Westminster House is bringing two top Canadian musicians to the stage for a concert in celebration of recovery.
Recovery Blues Live at the Metro is on International Women’s Day – Friday, March 8 – at 7 p.m. The concert will feature New Westminster's own Corey Lavigne, along with special guests Sue Foley and Rita Chiarelli, the “goddess of Canadian blues.”
“We strategically planned the event on International Women’s Day because the day signifies the empowerment of women, a gift I personally achieved at Westminster House,” said organizer Lori McCarnan, fundraiser and volunteer coordinator at Westminster House.
Westminster House is a New West-based long-term residential recovery centre for women healing from addiction.
A press release about the event notes that, with the opioid overdose crisis sending communities into crisis, awareness of recovery has never been more necessary.
“Whether it be alcohol or prescribed medications, addiction has no boundaries and affects the entire family unit and the communities we live in,” said Susan Hogarth, executive director of Westminster House, in the release. “Funding is needed for the continuum, particularly after-care, and events like this help us to celebrate recovery, raise awareness and raise revenue for our programs.”
The two artists featured in the concert are powerhouses on the Canadian blues and roots scene.
Chiarelli recently released her ninth recording, the soundtrack for her award-winning documentary Music From the Big House. The documentary traces her pilgrimage to the birthplace of the blues, the Louisiana State Maximum Security Penitentiary, a.k.a. Angola Prison. Her trip turns into a jailhouse performance as she plays with inmates serving life sentences.
Her roots-blues albums have earned her a JUNO Award and four other JUNO nominations, and she’s also won a host of other Canadian blues awards: multiple Maple Blues awards, CBC’s Great Canadian Blues Awards and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Manitoba Blues Society and the Hamilton Blues Society, among others.
Foley is an acclaimed guitarist and singer who released her most recent album, The Ice Queen, in 2018. She first won a JUNO Award, for her CD Love Coming Down, in 2001. She’s up for this year’s JUNO for Blues Album of the Year for The Ice Queen, and she also has a host of Maple Blues Awards to her credit – including Guitarist of the Year in the 2019 awards, presented in February.
The Metro hall is at 759 Carnarvon St., downtown. Tickets range from $40 to $60. Buy through www.eventbrite.ca – search for Recovery Blues Live or use a direct link at www.tinyurl.com/RecoveryBluesLive2019.
