City ditties

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This article was published 17/01/2025 (282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s musical canon will soon have something of a greatest hits album.

Her (204): Stories of One Great City Revisited, a collaborative record to be released in March by the Manitoba Chamber of Women in Music, will feature women and gender-diverse artists singing iconic songs from Winnipeg’s 150-year history.

Participating musicians include Boniface, Keisha Booker, Rayannah, Rhonda Head and others.

The project was unveiled Friday at a media conference attended by local politicians and music industry figures.

“We really are getting a gift, not just at the moment but to future generations,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said. “I would put money on it today, that your songs will be heard and cherished more than any speech I ever give.”

While the track list isn’t public yet, Winnipeg musicians whose songs are covered on Her (204) include the Weakerthans, Chantal Kreviazuk, Vince Fontaine, the Crash Test Dummies and Sons of the Pioneers.

The last act on the list may come as a surprise. Active from 1933 through today, Sons of the Pioneers once counted Roy Rogers as a member and are one of the United States’ earliest western groups.

But they have a quasi-local origin story, with Winnipegger Bob Nolan as a founding member. Nolan, considered one of the genre’s finest songwriters, penned such classics as Cool Water and Tumbling Tumbleweeds.

Other artists covered on Her (204) are still active today.

Crooner Sebastian Gaskin is enjoying a successful R&B career in Toronto, while Chic Gamine, though technically defunct, is where several of Winnipeg’s best-known chanteuses — such as Andrina Turenne, who also sings on the album, and Alexa Dirks of Begonia — first established themselves.

To help reinterpret the chosen repertoire, Kerri Stephens, one of the project’s lead co-ordinators, enlisted local producers Lana Winterhalt of the Good and Plenty Producers Club, Rayannah, Keri Latimer and Michele ii of Boniface.

“It’s been such a fun project that I hope it’s not a one-off because there’s so many incredible artists, and it’s such a beautiful way to bring some of these songs back into the light,” said Stephens, who is head of the Manitoba Chapter of Women in Music Canada.

The album was recorded and mixed at Private Ear Recording and funded by the City of Winnipeg, among other organizations, in connection with Winnipeg 150 celebrations.

Her (204): Stories of One Great City Revisited will be released March 7, followed by a show at the Park Theatre on March. 9. Tickets are on sale now for $15 at myparktheatre.com.

conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca