Before becoming an award-winning artist, Mia Kelly was a teen in musical theatre productions of Oliver Twist, Anne of Green Gables, Cats and other classics. And before that? An “overly energetic seven-year-old.”
Kelly says she still remembers falling in love with being on stage, performing and singing for an audience for the first time.
“It kind of just snowballed from there,” she says. “I took some music lessons and was encouraged to join some local music programs that Bluesfest puts on, and particularly one called Be in the Band… And it was just so formative and fun, and I just got the bug.”
Kelly is now a two-time Canadian Folk Music Award-winning artist and is currently touring internationally. With a distinctive blend of folk, blues and rock, her songs are often emotional odes to the Gatineau area where she grew up. Songs like “Remedy River” and “Kitchissippi” revolve around the waterways she would visit and surf.
Kelly says she appreciates the ability to resonate with a large international audience through local stories and hear about the connections others make with them.
“I contextualize my songs a lot on stage whenever I’m touring anywhere in the world, and it’s really cool to see how the songs about the Ottawa River resonate, not only in Ottawa, but across Canada [and beyond],” she says. “People will get really emotional and connect with it on a different level.”
On April 3, Kelly will be back home in Gatineau for the CFMAs, where she is nominated for Best Single of the Year for her song “Meaning Well.”
The song is a smooth and introspective acoustic tune with Kelly’s soft but emotionally charged lyrics revolving around a hard decision she made to end a relationship purely for logistical reasons.
I think it was probably the hardest song I’ve ever had to write, because it was so real and so raw and so honest.
She says her mom’s advice was a guiding light during this time, and it became the first lyric of the song: “To be clear is to be kind.”
The same warmth and sincerity that shines in her songwriting seeps into how she speaks. The two of us giggled as we chatted about the silver lining of breakups being some great songs, like “Meaning Well.”
“I got so many songs out of that breakup,” Kelly laughed. “The whole album, To Be Clear, is about vulnerability, and so to be writing about vulnerability and honesty in a vulnerable and honest way feels right, and it connects really well I think.”
With this song nominated for Best Single of the Year, Kelly says the CFMAs are an opportunity to look back at how far she’s come.
“I’ve been working really hard for a couple of years now… And it’s really cool to see my name up there amongst artists that I look up to and admire, and to be recognized by your community is so heartwarming,” she says.
CFMA board president Graham Lindsey says this sense of community is one of the most impactful parts of the awards.
My favourite part of this is that artists who come into the Canadian Folk Music Awards event often, and more times than not, leave feeling like they are part of a family, that perhaps they weren’t before.
This year is the award’s 20th season, and Lindsey says they are celebrating uniquely: spreading the award ceremonies across three days and two locations, from April 3-6 at the Canadian Museum of History and National Arts Centre.
“We’re handing out awards, and we’re definitely celebrating the nominees and the recipients, but it’s also a concert. It’s something the public will love when they go in because it’s music, and each band or performer gets between 12 and 15 minutes of performance time… and during the switchover between that band and the next, they’ll hand out a couple of awards.”
This is a way to introduce audience members to more of the nominees’ songs and support them in the long run by building up a fan base, he says.
“The wonderful thing about this format is that you get to hear many songs by other musicians,” Lindsey says, quoting from last year’s award host, CBC’s Tom Power. “With award ceremonies, you’ll often have someone come up and play a song, and they’re on and then off. It keeps things moving, but what we really value about what we do is we’ve got them up there for long enough that people can get a really good feel for [the musician].”
Lindsey says while he wasn’t on the judging panel, he isn’t surprised that Kelly is nominated for another award this year.
Mia is a dynamic performer. She’s just a wonderful human, seeing her perform on stage and hearing her, hearing her the soul that she’s got in her songs, to me, it’s clear why she would be nominated.
Kelly is also nominated for four Capital Music Awards, set for May 22.
On top of the nominations, Kelly says she is currently working on recording a new album with her dream producer in her dream studio—a long way from her days in Oliver Twist and Anne of Green Gables.
“If I had to hang out with 17-year-old Mia or 14-year-old Mia, I know that she would be so stoked with where we are now and hopefully where we’re going,” Kelly says. “The snowball keeps on rolling.”
The Canadian Folk Music Awards are set for April 3-6 at the National Arts Centre and Canadian Museum of History. For tickets and more info, visit their website.
