Interview with Crystal Shawanda
With an impressive array of awards and accolades, thousands of concerts to rapturous audiences throughout North America under her belt, and a remarkable recording pedigree to her credit,\xa0Crystal Shawanda\xa0still struggled mightily for many years to find her place within the music industry.\n\n\nA Juno-winning singer/songwriter whose soulful, rootsy sound has allowed for a nearly seamless bridging of the traditional country and blues worlds, Crystal\u2019s unique aboriginal cultural background has left her feeling like an outsider at times.\n\n\nBut that search may be at an end, as the process of creating her latest album, the cathartic, bold and refreshingly authentic\xa0Fish Out Of Water\xa0sees the talented artist not just coming to terms with her unique place in the industry, but embracing and truly celebrating it.\n\n\n\xa0\u201cMy parents grew up listening to Country music and that\u2019s what I grew up singing and loving. But when my parents \xa0weren\u2019t home my brother used to sit in the basement and he would crank up a lot of B.B. King and Muddy Waters. \xa0He also really loved Etta James, and I had never heard anyone sing like that. I used to sit at the top of the stairs \xa0and just listen to these amazing songs and these incredible voices and I knew I wanted to sing like that, with that\xa0much passion and be so unbridled. I could feel the hurt coming through in their voices and music.\u201d\n\n\u201cI feel this album is a happy medium for me. It\u2019s a little bluesy, a little country, a little rootsy, but with a lot of soul.\xa0I love every song on this album and I want to perform them all live. I really think I have hit my stride: this album\xa0is who I am, I really have found my voice, and I couldn\u2019t be happier.\u201d