Leith Ross learns to accept accolades

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This article was published 21/03/2024 (855 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Leith Ross began writing songs, the transplanted Winnipegger never believed they would connect with so many people, let alone awards jurors.

It was one of many things Ross has learned about To Learn.

The debut album earned a Juno Award nomination for top alternative album and the singer-songwriter will be in Halifax for the week’s worth of events, which build up to award presentations, most of which are on Saturday night, with the major ones handed out during Sunday’s televised gala (CBC, 7 p.m.).

“I think that is almost the strangest, most ironic and most wonderful part of songwriting is that you can write something entirely about yourself and then forget for a second that the human experience overlaps in so many ways with almost every person,” Ross says in an interview after learning of the nomination in February.

“It’s incredible to be recognized on this kind of level, but it also feels just as special to be able to put on a show and have anybody show up at all.”

And people have indeed shown up.

Ross, who uses they/them pronouns, has amassed a growing legion of devoted fans — members of a small social-media community call themselves “beleithers” — and the 25-year-old has become a hot commodity as a live performer.

The former Ottawa resident began building that following at the 2022 Winnipeg Folk Festival when a throng of fans enjoyed songs such as We’ll Never Have Sex, Guts and I Just Don’t Think You Like Me That Much Anymore, followed by two sold-out shows at the West End Cultural Centre when To Learn came out last May.

The excitement for Ross and To Learn continues in 2024. They open for Bahamas, the Toronto pop singer, April 27 at the Burton Cummings Theatre and will make a return visit to the folk fest in July.

“I’ve been a fan for a very long time. My mother introduced me to him when I was quite young, Grade 9, I think,” Ross says of Afie Jurvanen, the man behind Bahamas. “Barchords was my favourite record in the world for about two years after that.”

Ross is performing at Halifax nightclubs during Juno week, joining several other Manitoba artists nominated for awards who will be also part of the festivities.

They include William Prince, who is nominated for the top songwriting Juno, as well as top contemporary roots album; jazz guitarist Jocelyn Gould; metal group KEN Mode; James Ehnes, the Brandon-born violinist; Harry Stafylakis, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s composer-in-residence; and Begonia, the pop project created by Alexa Dirks, who joined Ross on a European tour last fall.

It’s where Ross got a chance to check out Leith, the port neighbourhood of Edinburgh, Scotland, with which they share a name.

“The little place we were rehearsing was actually in Leith, so I got to wander around and explore a bit, which was great. It was very fun. I got many, many pictures of signs with my name, which I never experienced over here,” Ross says.

Ross is writing songs for a new album, and while the success of To Learn has them in a more contented frame of mind, the new songs will still have personal stories that listeners should relate to.

“Unfortunately I have a little bit of that disease where I mostly write songs when I’m upset,” Ross says. “Even though I’m not struggling with all the same things that I struggled with when I wrote To Learn, the songs might still be sad, but here’s hoping there will be two or three happy ones.

“I feel people who are able to write happy songs have a crazy level of talent to be able to describe that in a new and different way. It’s harder to tap into, I think.”

Ross has no expectations going into the Junos weekend, aside from concerns about being uncomfortable.

“I’ve never really been to anything like this. I don’t have any clothes that I wear that make me feel dressed up. I play all my shows in T-shirts and jeans,” the singer says before remembering dressier days in high school.

“I liked the process of getting all dressed up. It’s more like the final presentation; once I’m in something fancy, then I feel like my clothes are trying to eat me and need to change into something loose and soft.”

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @AlanDSmall