Ranchers with a passion for music Debbie Altherr and her husband Dave will be performing at the Farmer’s Market in Boitanio Park Friday.
They will give two half-hour concerts, one at 10 a.m. and the other at noon and play music from Debbie’s new CD throughout the day.
Debbie has been busy over the past couple of years writing and recording songs and recently released her first CD called Allison Altherr Casitaville.
She chose to use her middle name on the CD because she was meeting so many Debbies in her musical travels that it became confusing.
Casita means little home or cottage in Spanish.
“Casitaville is my name for the little gypsy trailer I ‘homesteaded’ in backyards, on city streets, in fields and even the occasional gravel pit,” Debbie explains on the CD cover. “It’s the nest I occupied while on adventure travelling from British Columbia to Arizona, exploring the different genres of music I love. To me Casitaville defines home, freedom, euphoria and the state of mind in which I found my passion for songwriting.
“Life in Casitaville afforded me the time to reflect and weave the varied chapters of my life into the lines of songs. This album, is a collection of some of those songs along with a few old favourites.”
The songs are a little bit country and a little bit blues, but all in a lovely clear vocal range.
Debbie says she worked hard to make sure every sound came across in the recordings as she needed them to be.
Debbie and Dave had a ranch in the Chilcotin for many years and are now sharing their time between winters in Arizona and a smaller ranch at McLeese Lake.
Debbie trains herding dogs for ranchers using her own sheep and also uses fibre from sheep, goats, dogs and even horses to incorporate into her fibre art, which includes creating unique felt hangings and felt boots. Many of her fibre art pieces portray the flora and fauna of regions where she has resided over the years from the Arctic to southern Arizona.