Singer-songwriter Melissa Payne will play for the sold-out Tour De Fort Audience on Saturday, but for those who don’t have a passport, you can get a taste of Payne’s music at Boston Pizza on Friday night.
Payne, who hails from Ennismore, Ont., near Peterborough, got into music as a child when she started playing the fiddle after listening to Charlie Daniels.
“I started when I was around four or five, watching Charlie Daniels, and then the Leahy family were a family that lived kind of in the neighbouring town, and listening to Natalie MacMaster,” she said.
“I kind of immersed myself from a young age in fiddle tunes, and just became kind of obsessed with it and stuck with it in and out over the years.”
It wasn’t until after high school, though, that Payne began pursuing music.
“I guess it was after high school that I really just started to find people to play music with,” she said.
“Then one thing led to another, and it just kind of snowballed from there, and I wouldn’t have it my career any other way.”
Payne still plays the fiddle plenty but she also writes songs and says she compares her style to some legendary women of the industry.
“I play kind of a mix. I do have some Celtic and old time fiddle roots,” she said.
“But these days, I do a lot of singer-songwriter stuff. I guess a lot of comparisons I get would be Lucinda Williams or Bonnie Raitt in that vein of song writing. But I like to throw some fiddle tunes in there too, just because it’s where I’m comfortable and it’s what I know, and it gets the crowd going and into it as well. So kind of a mash-up.”
She says her songwriting is often inspired by whatever she’s going through at the time or whatever is happening in her life.
“It could be just anything from a drive down the road to just a melody that’s stuck in my head, but as far as the lyrics, it’s just kind of what I’m feeling in that moment. So whether it’s hardship or love or just kind of what’s going on in the world at the time, just kind of embracing that and it just comes out, almost in a therapeutic way, just kind of falls out of you,” she said.
“But I do a lot of so-writing these days with my pal Greg Keelor from Blue Rodeo. He’s a good writing pal, and Matt Mays. Then I have a couple other people I write with as well, and I love seeing kind of the growth of what the songs can become from just a little thought in the car.”
Payne met the Blue Rodeo singer and guitarist through a studio engineer she was working with.
“It’s just one of those things, one thing leads to another. My friend, who was my engineer at the time, I was looking for a producer for one of my albums, and I mentioned some names, and Greg kind of got wind of it, and he said ‘She can’t do that. Maybe I’ll come out and have a listen,’” Payne said.
“So he showed up in his Ranchero one day with my engineer. That was kind of the beginning of a long-lasting friendship and mentorship with him. I think that would have been almost 12 years ago.”
Payne will be playing with guitar player Nicholas Campbell.
“He’s a 20 year old phenom,” she said.
“He’s going to be backing me up on the guitar so I can let loose on the fiddle a little bit.”
Tour De Fort Passport holders who are not planning to be at the show are reminded that passports are transferable and can be loaned to friends and family to be able to attend the shows in their place.
Because the season sold out via passports, no additional tickets are available for sale. But those interested in seeing Melissa Payne can contact Boston Pizza Fort Frances for a table on Friday Oct. 24 starting at 8 p.m. limited seating is available.
