When COVID hit in early 2020, B.C.-born folk and country artist Sarah Jane Scouten had recently moved to rural Scotland with her husband.
With tours cancelled, days stretched endlessly, punctuated only by the steady unfolding of Scottish springtime, leaf by leaf, petal by petal. The flora of Dumfries and Galloway was a pageant of scent and colour, altogether new but still strangely familiar to someone raised on the west coast.
Scouten took the forced break from touring and performing and enrolled in a professional programme for herbal medicine in the UK. Training in an entirely different field gave her perspective and renewed her love of live performance, which had been diminished by years on the road. Studying herb, and, just as importantly, people, gave her music a deeper dimension and she began to write again. The result of that writing is Turned to Gold, “an unendingly lovely album” that “sees life as beautiful, even during the challenging times” according to the Georgia Straight, and is “begging for repeated plays” according to Spill Magazine.
Sarah Jane Scouten will perform two sets of her songs accompanied by fiddler Ali Romanow on Sunday, Oct. 22 at Rivercity Stage beginning at 7 p.m. as part of the Highway 19 Concert Series.
Scouten’s previous releases have been nominated for four Canadian Folk Music Awards, a Western Canadian Music Award and an International Folk Music Award. She has performed at Vancouver Folk Music Festival, MerleFest in North Carolina, Calgary Folk Music Festival, Salmon Arm Roots and Blues, Maverick Americana Music Festival, and more. She has opened for Corb Lund, William Prince, Ron Sexsmith, The Sadies and shared the stage with the likes of Martha Wainwright, The Strumbellas, Allison Russell, and Martin Carthy.
Turned to Gold is a road trip album, drawing on Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Christine McVie. It includes a song co-written with Samantha Parton of the Be Good Tanyas, a tribute to John Prine, and a song about a family experience with medical assistance in dying.
Speaking of Scouten’s songwriting ability, Tom Power on CBC Radio’s q said, “Stan Rogers was able to do it, Ron Hynes was able to do it, Kate McGarrigle was able to do it – and Sarah Jane Scouten is able to do it.”
High praise, indeed, from someone who’s interviewed some of the worlds great songwriters and storytellers. Campbell River audiences can hear why for themselves at the intimate Rivercity Stage on Sunday, Oct. 22.
This season general admission tickets to Highway 19 concerts are available for $20 or $30 to be accessible to all budgets. Teen tickets are only $5 and tickets for kids are free when accompanied by a paying adult. Tickets are available through the Tidemark box-office.
Highway 19 Concert series is supported by the City of Campbell River, Government of BC through the BC Touring Council, and Government of Canada through Canadian Heritage.