Internationally acclaimed and travelled singer/songwriter Lydia Hol will open the TRU Grit Gala coming up Saturday, April 8.
“Subtle and heartfelt,” CBC describes her music.
Penguin Eggs says: “Hol crafts her lyrics cleverly and with care, adding little twists to a song’s construction and splashes of colour and mood.”
Since the release of her debut album Boats, in 2012, Hol has toured Canada from coast to coast, filling rooms with her songs and stories.
Time spent living in Ireland flavours her performances with a storyteller’s honesty and charm, and her studies in English Literature have helped to shape her songwriting into an insightful, and mature art.
Sharing the stage with folk legends such as Sylvia Tyson, Dar Williams, and Shari Ulrich as she did this past year, has further encouraged Hol’s place as one of Canada’s most dynamic young artists.
In 2013 Lydia was a top 20 finalist in the Peak Performance Project, and a regional finalist in CBC’s Searchlight Contest.
In 2014 she showcased in Toronto and Kansas City, was the featured musician at the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Awards, and curated the Acoustic Guitar Project.
The writing and recording of Heading North was the focus of 2015, recorded at Afterlife Studios in Vancouver.
Where Boats was very much a solitary effort crafted in her Pacific Coast cabin, Heading North is a more communal collection.
The arrangements in Heading North, launched in 2016 are lush and elaborate thanks in large part to a top-tier cast of supporting players.
The list is a long one, featuring Jesse Zubot (violin), Paul Rigby (guitar, steel), and John Raham (drums/engineering).
Many of the musicians were on loan from Be Good Tanyas front-woman Frazey Ford, and helped bring that welcome collective spirit to the album.
Some of the stories shared on Heading North are her own; others are borrowed. Mistress of the Track, tells the tragic story of Canadian jockey Ron Turcotte, and Loneliest Word is based on a Wordsworth poem.
Her discography includes Heading North (Album 2016), This Fire (Single 2013)
Bitter Heart (Single 2013), and Boats (EP 2012).
Lol has performed and participated in songwriting residencies in Sweden, Banff Centre, and Austin, Texas. She has performed at numerous Canadian and U.S. festival. Tours for 2017 include Germany and Denmark.