ARTS COUNCIL
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LESLIE
ALEXANDER
Leslie Alexander grew up on an
Alberta sheep farm & couldn't wait to get to the city. She hit the road,
made a bunch of mistakes & wrote songs about them. She wound up singing on
a street corner in Vancouver for spare change. She does not consider this a
mistake.
Leslie's first CD was “Bird in the House” (1997). This collection of tunes
about street life & redemption was called “one of the best indie releases.”
It got Leslie out of the rain & into
some coffeehouses where she set her sights on the
concert stage. She began writing songs
about the contrasts between her rural roots & her new home in Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside that became her second record, “Savage Country.”
Her newest album is “Garden in the Stones.” Her songs speak of the cycle of the seasons,
the passage of day into night and the stubbornness of new life in a harsh
environment.
Her influences are many and very
diverse, from lyric-based folk tunes to kick-ass roots-rock. Her CD’s feature guest tracks from Harry
Manx, and Sam Parton (Be Good Tanyas), and she has
had help from friends Jane Siberry and Barney Bentall. Her voice
is warm and perfectly suited to her folk-country style, reminiscent of Rosanne
Cash or Mary Chapin Carpenter. All this
as well as being a compelling storyteller who sings about the seasons of human
experience, love and loss, happiness and sorrow, life and death.
She is accompanied by John Ellis
(Be Good Tanyas) whose inspired riffs would have
justified a set of his own.
Ms. Alexander gave two concerts on the islands, on April 4 in Masset at the Green Church and on April 5 in Charlotte at the Legion.
This website created and maintained
By Pat Carrie Smith
Copyright © 2004 Pat Carrie Smith