Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
Canadian songwriter and musician Shari Ulrich, who will soon perform in Jasper, recently had the unexpected honour of having a guitar series named after her.
Already having 25 records and two Juno awards to her credit, Ulrich was nonetheless surprised and honoured.
鈥淭he founder of Craven Tenor guitars contacted me out of the blue with his idea,鈥� Ulrich said in an email interview.
鈥淭he timing was so fortuitous as I had been searching for a tenor guitar for almost a year.鈥�
is crafted from premium hand-selected woods for a quality instrument and are now available for pre-order.
Although Ulrich had an arrangement with a line of electric violins decades ago, this is the first time she has been a part of a 鈥渟ignature鈥� endorsement.
鈥淔red Nelson of Craven Tenor Guitars (who coincidentally was born in Grand Prairie) had already decided it should be called the 鈥淪ongbird,鈥� which I really appreciated, because I鈥檓 drawn to it as a song-writing tool. Piano and guitar are more of song-writing tools for me than my work as an instrumentalist on violin and mandolin,鈥� she said.
Nelson had sent her 鈥淟uscious Merlot,鈥� a larger body tenor electric design, and later the prototype for the Shari Ulrich Songbird Signature guitar, which she loved.
鈥淲ell, it鈥檚 so interesting to me that the founder, Fred Nelson has always been dedicated to only tenor guitars, which is a four-string guitar, and he has developed a very wide array of very classy models,鈥� Ulrich said.
鈥淗e has always been drawn to them, believing in their value for folks who are intimidated by a six-string guitar. His desire is 鈥榯o establish pricing for schools, music teachers and students 鈥� wanting to have them in the hands of any person wanting to learn to play.鈥� I love that!鈥�
Habitat for the Arts has purchased one of these guitars for a raffle that will run throughout the summer with the draw during Culture Days in September.
Ulrich will be performing with Barney Bentall and Tom Taylor at the Jasper Anglican Church on April 7 at 7 p.m.
While Ulrich won鈥檛 likely have one of these guitars in time for the upcoming show in Jasper, she nonetheless promised an enjoyable evening for all.
鈥淏arney and Tom and I have been playing together for about 15 years,鈥� she added.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a special kind of collaboration where we have a deep respect and love for each another's work, and then we get to support one another鈥檚 songs as well [as] have our own songs supported by wonderful musicianship and harmonies (I'm a sucker for three-part harmony!). Plus, we enjoy playing together so much that there is naturally a lot of humour and story telling mixed in as well.鈥�
