Laura Power
Northern News Services
Published Friday, December 7, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife is home to one of the handful of performing ballad singers in the country, Moira Cameron.

She said she grew up with the style of music as though she'd been born with it.

Moira Cameron plays an Appalachian dulcimer at a celebration for International Music Day. - NNSL file photo

Her parents told her the story how at age three she got up onstage at a club between sets and sang a multi-verse Scottish ballad.

"From there, my life course was set," she said. "I've been singing these songs since I can remember. I can't imagine singing anything else, really."

This weekend, she is releasing her third album of ballads, but this one's a little different from the first two.

All of her previous solo recordings were traditional songs. This new album, Sands of the Shore: Be Tricked or Betrayed will also include three of her original songs, two of which recount true Yellowknife stories.

One is called Lament of a Miner's Wife.

"It's a song that I wrote shortly after the Giant Mine was closed down, and it was basically based on the incidents that happened at Giant Mine leading up to the closure of the mine," she said.

Kate's Ballad recalls another incident that happened in Yellowknife in the mid 1990s.

"A friend of mine, her house got burned down by an acquaintance of hers... it was a very traumatic thing, obviously. She lost everything," she said. "I sort of turned that into a ballad."

Kate Tompkins, the subject of the song, sings on the track for the album. Some other local musicians, including Steve and Dawn Lacey, Steve Goff and more have also contributed their musical talent to the recording.

The 17-track project was actually started years ago with Spiritwalker Productions. She said because of scheduling among other things, it took five years to finish.

"I also wanted to spend time in between sessions, giving a break so I could evaluate each song," she said. "It was because the ballads are... story songs, and I'm very passionate about them, and I want to get the spirit of them across in the right way."

Along with her vocals, the album includes some of her work on exotic instruments such as the autoharp and the Appalachian dulcimer. Radio stations in places from New Zealand to the U.S. have already ordered the album for airplay.

The CD release will take place on Sunday afternoon in the foyer at Northern Arts and Cultural Centre between 2 and 4 p.m. Cameron will play some music from each of her solo CDs, and she will also be handing out information on the style of music.

"I'm kind of like on a religious crusade. I want people to get interested in this type of music," she said.