Squamish's own Jocelyn Pettit has garnered national recognition for her music.
The local fiddler, singer, composer, stepdancer, and her musical partner Ellen Gira won Traditional Album of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards last weekend for their first album together, All It Brings.
Pettit was one of only three musicians from British Columbia to earn awards at the ceremony, which celebrates and promotes the best of this country's folk musicians.
Pettit's award was given out on the last day as the last award at the event that was held April 3 to 7 in St. John’s.
"We're just so honoured to be nominated alongside so many other amazing artists. The Canadian Folk Music Awards are such an incredible gathering of artists and industry professionals from all across the country [and internationally]. And it's definitely a huge honour to be representing B.C.," Pettit told The Squamish Chief on Friday, a day after returning to Squamish from the east coast.
The other winning artists from B.C. were Ginalina, who won for Children’s Album of the Year, and Jill Barber with Erik P. H. Nielsen, who tied for Producer(s) of the Year.
Pettit and Gira were up against The Bookends with the Stratford Symphony Orchestra, Mary Beth Carty, Meredith Moon, and La Déferlance.
"When they called out All it Brings, it was just this moment of so much excitement, shock, joy—just all the emotions. [It was] a little bit overwhelming, really," Pettit said.
All It Brings features Pettit on fiddle and Gira, who is from Maryland, U.S., on cello.
In harmony
The theme of the uplifting album, which was released in 2022, is hope and resilience.
The pair, whose harmonies seem to blend seamlessly like old friends, connected in Glasgow, Scotland in 2018 when they were both studying traditional music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
"We had a lot of similar influences growing up listening to similar artists. Even though we were on opposite coasts, we were influenced by a lot of the same people," she said.
"We already had some of the same favourite tunes. And we were able to just jump right in and start playing together, and then start arranging. And over time, our style has evolved, with doing more composition. We're songwriting. We're working on our second duo album at the moment."
The pair recently finished an East Coast tour that took the duo through Maryland, New England and Pennsylvania.
"We were back and forth between winter and spring so many times, it was really hard to keep track," Pettit said with a laugh.
A theme of home
Now back home, Pettit is back teaching and performing locally.
She will be at Squamish Academy of Music (SAM) with Jennifer Mauel on Saturday night for a Music Social: An evening of Celtic Music and Dance.
Pettit and Gira are also organizing their third annual fiddle and cello retreat at SAM on July 6 and 7.
"The goal of that is to bring adult learners together of all ages, abilities, and instruments to learn, play, collaborate, meet, and have a fun weekend together," she said.
As for the duo's second album—Pettit's fifth overall—they start recording this summer in B.C., with more recording in the fall in Montreal with a guest guitarist, Everest Witman. It will be released in 2025.
"He's an amazing guitarist," Pettit said. "He'll be joining us on some of the tracks as a trio. The other tracks will be a mixture of songs and instrumentals, traditional, original, [and] some music that's been inspired by all of our travels. So some of the pieces are named after certain locations or certain people," she said.
The album All It Brings is available to listen to and purchase on Bandcamp and Pettit’s website.
Follow the duo for their upcoming shows, events and music on their website.
