Roxanne Potvin

For fans of Roxanne Potvin, the Juno award nominated Montreal based singer-songwriter, two years might seem like an unbearably long time between albums, but just one spin through the songs on ‘Play’ will be more than enough to convince them that it’s been worth the wait.  

Back in 2009, after wailing around the blues for her past four albums – a journey that saw her work with luminaries such as Colin Linden, John Hiatt and Bruce Cockburn and tour with Sue Foley and Deborah Coleman - Roxanne decided it was time to pull back and reassess what she’d been doing.  She explains, “I’d left Toronto, my record company, manager and I had parted ways and I was truly starting again.  I’d moved back to Montreal to be closer to my family and began to accept the fact that I had no clue what I was going to do.” At first, she felt boxed in by her own expectations, but once she managed to shake free of them and started to enjoy playing music for the simple joy of it again, magical things began to happen.  “When I started out, I was heavily influenced by blues, soul and R and B and that was reflected on my first two albums.  The third album started showing shifts in direction as I explored further. I love listening to that kind of music, but if I was still only writing blues based songs, I wouldn’t be honest with myself because that’s not exclusively where I’m at anymore.  Writing for this album gave me confidence to do something different.”

With “Play” Roxanne Potvin has achieved something that few artists ever succeed in doing - she’s expanded her style and grown as an artist while still keeping the grit and authenticity that is so appealing about her music.  Hear for yourself:  just press "Play".