Squamish’s Jocelyn Pettit and her band will be leaving on a jet plane today for Toronto.
Tomorrow night, they will be playing as part of a showcase for the Canadian Folk Music Awards, which will be held on Saturday. The showcase event is taking place at the renowned Hugh’s Room and will feature five of the other nominees at the event.
“We’re really excited to have been nominated to play at the nominee’s case,” the local fiddler told The Squamish Chief.
Pettit received a nomination in the World Artist of the Year category for “Caravan,” her second album.
The Canadian Folk Music Awards was created in 2005 to celebrate and promote all forms of folk music in the country. This year, there are 72 nominees in 19 categories representing every province and territory in the country.
Pettit was nominated for two awards in 2010 following the release of her self-titled debut record
The trip to Toronto is a bit of a detour for Pettit, who is in the midst of a tour through Washington and Oregon with the Washington ensemble Magical Strings for performances of its Celtic Yuletide. The seasonal tour is making its 38th annual run and will keep Pettit busy through Dec. 16.
For the Pacific Northwest tour, she will be playing eight shows with Magical Strings in cities including Seattle, Tacoma and Portland, as well as some smaller communities.
“It’s very festive and a lot of fun,” she said.
Pettit is also working on new material for a record to follow up “Caravan,” though she and the band are not quite ready to go into the studio just yet.
“There’s always something in the works,” she said. “We’re in the writing and arranging stages.”
For the coming year, she has some shows in Seattle planned for early 2017 with her father, Joel.
She also expects to be playing some shows in the Lower Mainland next year as well as heading back to Europe for shows next summer.
It was there that she began to discover the broad geographic roots of Celtic music, which spread through regions like Brittany in France, Galicia in Spain and even parts of Scandinavia. It was these sounds that wove their way into the “Caravan” record and continue to influence Pettit.
After a CD launch party in Squamish a year ago, she and the band spent time on the road playing at places around B.C., as well as in Ontario and the U.S.
As far as this weekend in Toronto is concerned, she is not sure what her chances are of winning an award, but she is pleased with the opportunity to showcase her music and network with other musicians in Canada’s folk music community.
“It brings together so many wonderful artists,” she said. “We’re just so excited no matter the outcome.”
