#steph cameron

Your finger-picking guitar style has been getting plenty of attention. How long have you been playing?

I have been playing for over a decade, but only seriously for about three years. That started when a friend gave me a set of metal banjo fingerpicks. That was a new challenge and from there I found guitar playing really interesting. It keeps me wanting to play and write now.

The lyrics of your songs seem to possess a strong autobiographical content. Is that correct?

The songs do all come from my experiences, but more and more I find my writing is coming from looking at people close to me who have lost people they’ve loved. They have had tragedy in some form, but have powered through it with courage. I see the songs as a sounding board. They come back as a reflection of what is going on in my community. The songs are sung to a larger audience once they have the approval of my community.

Sitting around the fire is where I test my songs. If there’s a positive response I’ll move forward with those songs and present them to a wider audience. If there is less of one I might play it a few more times, then let it sit in the corner! I am very lucky to have a really creative group of people around me who have produced amazing work. I trust their judgement.

How did you make the move from busking to getting a record deal with Kim Cooke at Pheromone?

I've been performing a long time, busking all over Canada for more than a decade. I'd-hitch hike, ride freight trains and get into cities with my friends and dogs. We'd take over a spot and play music for a week. Earn enough money to enjoy ourselves there, then move onto the next town.

About two and a half years ago a friend, Wilson, who runs Black Raven Records in Victoria, rather pressured me into making a demo of songs I'd been playing around the fire and that he really enjoyed. We recorded them in a bedroom, and he sent off my demo to Alan Anton from Cowboy Junkies. Kim got to hear it via Alan and he contacted me and brought me out to Toronto. This [a music career] was not something I was really pursuing or felt driven to. This is just something that has happened that I’m really enjoying and feeling really fortunate about.

I understand the recording of Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady was done really quickly?

When Kim flew me out to Toronto, we intended to do just one song, "Goodbye Molly", at Revolution Recording as a test run. We got that within a couple of hours and they had a rare free space at the studio so we decided to just keep going. We worked for three consecutive days and got all 13 songs done, all to tape. I was totally blown away that I had this short trip to Toronto and ended up with a finished record!

Can you tell us any musical or literary influences and inspirations for your work?