Calgary country musician Mariel Buckley is excited to return to Lethbridge to play the Windy City Opry at the Slice, Jan. 11, though she is already spending a lot of time here working on her new CD with Leeroy Stagger.
“I come down to Lethbridge a lot. I’m working with Leeroy on the new album, and I like to come down and visit his family,” Buckley said, adding she will start recording the follow up to her debut album “Motorhome,” at the end of February.
“ We met last year. He was one of my performances. he was supposed to be giving me advice and we decided to tour together,” she continued.
“ I’ll be working on the album there after this show,” she said.
“The new songs have a different feel, more alternative country. My songwriting has matured quite a bit,” she said.
Her older brother inspired her to start playing music.
“ He was playing four or five years before I started playing,” she said, adding as soon as she got her first Loretta Lynn album, she decided she wanted to play country music.
“ I found an old Loretta Lynn LP and fell in love with that sour of sound. Before that I was listening to a few old Americana artists and Tom Petty. But as soon as I heard Loretta Lynn, I knew that was what I wanted to do,” she said, adding she is also inspired by Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams as well as more contemporary musicians like Kathleen Edwards and Laura Parkin.
“ It will be a very upbeat country and roots show, though not rockabilly,” she said, adding she is excited to work with Shaela Miller, the Windy City Opry organizer.
““I’ve been a huge fan of hers, ever since I saw her playing in the basement of the Palomino,” she said.
“An Lethbridge has a great scene with the Treeline boys and Skinny Dyck. There are a lot of great musicians there,” she said.
“So I’m happy to be part of it,” she added.
She will be playing Lethbridge with her trio including upright bassist Matt Coldwell, who also plays in Calgary bluegrass band Rotary Park as well as electric guitarist Keane Eng.
She has a busy 2017 already planned.
“I’m playing the Block Heater (Feb 10-12), the Calgary Folk Festival‘s winter event in Calgary and opening for Hayes Carll. Then right after that I’m flying to Kansas City for the Folk Alliance (Feb. 15-19). And I have a residency at the Banff Centre,” she said adding she will do more writing there.
“If some of those songs are scorchers , I’ll put them on the album, but probably not,” she said.
“I always like to have a good catalogue of songs before I record an album,” she said adding she will be playing some of her new songs at the Windy City Opry.
The event begins at 8 p.n., Wednesday, Jan. 11. Medicine Hat/ Calgary duo Enslow are also on the bill. There is a $10 cover for the event.
