2013 Juno nominee Annabelle Chvostek is a versatile singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born and raised in Toronto. She earned a degree in interdisciplinary fine arts at Concordia University, and stayed on in Montreal after graduation. There, unencumbered by the expectations of the Anglo roots world, and surrounded by Montreal’s avant-garde arts scene, she began composing for dance and film, playing in bands and performing solo shows on the Montreal-Ontario-New York circuit.
Between 1997 and 2004, she released three independent albums and an EP, toured Europe with a new-media performance piece called the Automatic Prayer Machine, a collaboration with Anna Friz, and performed across North America with artists like Po’ Girl, Rae Spoon and Barlywick.
In 2004, she joined Juno-winning trio The Wailin’ Jennys, a gig that took her from obscurity to international acclaim. During her two and a half years with the Jennys, Chvostek toured Europe, performed on A Prairie Home Companion, sang on the Juno telecast and earned a Juno nomination for Best Roots and Traditional Album.
In 2007, she left the Jennys and reprised her solo career, releasing what many see as her solo debut,Resilience, in 2008. Resilience was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Album of the Year and became the second most played Canadian album at U.S. folk radio at the start of 2009. In 2010 she released the Live from Folk Alley album and in 2011, her two co-written duets with Bruce Cockburn, were released on his Juno-winning album Small Source of Comfort.
Annabelle’s distinct musical imagination is in evidence on her latest release, Rise, nominated for aJuno and a Canadian Folk Music Award in 2013, on which she’s taken on a decades-old art form - the protest song - and completely reimagined it for a new era of activism.
“Make no mistake, this lady is a singer songwriter whose talent is so exceptional that her ability to explore and master any musical genre she wishes could actually work against her in commercial terms, simply because she is almost impossible to pigeon hole.” American Roots UK
“Despite its weighty words, listening to Rise is an effortless pleasure. This record is a beauty. Phil Ochs would have approved.” Roots Music Canada
“Rise is a milestone for Chvostek and deserves to claim its spot on a number of year-end best-of lists.”Exclaim
“(Rise) is an essential addition to the collection of any fervent follower of Canadian roots music. Culture has always been at the heart of protest and in 2013 RISE is recorded proof of this theory still being relevant.” FATEA
Annabelle Chvostek • January-February 2014 UK Tour
with Jérémie Jones on upright bass and Tony Spina on drums/percussion
January
Friday 17 Rathfriland, Co. Down, N. Ire. The Brontë Centre
Saturday 18 Belfast The Black Box Out To Lunch Festival NB Noon Show
Thursday 23 Totnes, Devon South Devon Arts Centre
Friday 24 Exeter The Barnfield Theatre
Saturday 25 Broseley, Shropshire The Birchmeadow Community Centre
Sunday 26 Cockermouth, Cumbria The Kirkgate Centre
Wednesday 29 Sheffield The Greystones
Thursday 30 Glasgow City Halls Celtic Connections 2014 with Lau
February
Saturday 1 Abington, S. Lanarkshire Abington Masonic Hall
Sunday 2 Edinburgh Private House Concert
Wednesday 5 Milton Keynes The Stables (Stage 2)
Thursday 6 London Green Note
Friday 7 Lewes, East Sussex The Elephant and Castle
Saturday 8 Kenn, nr. Clevedon, Somerset Kenn Village Hall