By Shiona Mackenzie
Growing up and attending high school in northern Ontario, Heather Valley spent hour upon hour in the forest, training to become a national level cross country skier. Music, her constant companion, opened up a world of expression and perspective that she otherwise didn’t encounter. The voice of Matthew Good and, later, Jason Molina shaped how she viewed the world and eventually inspired Heather to make music…once she felt she had a message worth sharing.
“When I was younger, I was extremely shy,” Heather admits. “I didn’t think I could be a performing artist; instead, I went to school and became a lawyer. While in practice, I lost my shyness, but, as a very empathetic person, it was an emotionally difficult career path. I leaned heavily on music, as a listener, to cope.”
Making art from heartbreak
That was when a man from the United States introduced himself and convinced Heather that he was the love of her life. After a period together on and off for all sorts of reasons, he moved to Buffalo so he and Heather could reunite. Everything was perfect until his arrest at the Canadian border.
“He was a fugitive with an extensive criminal past. There’s more to the story, but the upshot of that stress and heartbreak was my having a breakdown and leaving law practice.
“Since then, the only thing that has seemed noble enough to be worth doing is to create beautiful music out of my experience. It took me three years to begin to feel better.”
Heather’s reinvention
Heather reinvented herself as an independent singer-songwriter and fans of traditional storytelling music genres like Americana, folk, and country, as well as alternative country and indie music lovers are listening. Heather’s debut album, Desert Message, was named ‘Best Album of 2019’ by Hugo Vogel of altcountry.nl.
“The album was reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer and my cover of ‘How I Got to Memphis’ was played on the CBC Radio 1 program ‘In the Key of C’ in September,” says Heather. “Desert Message reached number five in Canada on the !earshot roots chart and the track, ‘Lovejoy’, features in Go Fast: Pull Up, a documentary about the life of superstar BMX rider Jimmy LeVann. My songwriting also has been praised by Canadian music writer and radio broadcaster, Alan Cross.”
During COVID-19
Heather was on a writing retreat in West Virginia when Prime Minister Trudeau announced that the border would close. She promptly drove back to Canada and self-isolated at a friend’s southwestern Ontario farmhouse. “After the initial fourteen days, I decided to stay and wait out the great economic pause. It was certainly lonely, living by myself on 200 acres with only cats for company and one friend who dropped off groceries over the subsequent four months. But I structured my days and finished several artistic projects.”
Heather’s home-recorded album Wildflower Radio includes “Emily”, an original song about summer memories like “going to the lake, exploring your grandparents’ garden, and driving in the country with the windows down.” The rest are covers of favourite songs, “reimagined in my gentle and thoughtful Americana style,” explains Heather.
Back in the Hammer
Respected musicians contributed from their own home studios in Philadelphia, Toronto, and Hamilton. “For example, Nimal Agalawatte of Basement Revolver contributed upright bass to a few songs, and mixed and mastered the entire project.
“I moved back to Hamilton as things are opening up. It’s such a treasure to be back in this vibrant arts community and to see people again, albeit from a social distance. I’ve been working through a series of original songs, and then writing at least one new song each day, as I return to the studio to record. I’ve been excavating my personal experiences and the next album is very real and raw.”
On October 23 Heather participated in a virtual panel discussion ‘My Album is Done – Now What?’ as part of the City of Hamilton’s Musician Entrepreneur Conference series.
The third anniversary of Heather’s heartbreak and departure from the field of law was in August. Her newest single, ‘The Last Song’, has just been released and features Matty Simpson on guitar, Justine the Bass Machine on bass and was mixed and mastered by Nimal Agalawatte at Four Strings Studio.
You can hear ‘The Last Song’ here.
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