Talented singer/songwriter, Tenise Marie, will be stepping into the Infinitea limelight on May 12 at 8 p.m.
Originally from Argenta, B.C. Marie has heard a wide variety of western-Canadian music through her travels.
The 22-year-old is currently on a tour supported by the Columbia Basin Trust, and the Columbia-Kootenay Cultural Alliance.
This will be her first time performing in Fernie, and will be accompanied by acoustic-duo partner, Rory Hayes-Anderson.
Despite being booked around B.C., Marie believes she is still breaking into the music industry and hopes this tour will help build her audience.
Growing up, she was very inspired by gifted musical storytellers such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.
Although this sometimes means a smaller audience at a smaller venue, the attention she receives at these shows is tremendous.
She got started playing solo-acoustic in cafes. This ignited a passion inside her, and she went on to study music at Selkirk College in Nelson, majoring in performance and voice.
Taking off from home to study what she loved, her goal was and still is, to perform and record albums. As well, part of the reason she decided to study music in post-secondary was to eventually be able to teach. She is currently teaching a few voice lessons but hopes to grow this over the years.
Marie released her debut album last year, recording it over the summer of 2015 and early 2016.
She tends to write about feelings. One of her pieces, Oxygen, is the title track of the debut album. This is about a relationship that isn’t necessarily good for you, but you don’t really mind.
“Some of the lyrics include, ‘I never wanted to be your oxygen, but I’ll be the smoke in your lungs, I’ll be the rain when it comes’,” said Marie.
Another song, Cotton Sheets, was written by Marie when she was in University in Victoria for one year just out of high school.
“It’s about this push and pull that I have with the Kootenays,” said Marie. “Because it’s so amazing, and I can’t really stay away. But sometimes you get the itch to leave, but then it seems nowhere else is quite as good.”
She is currently writing another album, and has created a few demos for it so far, however, she hasn’t stepped into the recording studio quite yet.