Posts Tagged: Feature Friday
Feature Friday: The Diverse Prowess of T. Nile
Being the wifey of a folkie has its benefits. Immeasurable in their direct association to the unique wonder that is Trevor, himself. A complicated, kind, funny, dark, charismatic, charming and sensitive man … but I’m not here to talk about all of that. I’m referring to all of the extras that I’ve gotten to reap from his direct connection to music in Canada. Born into an illustrious Canadian folk family, he is the son of an accomplised musician, gold record producer and deeply respected advocate/patron of the roots/folk music scene in Canada. Trev followed in his dad’s footsteps and as a result, has met and made many a friendship with other musicians on the scene.
Then there was that time BC (before children), when he was the Artistic Director for the Eaglewood Folk Festival. This is where we first began to work together as creatives on a big project. I suppose you could say EFF had a significant influence on how our relationship developed in those first early years together. Working and living together is not for the weak! Why am I giving you all of the back-story? Well, I’ve gotten a few questions from readers about how I know about or discover the talent that I feature here as a part of our “Feature Friday” series.
Well, it is in part, thanks thanks to Trevor. I have made some amazing friendships through him, in particular with other strong, creative women. The ladies, well, they like Trevor. Not in the way you might think! Well, yes … back in the day that way too. He did his fair share of camp-fire courting! That is, after all, how he reigned me in.
Which brings me to the particularly gorgeous and unreserved talents of T. Nile. An acoustic and electronic goddess, T.Nile comes from a lineage of one-man-bands starting with Jesse Fuller (wrote San Francisco Bay Blues) followed by her father, Dan The One Man Band. I fell in love with her luminescent vocals year ago, and when she started to combine usual her guitair, banjo, harmonica, kazoo with foot percussion, synth and electronics … HOT DAMN! It was like nothing I’d ever really heard before and immediately wanted more of. She began touring with her dad at the wee age of six so one could say she definitely has the chops and the experience to permit for such ballsy experimentation. Being quoted by Sarah Bauer of Exclaim Music as a, “banjo-plucking love-child of Beck and Lana Del Rey” … I couldn’t agree more. Her voice is sultry and strong. He lyrics and prose deep, throughful and spread throughout your atmosphere like honey.
So, without firther ado – I bring to you the avante-garde, west-coast folk roots meets EDM sonic stylings of T.Nile!
Feature Friday For The Lovers: Introducing Digging Roots’ Single “I’ve Got it Bad” [VIDEO]
When Raven and ShoShona, of Digging Roots, approached me to work with them on a music video for their song, “I’ve Got It Bad” … I was both terrified and honoured. Yet, as it goes with many things in my life, I decided to abandon fear and dive in. It began with Shoshona and I writing the concept. ShoShona wanted to experiment with the idea of not taking themselves too seriously so I presented her with a series of tongue-in-cheek treatment ideas and we hashed out many different concepts and story-lines. As is often the case, our original concept was a much longer story. But, as also is often the the case, we didn’t have endless funds at our disposal so we reigned shots in to utilize who and what we had to work with. Which, from a professional prospective; was a stunning well of creative professionals of which to draw from anyways.
From there, Raven, Doug (the D.O.P, co-director, editor and my husband), Sarain Carson-Fox, Shona and I just went for it. We decided on a storyline of, learning to love yourself. How do you tell such a story without being cheesy? Comedic relief. Over five days, we shot tons of footage in Longboat Key, Florida. Even when Shona was stung by a stingray on the third day, she kept going!
This video is truly a labour of love. Our children, ranging in age from 2 to 18, all helped. My mom and Shona’s mom helped and together we were able to have fun, work hard and put together a really charming and FUNNY video. Our actress Sarain was a dream. Such a great sport with fantastic comic timing and to top it off … she’s gorgeous! Her character tells the story of how a woman who thinks she’s in love, finds what she was looking for in herself instead. In her darkest moment, she sees herself and saves herself from her own heartache. She is, in essence, her own prince charming.
To be honest, those five days of production helped me forget how much pain I was in from the Lyme Disease that was infecting and attacking my body. That’s when you know you’re doing what you’re meant to be doing.
Thanks to Digging Roots for having faith and thanks to Doug for spending so much time on this project.
CONNECT WITH JENNIFER
CONNECT WITH SELENA
