Join Coco Love Alcorn at Roxy
For her upcoming Dec. 7th concert at the Roxy Theatre in Owen Sound, Coco Love Alcorn is “building a volunteer, non-auditioned, pop-up choir” to join her on stage. The first fifty people who send her an email at info@cocolovealcorn.com with the subject line “Dec 7 Roxy Choir” will be registered to take part.
Participants will attend a song learning workshop the night before the concert, on Dec. 6th where Coco will teach them three of her original songs. No music reading is required. What is required is that you are available on both nights, and you dress in black. You also have to be okay with being filmed. The bonus is that you get to attend both the workshop and the concert for free. She’s added the free tickets because this concert is in her home town.
When she took a five year hiatus from touring after the birth of her daughter in 2010 she used the time to write new material, but with an inspired twist: the instrument she used to write was her voice, layered with the use of a looper. Like everything she does, the result was music that was not only melodically beautiful but also spiritually uplifting.
When she posted her looped a capella song, The River on You Tube it was taken up by choirs in North America and the UK to be included in their repertoire. Further inspired by the phenomenon, she created her latest album “Wonderland”.
With every step of her musical journey, she says on her website, she has “trusted my inner curiosity to take me where it wanted to go. I always thought my end game was to invent a new genre or create a brand new sound, to somehow mash it all elegantly together.
It wasn’t till I took a step back and a break from touring that a new idea came. After all those years of thinking I was chasing down a sound it turns out I was searching for the right feeling. That feeling is connection; connection with the listener, the moment, the music and the spirit.”
What greater connection could there be than to include them in the performance?
The daughter of jazz singer John Alcorn, Coco was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, grew up between Vancouver and Toronto, and after the birth of her daughter she now calls Owen Sound home. Like other local performers, including My Sweet Patootie and Culture Reject, she spends much of her time on the road, another gift to the world from Georgian Bay.
Initially following in the footsteps of her father, she began as a jazz singer, later gained a reputation as an acoustic singer-songwriter, touring with Ani DiFranco, and then spent three years singing backup on arena tours with 54 40. Her own albums mixed all of these experiences with what’s been described by many as a true “star quality” fueled by her love of improvisation and her connection with audiences.
There is such a sense of joyful celebration in her songs and her performances that the tiniest taste of her music is enough to make you feel good for the rest of the week. Since her discovery of the wonders of choir singing, she has put more emphasis on having the audience participate by singing along.
“My shows have more singing along that I used to,” she told Jim Dupuis at Earshot, “I very much wrote this material to be sung. I love singing these songs and I love it when people join in and sing it with me. So, something I’m starting to do is a sing-along show.”
Whether you go to sing or to immerse yourself in the music, the show at the Roxy will be a memorable experience. As Tony King, host of Alberta Morning on CKUA in Edmonton said, “Coco Love Alcorn should be celebrated as a Canadian treasure”. Luckily for all of us, this treasure is coming home.
Sample and download the album by clicking on the image
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