Jenny Allen is excited about a couple of visits to Lethbridge to play the Lethbridge Folk Club.
She returns with her reunited folk trio the Fates on April 23, but stops by the Wolf’s Den (1502- 2nd Ave South) with multi-instrumentalist Pete Loughlin, Nov. 6.
“ I’ll be playing some my songs and Pete is amazing. He can play anything. He’s also a great songwriter, so maybe I’ll be able to talk him into playing a couple of his songs. you know how shy he is,” Allen chucked from Toronto, where she is playing a couple of shows and helping out a friends’ mother who has Parkinson’s disease.
“They flew me out so it’s worked out great for both of us,” she said adding she spontaneously picked up a second gig at Duffy’s just by walking through the door.
“ I just walked in and they asked me if I wanted to play on Tuesday. I love Toronto that way,” she said, adding she flies back to Alberta on Nov. 4, just in time to play the Folk Club and head to Twin Butte to play there the next night.
She enjoys playing with Loughlin, who also plays with Dave McCann and several other roots and country and blues acts.
“ We’re always joking around,” she said.
She is looking forward to the intimacy of playing the Wolf’s Den.
“It’s a lot like playing a house concert. And I love playing house concerts, because people are there to listen to the music. They’re not there to get a drink and a meal and by the way, there's a band playing. House concerts are for music lovers,” she said, adding while she hasn’t been involved with House concert groups like Home Routes, though she would like to, she plays a lot of house concerts on her own.
She hopes more people will buy tickets, as sales have been slow.
“At least it’s after Halloween. It’s been on my page for a while, so I’ll keep pushing it,” she said.
Allen is also excited about going back to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for her second winter performing in tribute acts.
“I’m performing in a Mamas and the Papas tribute, so I’m singing Mama Cass, and also Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones. It’s a little more theatrical, so it’s different for me,” she said.
“The Mama and the Papas is very theatrical, Joni Mitchell is straight music and Rickie Lee Jones as a little theatrical,” she said.
“I‘ve been singing Mama Cass in my sleep. So this will be all about my music”, she said adding The Folk Club shouldn’t expect to hear any Mamas and Papas.
She goes down to Mexico to begin rehearsals in December.
“Two of my friends Don and Rhonda live in Puerto Vallarta. She's the artistic director for Stage 2 theatre there,” she said.
“There’s a lot of ex-pats and Canadians in the audience. And I’m playing with this group of Mexican guys who are just amazing. If they were here, they’d be famous,” she said.
She loves Mexico.
“People are so poor there. Luckily food is cheap, but they are so happy. They are the happiest culture,” she enthused.
Tickets for the Lethbridge Folk Club show are $25 for members, $30 for invited guests, which includes a season's membership. The show begins at 8 0p.m. at the Wolf’s Den.
