Even though you may not have heard of Angel Forrest, she has been an integral part of the Quebec music scene for the past 29 years. Her 2013 CD “Mother Tongue Blues” helped her break though the Quebec border into the rest of the country, and she hopes her latest CD “Angel’s 11” will help push her even further.
She plays Whoop Up Days on the Gas King stage at 6:30 p.m., Aug. 27 at 8:30. A tribute the the band Last Waltz headlines the roots and blues night at 9:30 p.m.
Roots/ country musician JJ Shiplett opens the night at 6:30 p.m.
“I can’t wait to come to Lethbridge and see it. I don’t get to western Canada very often. I’ll go to Vancouver, B.C. and Calgary,” she said from the emergency room, where she is accompanying her teenaged gardener daughter while she gets treatment for a run in with some poison oak.
She will be joined by her partner Denis Coulombe and guitarist Ricky Paquette, one of the Angels 11 guitarists on her new CD, which included 11 of Quebec and Ontario’s most talented guitarists like Steve Strongman, Paul DesLauriers, Cory Diabo and Steve Hill.
“I have worked with all of them over the past 29 years,” she said.
“Mother Tongue Blues kicked open a lot of doors. I hope Angel’s 11 will kick open the doors that were only ajar,” she said, adding she wanted to showcase the skills of her guitarists, even getting them to explore areas they aren’t known for.
“In the past 29 years, I’ve played with a lot of great guitar players. The guitarists on the CD are good friends of mine. I wanted to showcase the amazing guitarists we have in Quebec and ontario. They’ve been part of my life,” she said.
“ I’ve done a couple of tours with Paul Deslauriers.
She noted she gave the guitarists free rein on their songs they played on.
“ I wanted to show what the guys could do. there is a mix of styles. It is a real feast for guitar playing fans,” she said, adding while she expected some of them to show their more rock oriented chops, she was pleasantly surprised when they decided to play on some of the slower, more acoustic based tracks.
“ I’m super excited to come and hopefully impress some folks,” she said.
