Following tradition right to the stage

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This article was published 17/06/2023 (1203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandi Vezina’s musical versatility is beginning to pay off.

The Red River Métis singer-songwriter grew up in a musical family — her uncle was professional fiddler Tommy Knott — and the jigs and reels written centuries ago are passed from one generation to the next.

“I always have a fiddle in my band, and I talk about my culture wherever I go,” says the Winnipegger, who will be among the many performers today at Indigenous Day Live at The Forks, which culminates with a two-hour live telecast on APTN, starting at 7 p.m., that includes Winnipeg comedian Barney Morin and the Manitoba jig-dancing group Miss Sandi Bay & the Rainbow Tornadoes, among many others from across Canada.

“Music has always been part and parcel,” she says. “When we played board games, I was around the table with my family, playing guitar and harmonizing, playing spoons. I truly grew up singing.”

Fiddle and guitar are just as prominent in country music, making it an easy shift for Vezina and other Métis artists, whether in country’s traditional acoustic form from the 1900s or today’s cranked-up electric style, which will be on display when she performs at Dauphin’s Countryfest on Canada Day.

And once she’s turned up the amps, the “rocker at heart” is ready to roll. So Vezina, whose latest single, Dodged a Bullet, is a fun, bluesy rocker, found herself right at home on the Cube stage at Old Market Square for the opening night of the Winnipeg International Jazz Festival.

Family plays a big part in Dodged a Bullet, during which Vezina sings, “My granny was praying I’d see the light” about a suspicious boyfriend. In its video, Vezina is joined by her grandmother, Genevieve Lavassier, who sings backup vocals along with city producer and guitarist Murray Pulver.

“I was raised with my grandparents and my uncle, and that’s very traditionally Indigenous, to grow up with your family members,” Vezina says. “I had a beautiful, nice childhood in the country. Knowing my culture, fishing on the lake, cutting wood. I grew up with my culture.”

She spent her childhood on the shores of Lake Winnipeg at Stony Point, the traditional name for Patricia Beach Provincial Park, but her family moved to Winnipeg, where Vezina went to school.

While she continued singing and performing in her teens, she also took education to heart, earning degrees in environmental sciences and teaching.

But music continued to resonate in her soul.

“I had done what society told me to do,” Vezina says. “High school to university. Get a full-time job and do the things that set you up for success according to what should make a person happy — but it wasn’t making me happy.

“I still love kids, I love teaching, but my music is where my passion is. I know where I’m going and what I want to do.”

Her music career has gradually become Plan A, beginning with her first single, Walk Away, which mixes Métis fiddle with country rhythms, and her debut EP, 2021’s #dontsettle.

“I’m sassy by nature; I always say what I want to say,” she admits. “I sing about what I love and what I know, but I also have some depth to my songs. I like a little bit of storytelling as well.”

Two songs from the EP, which earned her five Manitoba Country Music Association award nominations last fall, show there’s more to Vezina’s music than a reason to dance and entertain.

Danger is about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, an issue that has plagued Winnipeg for decades, which includes the lyrical warning, “Danger, avoid this, my girl, it’ll destroy your world.”

The other is Alberta Rose, where Vezina recounts her mother’s story of returning home to Manitoba from wild rose country, worried about how her pregnancy would be received by her family. “She came home to mother’s arms and the hurt in daddy’s eyes,” Vezina sings.

“My mom told me the story about how hard it was on her coming home pregnant at that time and being a young Métis woman,” she says.

Vezina used musical downtime during the COVID-19 pandemic to learn about the music business, which country star Marty Stuart has described as having a guitar in one hand and a briefcase in the other. Online conferences, meetings with industry professionals and collaborations with songwriters in Alberta and Nashville are beginning to pay off in 2023.

”I did my research and kept learning. I didn’t sit still and get frustrated. I took all my energy and got ready for after the lockdown,” Vezina says. “This is for real, this is what I love and, thankfully, I’m able to make a viable income.

“I want a barn for my horses and a shed for my tractor in the country, doing music full time.”

Vezina already has the horses, which have a home at a farm outside the city, but she also wants an animal sanctuary.

The devout vegetarian says animals are a non-negotiable part of her life. It’s the subject of the latest episode of her Going Inward podcast, which she began in October 2020.

She motivates listeners by telling about her experiences in relationships, sobriety, and learning to love and value yourself.

“I have a cat colony and I have rescue horses. I have a rescue turtle, cats and dogs,” she says. “I have a huge fur family right now.”

alan.small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall