it just absolutely blew everyone’s doors off. It was unbelievable,” said DeShane. “Several of us (members of the folk club) were there and we all knew we had to book her.”
Bishop’s website says that she got her start playing around the campfire, at block parties and in the church choir and her experience with those audiences carries over to her live shows.
Bishop may stand alone as the most unique artist from the past season as she weaves stories and songs together in a way that captivates her audience, and transcends the typical stagecraft that other singers use. In a way, she perfectly describes DeShane’s assertion that all music is folk music as it’s written by folks, it’s performed for folks and it’s enjoyed by folks.
Bishop’s love of music started at an early age as a video on her website says that her family wanted to be “the Canadian Von Trapp family” so singing came naturally.
“When I realized that I could feel emotion through singing, that was a big deal for me,” she said in the video.
Emotion styles her songwriting and her goal is to transport the listener to somewhere else and bring them to another space and time, like many of her favourite artists do.
“I love a good story, so (artists) like Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gretchen Peters, Cheryl Wheeler and the Barenaked Ladies who I love, they all write great story songs.”
