Members of the Canora Arts Council were pleasantly surprised on the evening of November 3 as the audience kept growing for the first concert of the season.
More than 100 people came to see The Travelling Mabels perform at the Canora Composite School auditorium, said Dorothy Korol, a spokesperson for the Arts Council.
Named the group of the year by the Association of Country Musicians of Alberta (ACMA), The Travelling Mabels quickly built a rapport with the audience. Their leader, Eva Levesque, also known as Mamma Mabel, began telling stories and jokes, explaining that the group’s name actually came from “a Blue Tick Hound in Atlanta, Georgia. Her name was `Mabel.’”
The other two main performers are Eva’s daughter, Susan Levesque, and her friend, Lana Floen. Lana’s husband, Keith Floen, is the band leader and keyboard player.
The group’s promotional material describes the group as a folk/country female trio full of spirit, spunk and laughter. Representing three generations of women, each of the performers can vocally stand alone, but together they present a dynamic energy on stage. Collectively, their songs bring forth a wealth of life experience.
Observing their performance, one can see the inspirations from the musical influences of performers such as Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan and Cheryl Crow. Yet it is their banter and comedic interludes that allowed them to connect with the wide range of audience expectations.
The format adopted by The Travelling Mabels opened the door to a dynamic rapport with the audience, sharing ideas and feeling common in everyday life.
Eva told the audience she was a long-haul trucker who didn’t start her professional music career until 1990, and then she formed the Levesque family band in 1991. She released her first solo album in 1999 and it included all original songs. She says she likes to take her audience on a roller coaster ride of emotions with her raw, real energy and soul felt vocals.
Suzanne started performing with her mother and the Levesque family band at the young age of 12. It was during this time that she developed her own voice and style of playing the bass guitar. She toured extensively with bands throughout Western Canada and she had a full-time gig with Canadian country recording artist Gord Bamford.
Lana didn’t begin her professional music career until the age of 26 when she became a member of Kickstart, a top notch band on the country music scene for more than 15 years. She has performed with or opened for performers such as Ian Tyson, Tom Jackson, Jason McCoy and Chely Wright. In 1998, she won a “Sing with Shania” contest, which put her on stage singing lead to one of Shania’s hits to a sold-out crowd at Calgary’s Saddledome.
Keith said he provides the musical backbone for the group. He has produced and co-engineered both Travelling Mabels’ CDs. He also fills the role of road manager, and does live sound and lighting when needed. He also has a list or prime performers which he played for, including: Johnny Reid, Shania Twain, Charlie Major, Jim Cuddy, Carolynn Dawn Johnson, Susan Aglukark, Patricia Conroy, Ian Tyson, Tom Jackson, Paul Brandt, Farmers Daughter and Lisa Brokop.
Eva likes to tell the story of how the group comes from Longview, Alta., the home of Ian Tyson. The Mabels have often played with him and he even wrote a song for them, called Song In A Dream.
