March 10, 2025 • 59 mins
Angela Kelman's musical journey started with a small town choir director that saw her authentic talent and her belief in her sparked a lifelong passion that would lead her to become the lead singer of Juno award-winning country group Farmer's Daughter, create children's music albums, and develop a revolutionary singing system that helps students find their authentic voice.
During our conversation, Angela shares the beautiful synchronicities that guided her career, from a choir director who advised against classical training to preserve her natural pop style, to the serendipitous airplane meeting that introduced her to her husband when she least expected it. Her story demonstrates how following your intuition—even when it seems to lead you away from conventional success—often brings you exactly where you need to be.
We dive deep into the challenges of life on the road, the difficult choices between career advancement and personal fulfillment, and the evolution that comes with listening to your heart's calling. Angela's candid reflections on knowing her worth and learning to ask for proper compensation will resonate with creatives of all disciplines who struggle to value their talents appropriately.
Beyond her musical accomplishments, Angela reveals how motherhood transformed her creative expression, leading her to develop children's albums and illustrated songbooks that earned Juno nominations. Her Five Point Singing System, born from years of teaching experience, demonstrates how our gifts can evolve and find new expressions throughout our lives.
Whether you're a music lover, a creative professional finding your way, or someone navigating life's unexpected twists, Angela's wisdom about resilience and self-discovery offers powerful insights for anyone seeking to live authentically and follow their inner guidance. Listen now to discover how claiming what's inside you—and speaking it into existence—can transform your life in ways you never imagined.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, it's Marnie .
I have an awesome guest for youtoday and I'm so grateful that
you're here to check it out.
But before we get into that, Iwant to tell you a bit of a
story that you might not knowabout me.
Back in 1979, my family and Itook this road trip that was for
about a month long, and we livein the interior of British
(00:21):
Columbia, or did at the time.
So we went down across thestates and there was this really
great little store that kind ofhad a little bit of everything.
I can't remember the name of it, but my parents walked in there
and picked up a and I'm goingto date myself an eight track
tape of the Carpenters.
So on this month long journeywe listened to that tape over
(00:42):
and over and over, and at thattime I was probably about 11.
And I just fell in love withKaren Carpenter.
So by the time I got home fromthat trip my parents were just
like I think we should put youinto some voice lessons, what do
you think?
And I was like I love that idea.
So off I went into voicelessons and in high school I had
(01:02):
a band called Line of Fire, sosinging was something that was
really one of my first lovesbefore I got into being a
voiceover artist.
I was in college and I wasstudying advertising and I had
one of my friends who was adrummer come up to me and he
said oh Maren, you got to learnabout this school.
It's so perfect for you.
It's called Musicians Instituteof Technology, it's right in
(01:23):
downtown Hollywood, and I'mgoing to apply, and I think you
should too.
Back then that was way beforethe internet, so I don't even
remember how I actually got theinformation, whether I mailed
away for the catalog or how thatworked, but I ended up
auditioning and moving to LA andthat's where I met today's
guest.
(01:43):
Today's guest is Angela Kelman,and she is a Juno award-winning
artist from Brandon Manitoba.
She's most well known as thelead singer and principal writer
of the Canadian country girlgroup Farmer's Daughter and
after 10 years of touring withFarmer's Daughter and receiving
multiple nominations and awardsfrom BCCMAs to the Junos to the
(02:06):
CCMAs, angela pursued her solocareer, which she recorded
several of her own albumsspanning various genres and
styles.
She had a bossa nova style CaféBrasilia.
She had a Juno nominatedchildren's album called Angela
May's Magnificent Menagerie andin 2021, she had a disco album
called Mirrorball.
There's no style that Angelacannot do.
(02:29):
So we have so much history andso many fun things to talk about
, and I am so excited, so let'sget into it.
I'm a multi-passionateentrepreneur, best-selling
author, foodie and voiceoverartist, and I created the Life
is Delicious podcast with onesimple mission in mind to help
(02:53):
you add more flavor to your lifeand to help you write your own
recipe for a life that feedsyour soul.
I'm so glad you're here.
Good morning, angela.
I'm so glad to have you here.
Do you want to hear somethingsuper funny?
Sure, we've been friends forover 35 years.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
No, we have not, Marnie, because we're only 39.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Oh, that's right, I forgot.
I'm not supposed to tellanybody that's crazy to think
that isn't.
It?
Isn't that insane?
I was doing the math and Ithought what is going on here,
but I guess that's just life.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
That is life.
And then when you look at thosethings that people post about
you know 1980 was so many yearsago it's like, oh my dog, it was
.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, and we remember those days.
We do remember those daysbarely.
Yeah, exactly.
My first question is take meback to when you were a little
girl.
When did you catch sort of thesinging bug and what was your
biggest influence that kind ofled you into the performance
space?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Well, that is.
You know, that is a veryinteresting question.
So I think I had an excellentchoir director in elementary
school and music teacher back inthe days when there was a
permanent music teacher on staff.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right, yeah, that was amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It was amazing and I give her all the credit for
recognizing my natural abilityand saying to my mom and this
would have been about grade five, grade six, so what are you 10,
11?
And I always loved to sing andeveryone in my family could sing
, even though they didn't do itlike I did it.
I was one of those kids that Iget emails from parents about
going.
My daughter's always singing.
(04:32):
You know, so can you help her?
And so I just think I lovemusic so much.
And it was Mrs McMunn in Brandon, manitoba, my elementary school
teacher, that said to my momyou know she hasa gift, but I
don't.
I would advise you not to trainher, which was a really big
thing for her to say, becauseit's natural when parents are
(04:55):
told that their kids have a giftand something to seek out, help
for them or guidance for them.
And Brandon Brandon School ofMusic at Brandon University, it
was classical, mostly classical,and I think that and I'm not
classical and classical is great, but I was just pop music all
the way.
So, between that happening andbetween my dad playing records
(05:22):
like Nat King Cole and PetulaClark and Hank Williams on
Sunday afternoons in our littlehouse in Brandon Manitoba.
You know, morning music speaksto us and so because everyone
was musical in my family, Ithought everyone could sing.
So then you get into school andyou realize the kid standing
(05:42):
next to you in choir is liketone deaf and it's like are you,
are you joshing us?
You know, but no, actually it'sa gift.
It is a gift and I'm sograteful that I was chosen to
have that gift of naturalability to hear and and
duplicate melodies.
And then you know so then itstarted in grade six.
I remember going to the localtelevision show to do a
(06:03):
Christmas carol performance withour principal who played the
piano.
And then from that came wemoved into junior high and there
was no music program and abunch of us rallied and actually
got a music program started ingrade seven and so, and then it
started like a piano player andI would sing in front of the
school.
And then it started like apiano player and I would sing in
(06:24):
front of the school.
And I mean I look back at thatand go, you're 12 and 13 and
you're getting up in front of aschool of 300, 400 kids and
singing for your peers, like Imean that's brave, that's brave,
right.
So for me it's always been thisI don't know, divine
intervention, something comes tome out of the blue, I don't
(06:45):
question it, I just follow it.
And it's led me on this amazinglife and case in point where we
met in Los Angeles two Canadiangirls meeting at a music school
in Los Angeles.
I had been working the scene inWinnipeg in the 80s and was
busy and there was work and Iwas making a living wage.
(07:06):
I was doing had a wonderfullounge partner who taught me so
much.
His name was Tom Dahl and wewould do.
We'd get house gigs all aroundWinnipeg and I was working 48
weeks a year and sometimes I wasworking like a cocktail hour
and then going and singing latenight in another lounge or with
a band.
So it was a great time to be ayoung, developing singer.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, and I learned so much from the School of Hard
Knocks and from some mentors inmy life, like Tom, and then you
know kind of running my own band.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You learn a lot of things really quickly when you
take on the role of band leaderyou know, that's such an amazing
thing that you were advised notto be trained, because that's
very similar.
I started taking lessons at 11as well yes and the teacher that
I went to.
Actually she had this star pupilwho was her opera kind of
(08:04):
classical gal and she was likethe be all and end all of this.
You know her students and Iremember listening to her sing
and thinking I don't ever wantto sound like that and that was
such a.
And so I actually took lessonswith.
Her name was Greta.
I took lessons with her forprobably two or three years and
then I got to a place where Iwas like my I'm getting this is
(08:26):
not working for me because Ican't do the pop the same way.
I don't want to lose that.
So I quit and I said no more ofthat.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So very similar experience and in my teaching
and I advise parents when theycome to me, like I teach kids
classes and I just love it and Iteach adult classes too and
it's, it's such, it's, it fillsup my heart so much.
But we can talk about thatlater.
But I wanted to say that nodisrespect to classical and
operatic training, it's reallybut, you have to know what you
(08:57):
want.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
So what lane you want to be in?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
for sure, so opera and classical are different.
You use different techniquesthan you do with popular music
and you cannot transfer all ofthose techniques into pop music.
Like I can tell.
I walk into wherever andsomeone's singing a pop tune and
I can tell instantly whetherthey've been operatically
trained or not because you haveto understand the difference and
(09:20):
a couple of times I've hadstudents who ended up going to
CAPU in the music program andthey come back to me and I go
what happened to you?
Right, it's like?
No, I have to make you awarethat you leave the operatic
voice at the door when you comeinto my house wanting to learn
how to sing pop songs.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Because that technique doesn't work with
popular music.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
It's a totally different sensibility Apples,
and even the way you use yourvowels and everything right?
Yeah, yeah, it's apples andoranges.
Yeah, totally.
So here's a question becauseI've always been curious, and
the reason I ask this questionis because I love to sing and
that's one of the reasons Iended up at school in Los
Angeles with you, but performingwas not something that came
(10:02):
naturally to me.
So where did your love ofperforming come from?
And another reason I ask isbecause when you get on the
stage and I remember just reallyadmiring you for that so much
when I was a young girl, becauseyou were a little bit older
than me, not by much, but you'dhad lots more experience but you
light up when you're on a stageand it's so apparent that it
(10:24):
fills your heart and your souland you bring this light with
you.
So where did that come from?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
We feel music differently, those of us who
make it our life passion.
I think I've always maintainedthat we need to feel things a
little deeper so that we can,when we get up on stage and sing
and emote, we make everyoneelse feel something, because
(10:49):
that's our job as a singer.
Our job is to interpret the songthe way the writer intended it
and to use all our skillsnatural or learned to deliver an
emotional performance thatmakes your audience sit up, take
notice and feel something,because so many people go
through their lives not reallyfeeling like we're do we just
(11:10):
get on like, especially nowadayswhen everyone's so busy, and we
kind of go into autopilot.
And that's personal opinion.
But, if you can, I think somany of us are drawn to music
because it does remind us we'rehuman, remind us we're emotional
.
The performance thing.
I just love to entertain.
(11:31):
I used to think about myself I'man entertainer first, I'm a
singer second and I'm asongwriter third.
And in any chapter in my lifethose may shift, whatever is the
predominant one.
But I think I and I grew up ina household in the in the
seventies and eighties, I thinkthat, and as a child back in the
(11:53):
day when you could get lost inimagination, like we just had
this great big yard and all theneighborhood kids and cousins
would come over and we'd play.
We'd play outside till dark andwe'd make up plays and we'd
dress up in my mom's bridesmaidgowns from 1956 that were in the
playhouse out back Like just,we had a lot less distraction as
(12:15):
children.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
What a beautiful childhood.
I mean, I remember that too.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yes, we played and we learned so much from play.
So it's a chapter of our lifethat was precious and helped
form who we are today.
But I think I got derailedwhich I often do at this age
when I said I was working 48weeks a year in Winnipeg and one
morning in my beautifulbrownstone apartment that was
(12:40):
fabulous and affordable inWinnipeg, I woke up and a
thought came to me I'm moving toLos Angeles.
Oh, interesting, I have no ideawhere that came from.
I have no idea where that camefrom.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
How did you hear?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
about the school.
I don't even remember and Ithink, and it's not like you
could get on the internet.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
No no.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Right.
So maybe, oh, I think that somefriends, musical friends, in
Edmonton had gone to MI and theywere guitar players and they
were telling me about it, andthen I think I wrote away for
the catalog, right Isn't thatamazing how different things
were back then.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Right, I know, and I remember doing my audition tape
and this is just really going todate me.
But you know my ghetto blasterrecord sing acapella into
cassette tape, put it in anenvelope and mail it off to LA.
That's what I did.
Cross your fingers and wait foran envelope to arrive.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
But you know, we learned once we got there that
they pretty much accepteverybody.
So what you know, it was niceto go.
We got accepted.
Yay't I awesome.
Yeah, there's one girl in theclass that's one step from tone
deaf and then you go oh, but itwas a great school it was a
great school and I learned someskills from that, from kevin
latau who worked with that girl,who actually got her to sing on
(14:01):
pitch, and I still use thattechnique with some of my kids
who struggle Heaven is amazing.
You know, as we've learned overthe years, there's so much
neurodivergency.
Everyone learns differently.
Music is one of the few thingsin life that can be left brain
or right brain, and you willgravitate more to one of those
(14:22):
sides of the brain when you'redoing music.
So you and I are right brainers.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
The little kids who you see reading sheet music,
playing piano like you knowflawlessly or violin, they're
most likely more left brainers,because that's the math of music
.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
We go for the heart, the soul, the feel, the shapes,
the colors, right, and they gofor the math, the breakdown, the
feel, the shapes, the colors,right, and they go for the math,
the breakdown of structure, theprecision of the notes, all
that stuff, and there's no rightor wrong thing.
And then I feel the bestplayers that I've ever
encountered and singers havejust a little bit of both.
(15:01):
They're not only readers oronly feelers, they have just a
little bit of both.
They're not only readers oronly feelers, they have just a
little bit of both.
Again, I'm not an overlyreligious person, I'm a
spiritual person, but I reallythink there's some kind of
divine entity that has thislittle golden thread attached to
you that pulls you in differentdirections.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I 100% believe that and when you're open, especially
as a creative, sometimes wehave to take different paths
that we didn't even know we weregoing to take to get to where
we were meant to be.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So true, so true.
And if you are a creative, youhave to have an outlet.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yes, multiple outlets or multiple yes.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yes, or else it just you feel like a piece of you is
missing, or you're feelingunfulfilled, or you can't put
your finger on it.
Yeah, I tell that to everybody.
If it's in you, you got to doit.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I believe that to be true too.
Do you remember what your veryfirst gig was, your very first
performance gig?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Oh my gosh, that was a long time ago.
Well, I'll tell you, we had ahigh school teacher who had
played in bands all his adultlife and he started a rock band
at our school in Brandon,manitoba, and it was Crocus
Plains Secondary and we werecalled CP Express and we got the
name off the CP Rail, you know,delivery truck or something,
(16:23):
and it was a big band and it wasall high school kids, and so I
think maybe one of the firstgigs we did with that was an
elementary school tour.
And so and I remember, remembermy mom and keep in mind.
This is like the late seventies.
My mom made the four of usgirls or help make um satin
jumpsuits.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Oh fun.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, not the best choice, but anyway, and they
were in different colors.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Very 70s, very 70s.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
And the little kids were just, they treated us like
rock stars, right, and rushedthe stage after the show.
It was very cute.
But then, from that, being oneof the lead singers in that band
, a local dance band called ColdDuck, who had been around
forever, hired me as theirsinger.
So I remember the bass player,Paul Solon, coming to my mom's
(17:15):
house and I'm 16.
And he's like 27 or 28.
And he's going yeah, Mrs Kelman, Molly, we'll look after her
like big brothers, Like we willmake sure that she is like you
know she's all good and they did.
Those guys looked after me andthey were really a great band to
(17:36):
start my performance career formoney with.
I was at 16 and 17 and 18, Iwas working a lot and I you're
going to laugh and I remembermaking 80 and 90 bucks a night,
Like you were doing weekend gigs, right.
So you now this is 1980.
That's good money for back then.
(17:58):
Well, now you only make 80, 90bucks a night for some gigs,
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Isn't that insane.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Right, and it's just like that's insane that
nothing's changed in 45 years,like it's just insane.
And and so many reasons in theworld and social media and
sharing platforms and streamingplatforms has really demonetized
the art for the artist.
And don't get me started onthat, that's another subject day
(18:26):
.
But anyway, that's anotherepisode.
That's another episode.
But you know, we as creatives,we don't do this for fun.
We do this because it's in us,we have something to say and we
should be paid for it.
And there is, you know, there'sdifferent levels of remuneration
(18:47):
and if you're lucky enough todo what I did with Farmer's
Daughter, even though it was astruggle for the first few years
, by the end of our 10 yearstogether we were making some
pretty good money, but we alsoself-managed our career, so most
of that money was going backinto the promotion and again,
this is pre-social media.
(19:08):
So we are dropping $40,000 to$50,000 a video.
We are dropping, you know, tensof thousands of dollars in
recording albums, keeping a bandon the road crossing Canada.
You know you're out in Ontarioand you've got a full bus of
band and you got two days off,but you still have to pay them a
(19:28):
per diem and you still have topay them, pay for their
accommodations, and so you knowthat was a real good reality.
On Music Business 101.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So what was the hardest part of being on the
road?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
The hardest part for me of being on the road was
missing family things.
My mother had a mastectomy andI had said to our management I
need to be there with her andthere was a gig booked in
Calgary at the Saddle Dome andit was some rodeo and I got the
(20:04):
lecture well, if we cancel thatgig, everyone suffers and no one
makes money that day.
And so out of I was kind of Ifelt a bit guilty so I said yes.
So I went to my mother the dayshe I was, I think.
I got there, I was with her theday she had her surgery and the
next morning I went up to thehospital and she was bright eyed
(20:27):
and bushy tailed and I said,mom, I'm gone for like 30 hours
and I'll be back.
I left her bedside after thismajor operation and this is
before Brandon had WestJetservice, so my cousin drove me
into winter, caught a flight toCalgary, showed up for the gig.
The guy that was the promoteron the gig had no idea what he
(20:47):
was doing.
Nobody showed up.
We got stiffed on money.
The guy never paid us and I'mthinking and I left my mother
for this and I will never dothat again.
But um, but one funny thinghappened from that a performance
to 10 people in the Saddledome.
There was a cow there and wealways sing the national anthem
(21:11):
at these things.
We sing, we sang so manynational anthems at places all
over for pro sports and rodeosand public events, yada, yada.
So I hit the pitch pipe.
I don't know, I think we do itin B or something.
Oh, canada, and you got toremember, I got a part above me
and I got a part below me, sothe key used to be pretty bang
(21:32):
on for us to stay in our ranges.
So I hit the pitch pipe and thecow goes and we go oh, okay, we
sing in the key of cow,whatever that cow did, but all
three of us in the same key andwhere that calf hit that note it
was the funniest thing and weyou know jake's eyes are getting
bigger because it's so freakinghigh for her and and, uh, but
(21:55):
it was.
That was one of the funnystories that happened.
Oh, that's, so sad sadness forme of that weekend yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Well, isn't it interesting, though, that we
have to go through those hardmoments to create boundaries for
ourself and to find thosemoments where we say I'm never
doing that again, and that's aline in my sand that will never
move anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, yeah, that, that is so true, and you're
right, we have to have thoselife experiences to teach us
that.
Yeah, well, that didn't work.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Not doing it again and I thinkas getting older, I think I have
way easier time saying no.
And I have a.
I have a girlfriend who's justlike she, is a force, and she's
(22:35):
been a force for the last 30years that I've known her and
one of the things that she saidone time that I've adopted is
that doesn't work for me, andhow can you argue with that when
someone's asking you to dosomething that you may not
really want to do?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
I know and I love that so much and I use that for
myself.
Yes, and I think part of myability to set boundaries now is
, whenever I consider doingsomething, whatever it is for
someone else or an obligation, Ihave to be able to do it and be
happy about it so that I sothat everybody's winning in the
(23:11):
situation, because if I have tocompromise my own happiness or
my needs to help that situation,that's a no-go anymore.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, yeah, and it takes a long time to learn that.
I think, yeah, that's lifelessons, and so I work with a
lot of teenage girls.
I have a real rainbow of kids inmy school and I love them all
and they are amazing and they'revery brave and one of the
things I share with them is youdon't have you.
(23:40):
You can have boundaries at thisage and if you're around
somebody that you don't feelgood around, then you can block
them.
You know, use the social mediaterms.
Yeah, you know you need, and Itell them they're all precious
and they're worthy of someonewho treats them well if they're
choosing partners and myhusband's often out in the
kitchen, just outside the musicroom where I teach, making me
(24:03):
dinner because I have like anhour between classes.
Sometimes I go and you know Isaid you want a partner like
that Exactly, who works alongwith you to make you know things
run smoothly and thinks that,thinks that you're what you do
is great and supports you.
And you know I wish someone hadsaid that to me in my youth
(24:24):
because I think I would havesaved a lot of time.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I.
I think that's such animportant thing and how blessed
are those kids to have you intheir life.
Because if you can learn thatlesson at a young age, your life
you just have so much lessheartache.
You don't have to learn thingsthe their life.
Because if you can learn thatlesson at a young age, your life
you just have so much lessheartache.
You don't have to learn thingsthe hard way and you don't have
to go through as much anguish.
And yeah, you know, it's justknowing that that you can make
(24:48):
choices and surround yourselfwith people that are good to you
.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
That's so funny.
You should say make choices.
Because my Thursday class,which were unruly teenagers
every time they left I go have agood weekend, make good choices
.
And one of the girls who kindof walked a fine line, she said,
oh, I was going to go withthose kids and I went.
Oh no, I heard Angela's voicein my head Make good choices.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
No-transcript conversation with you about the
road and where you were at, andyou were just in a place where
you were just like I just wantto have a baby and I that just
profoundly impacted mydecision-making process because
there was such a pull in myheart to be a mom that was just,
(26:04):
I love to sing and that was mydream was to be a professional
singer.
But having that conversationwith you allowed me to make a
different choice and not feelbad about it, and there's not
one moment in my life that I'veever regretted not pursuing that
professional career, because Ineeded to be a mom at that time.
(26:25):
And I followed my heart and Ialways thank you for that,
because that was such abeautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Well, you know, I've wanted to be three things in my
life or two things a singer anda mother and I've achieved both.
But I've seen a lot threethings in my life or two things
a singer and a mother and I'veachieved both.
But I've seen a lot of mygirlfriends in the industry who
did want to be a mom and, forwhatever reason, didn't end up
being a mom and I think theyfeel a little bit of a loss.
(26:51):
And, having been raised aroundlots of children, I have a
tremendous love for children.
Music and children are mybiggest loves in my life.
I think that with your littleguys you had what I wanted and I
had what you wanted.
But it's finding the balance.
Oh, absolutely, it's findingthe balance and I was lucky in
that the career happened and Igot to a certain level, you know
(27:16):
, top of the Canadian musicindustry for those few years and
then like there's it's a lot ofwork, it's a lot of sacrifice,
it's a lot of heartache, it'smanaging egos, it's it's it's
bittersweet and it can wear youdown.
When Farmer's Daughter wrappedup in the early 2000s, that was
(27:41):
more my choice to move on in mylife because it wasn't feeling
good anymore.
So I just knew, and I'm one tostick it, I'm one to beat a dead
horse you know what I mean.
Like.
It's like and I just again Nota quitter, not a quitter when
I'm in, I'm all in and so.
But it was starting to weigh onme and I thought I am 34, 35,
(28:11):
and I would like to have a child, and this is not feeling good
anymore and so started to pullout of that.
And then our management companywent on to manage Emerson Drive
.
But there's an abrupt halt.
That happens once you've beenin the limelight.
That's very hard to deal with.
And yeah, right, like you know,for a year, two, three after,
(28:34):
people still know who you arebecause it got to be a point
where you were recognizedeverywhere.
We were like because we wereall over.
And in the 90s, country musicwas the market share, it was
over 50%.
This is pre-streaming, this isbuying albums, this is the Garth
Brooks, reba McEntire, vinceGill age of country and the
(28:56):
Dixie Chicks were just startingto emerge.
And you know we had run, we'dbeen running hard for almost 10
years.
Again, something said if youdon't get off this carousel, you
may miss your opportunity tohave that other thing you want
most in your life, which is ababy.
And I was planning to do it onmy own because I relationships
hadn't worked out for me and I.
And one day, on a plane I'mflying and I was also like you
(29:21):
more and I was.
I was exploring other umdirections of my career under
the umbrella of music.
My perfect gig after Farmer'sDaughter would have been like a
talk show, like Rosie O'Donnellor right because of cooking
segment and music, or KellyClarkson music segment, like I
would have loved to have donethat me yeah, right and uh, but
it just didn't turn out that way.
(29:42):
But I had made some inroads atCMT and they asked me to do an
honor interview with Dan Hilland I love Dan Hill.
I love Dan Hill since his posterhung on the back of my
brother's bedroom door in the70s, right.
So I was excited.
So I go out and I buy hislatest CD and I'm reading the
liner notes and I've got somestories and things I remember
from his career past and I wason a plane, I had the liner
(30:05):
notes, I had some otherreferences, some magazines or
whatever, and there's this guysitting a seat next to me with
the middle seat empty, and wewere also the last two to board,
because obviously we'reseasoned flyers, because when
you fly a lot you just wait tothe last possible minute to
board.
We sit down, turns out heforgets his book.
(30:26):
He's an avid reader and I'vegot all this stuff all over my
lap and I'm trying to writequestions because the interview
is the next day at Lodge inKananaskis, and I'm trying to
prep.
I like to be prepared.
I'm a Capricorn, you know he's.
I feel him looking at me and Ilook at him.
I go morning.
He goes hi, he goes.
I'm Doug, I go hi, I'm Angela.
So I'm doing my thing and hekeeps kind of poking me like hey
(30:47):
, what are you doing?
It's like, uh, first of all hegoes.
You're a very, very pretty girllooked at him and I said thank
you.
My mother thinks so Right andso.
I'm trying to shut him down,right, shut him down, and he
keeps, he keeps bugging me and Iand I always say I've tried to
flick him off like a stickybooger, but anyway, um he
finally.
(31:07):
Finally he picks up a magazinewhich is a national geographic
and he's flicking through it andhe's changing the pages.
And I had on a faux leopardprint, um, winter coat, faux fur
, and he found a I don't knowwhat, it's not a pride of
leopards, whatever, it is aleopard, it's a group of
leopards.
And he, he leans over to me,shows me the picture, goes hey,
look, they're wearing your coat.
Okay, buddy, you want to talk?
(31:29):
Let's talk, okay.
So I pack up my shit and I okay,the floor is yours.
So he starts talking.
Well, where do you live?
I said North Van and he said oh, I'm going to a friend's 50th
birthday party in North Van atthe Queen's Cross Pub next week.
You should come, give me yournumber and I go no, I don't know
if this guy's a serial killer.
Anyway, he doesn't know who Iam, which was quite refreshing
(31:51):
actually.
He didn't know who I was.
Uh, he said, but his friendBobby would know who I was
because he was a big countrymusic fan.
So anyway, jump ahead 25 years,we're married and that's the
guy I married and the father ofmy son.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Serendipity, stepped in and gave you another gift.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
We told this story at our wedding and the big thing,
which was really funny I lookedat him and Doug's a wee bit
older than me he's 18 yearsolder than me, but he was a.
You know jeans and a and aturtleneck and funky glasses and
a belt buckle Cause he's anAlberta boy and uh, and when we
started talking I said, uh, areyou married?
(32:31):
And he said no, I've.
I've been separated for 18months.
And I said no, I've beenseparated for 18 months.
And I said, do you have kids?
And he says yes, I have two andI want more.
He said that he claims to thisday.
He did not say that.
I said that made my 35-year-oldlittle ears perk right up,
because you look like you hadyour own car and you could
(32:52):
possibly pay for dinner once ina while.
That's the criteria, rightthere.
Because I've been datingmusicians no, no disrespect to
my musician friends and I havehad a couple of very generous
musician friends.
But yeah, he still claims hedid not say that.
I said, well, then, god madeyou say that because that's the
thing, that was the seal of thedeal.
Like, oh okay, let's talk rightAnyways.
(33:19):
Yeah, so that's funny, and hehad no intention of getting
involved seriously.
You know, we dated for a yearand then and said is this going
forward?
Are we just going to be gettogether for lunch?
and we were both in here we arehere we are, 25 years later in
our son and um, that's a greatstory, it's a good, good story,
and you never know.
And again, whoever you are andwhatever you think, wherever you
(33:40):
think you're at in your life,you're not Exactly.
Yeah, just give in.
Yeah, you're not driving thebus for the big part of the big
picture.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah, so I love that because I believe that too and I
think that's really and lookhow awesome that is because you
got to have a baby and now youhave a grown son, obviously, but
that led you into creatingchildren's albums and sing along
books, and so tell us a littlebit about how that kind of all
came organically.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Again recognizing opportunities.
So I had a student whoseparents had a retail store that
was a Canadian version of and Ihate to say Canadian version of
anything, but it was.
If you've ever heard ofBuild-A-Bear, it was called
Snuggable Huggables and theywanted to do a similar thing
here in Canada.
And the mom had approached meand said we need some music.
(34:32):
We'd like an album for thestore.
Do you know anybody that writeschildren's music?
Now, marnie, I don't know if youwere there when Tommy Tedesco,
who was a famous part of thewrecking crew, who was on
everyone's albums in the 60s and70s and did movie soundtracks,
he was the keynote speaker atour opening day um at MI
(34:54):
Musicians Institute in LA and Iremember hearing him tell a
story about the producers fromCharlie's Angels called and that
particular episode was going tobe shot in Hawaii, and so they
called him and said hey, tommy,do you play Hawaiian music?
He goes, yeah, totally.
So he said the next, he goes.
I had three days till thesession.
I went to Tower Records andbought every Hawaiian music
(35:16):
record there was and I went homeand I woodshed.
He didn't play Hawaiian music,yeah, I do.
And then he woodshed and thenhe nailed the session Well for
me, it was the same thing.
She phones me and said, hey, doyou know anybody that does
children's music?
And I go yeah, I do.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Good girl Love that.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
And good girl love that.
And then it's like and actuallyI do and I always have, and
with Alex, my son, oh my gosh,everything was a song, right,
you know.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
What's funny about that, though, is that I think
that is so powerful when we youknow, when we say something out
loud, I do that, and how oftenhave we done that in our life
where we've claimed like I'm awriter or I'm whatever, and you,
you have no idea how to do that, but you know, there's a piece
of you that has that inside youand that gives you permission to
be it.
Yes, so cool, say yes, and thenfigure it out and claim it and
(36:06):
speak it out loud so that you,your brain, hears it, and the
first few times it feels like animposter, but after you do it
long enough, it's like I am awriter and I do write children's
music, and you did.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And it was great and I did, and it got Juno nominated
and yeah, that was a real, areal like feather in my cap, as
my mother used to say.
But everything was a song andyou can't help when you have
little kids, like you know.
Like there's a little Spanishsong We'd sing and that was
(36:40):
really fun, until he started tosing it in public.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
And I had to go.
Okay, we can't sing that song.
Careful what you wish for Inrestaurants, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Or get on a party, do what you got to do.
You know it's potty trainingtime, so you make up a song.
It's just the delight ofchildren and I would run all my
songs by Alex.
He was like a year and a halfor two when I was writing that
album and it ended up being agreat thing for us.
The store ended up closing.
We had signed a deal where westill owned the rights to all
(37:11):
the music because I had a bigimagination for these kids'
songs.
And so, through Doug doing someresearch because now we were in
the world of the Internet atthis point when I was writing
the kids' stuff he found thisexcellent artist in Quebec who
did not speak English.
His name was FranfouF-R-A-N-F-O-U.
(37:33):
Unbelievable.
He had done things for likeChirp magazine.
You know, if you have kids, youknow what Chirp magazine is
Chickadee and Chirp and I lovedhis style.
It was colorful and it was boldand it was just everything I
wanted my books to be.
And we communicated via emailand he got the songs, because in
(37:53):
all my songs there's thatlittle entertainment element,
there's a little bit of humor,there's a little bit of
educational references there's.
He got all of it even though wedid not speak the same language
, and it was just a delight towork with him and I did three
books.
I did Frank the Cat and I didDisco Dinosaurs and I did Funky
(38:16):
Monkey, and you can check outAngelaKellmancom.
They're all on there and it wasone of the most fun, creative
endeavors I've ever done right,yeah, and it's really.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I always think it's for creative people.
We often need to wear more thanone hat.
Oh, we do.
It's so fun to be able toexpress yourself in different
ways and scratch a differentitch, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
And it's the hardest part for us creatives is the
marketing.
But I'm finding that I, evenfor my little local gigs that
I'm still doing, social media ispretty damn powerful, but I
hired a 26 year old to do it forme.
Well done, because I can't likethis has become.
When you have to create, youknow, do all the social media
(39:03):
and do like, it just becomes a24 seven.
You never get a break.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
It's important to do what you're good at so that you
can use your strengths in yourway and, like you say, hiring a
26-year-old.
That's what she's good at, soit's such a beautiful thing it
is and we work great.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
She's my assistant.
She's been with my studentssince she was six and then was
my assistant all when she was inhigh school and and then went
away to university and came backand she's been with me ever
since and I I just couldn't doit without her.
I couldn't.
And she's got a vision.
She sees how you know the endgame and it's really working.
And so I have to laugh becauseI don't know if you follow a
comedian on social media calledLeanne Morgan.
(39:42):
No, she told a story.
All of a sudden I started seeingLeanne Morgan Leanne Morgan and
she's funny and my Christmasgift was to go see her play in
May, so I can't wait.
She's here in Vancouver.
But she told a story about shehired some 20-somethings to be.
They approached her, I think,and said hey, can we, like we
(40:04):
can do social media for you andwe'll post a clip and one of the
first clips they posted of hertalking about going to her and
her husband, who are in theirlate 50s, going to a deaf
leopard journey concert.
And she tells this story andit's hysterical and she does
great physical comedy and shareher facial expressions and her
body language and it's not vileor vulgar and it's just good,
clean, fun.
Lots of family stories andstories about her and her
(40:26):
husband, chuck Morgan, of familystories and stories about her
and her husband chuck morgan,and um, and these two young guys
posted this clip of her talkingabout the journey deaf leopard
concert and she went viral.
And now and she said and shestarted as a silk pad I think
one of the jewelry companiesstill pad or something.
She was an in-home.
You know, you'd book a partywith her and she was.
(40:46):
She knew she was funny and shewould go off script and she
started getting her own banterand and and she couldn't get
arrested to do comedy clubs oranything like no one was
interested, like you're.
Basically you're just ahousewife kind of mentality,
right yeah and so, but then,after this social media thing
went viral, well, she's sellingout all over north america now I
(41:06):
love that and she's got her own.
Chuck Lorre just signed her forher own TV show and she was in
the movie not the best movie,but a lighthearted, you know.
Detach your brain withCordially Invited Reese
Witherspoon and Will Ferrell.
I haven't watched it yet.
Oh, it's cute.
And she's the older sister andI just love her because she's
almost my age.
She said I just love herbecause she's almost my age
(41:28):
she's.
She said I knew I was destinedfor Hollywood as a child.
I just didn't know how I wasgoing to get there Right.
So now she's there and it'sreally her.
Her journey is reallyinteresting.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
It's so funny because I quite often talk about show
through talents and I talk aboutthis a lot on the podcast
because I think that that's aprime example of somebody who
has this gift in them and sooften we discount what comes
naturally and easily to usbecause we think it's just too
easy.
I can't make a living doingthat.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
It's too easy.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
I have to struggle or go get a job or you know, and
somebody has to pay my way.
But it's so often the oppositeof that and if you pay attention
to the things that really shinethrough in your gifts and your
talents, man, you can totallyrun with that and make your
whole life from it as we bothyou know found and I think
(42:20):
that's so great.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Yeah, it is great and you know I've been really lucky
in my life that people alongthe way have recognized my gift
and have rewarded me for it.
The one of the hardest partsabout being your own advocate is
asking for what you're worth.
That is.
I struggle with that.
I struggle with that and I'm ata place where it's like if they
(42:44):
don't want to pay me that Idon't want to do the gig.
And I've found a nice balanceof gigging a little bit more I'd
like a little bit more than Iam now for better pay, because I
got back into some of the localbreweries just to get my chops
up, because singing is veryphysical and it's like
weightlifting.
If you stop doing that for sixmonths you're going to get a
little flabby, and you got towork for a month to get back to
(43:06):
where you were before.
So singing is an ongoing thing.
The way I sing and therepertoire I sing.
It's a lot of energy and a lotof athletic energy, so I need to
stay in shape.
So, anyway, I did a couple ofyou know brewery gigs that
didn't pay well, but now it'slike okay, here's some entities
with a little budget and so anda lot of them ask you what do
you want?
So you fill it in and I'm justat the point where this is what
(43:29):
I want.
If you choose not to, that'sokay.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Yeah, and you know what I do with voiceover work.
I've struggled with asking forwhat I was.
I was always like, am I goingto bid too high?
And then I lose the job and like, oh my goodness and I really
struggled with that too.
And then I got to a point whereI was like you know what?
I've been doing this for a longtime.
I'm really good, I deliver ontime.
And so when people would say,could you please quote on this
job, I would always return theemail saying what's your budget
(43:55):
for the job.
And quite often I would say ohmy goodness, I would charge you
know, let's just say $300.
And then I'd say you tell mewhat your budget is and I'll try
and make it work for you, andthen they might come back, our
budget's 600.
And I go you know what I canmake that work?
And then you make twice as muchmoney and you go.
Why didn't I know that?
Speaker 2 (44:14):
20 years ago.
Why?
Speaker 1 (44:15):
did we undersell ourselves?
I know it's such a powerfulthing.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
I always undersell myself.
I remember I'll tell you astory I had a four piece kind of
vocal thing going on.
It was, it was really good.
I had a four-piece kind ofvocal thing going on, it was
really good, and it was a pianoplayer and it was kind of like
Manhattan Need Transfer thing.
And an agent I used to workwith called me and said, yeah,
yeah, I've got a gig, but thebudget's not that great and it
ended up being like 200 bucks aman, which was the least I will
(44:43):
ever pay anybody, and I said, ok, well, we'll do it this time.
You know who the client was.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Who Mercedes Benz?
That happens a lot in myindustry too.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
And you know what?
It wasn't the client, it wasthe agency.
And it's like and there'sanother lesson learned, right?
It's like, yeah, I won't dothat again.
So and then you go and you'dgive a great performance and
people rave and it's just like,oh great, I just gave you a
thousand dollar performance for200 bucks.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
And once in a while you need to do that to maybe get
in front of that client andthen from that point on you know
you can attract other clientsof that caliber.
But you're not going to do itfor 200 bucks or it's a charity
event.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
You know you want to give charity events a break
because they're there to makemoney for a good cause.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
I love that yeah.
Yeah, we're smart, marn, we'resmart.
Well, we're figuring it out,you know, one day at a time,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
I think we played a game with a bunch of my friends
a couple months back and it waslike say one word that describes
you, and I said resilient.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
I was just going to ask you, as you were talking, I
was going to say where do youthink that resilience comes from
?
Because I think resilience isactually one of the most key
elements to have happiness inyour life.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Yep, and I think it comes from.
I think the resilience camefrom my mother's example,
because my mom was a child ofthe dirty 30s of the Depression.
She was hungry as a child.
They wore rags as a child woulddrift in and the kids would go
(46:29):
out and pick up the cow pattiesto put in the stove to heat the
grandma's old cook stove, whichis about the only thing they had
.
And she would say some days weonly had a piece of bread with a
little bit of sugar sprinkledon it and that's all we had to
eat and as I was a strugglingyoung musician, her first
question to me would always bedo you, are you eating right?
because that was permanentlyinked in her dna and then in 96
(46:52):
she was when she was 63, she washit with breast cancer right,
and she fought it for 22 yearswow she survived it for 22
because she was just that person.
She was silly, sheacious, shewas resilient this isn't going
to get me she'd say in that tone, and she was right, and I think
(47:16):
of a lot of it's mindset.
And so I watched that all mylife and admired her for it.
You know, she was she.
She finally accepted what I didfor a living, when in her
daycare they would turn on CMT.
And here comes my face Right,and all of a sudden, here I am
(47:40):
on TV in her daycare going andshe's going.
Okay, I can relax, it's a thing.
Yeah, it's a thing, it's, she'sdoing it, she's paying her
bills.
We don't have to eat, she'seating.
Buying groceries yeah, she hasher own car, you know she's.
She's not.
She's in a good place.
So.
But I have to tell you a funnystory.
So one of our first farmer'sdaughter radio hits was our
(48:01):
version of Son of a Preacher man.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
I love that version.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Right, we did a country swing version and one of
our little kids I think it wasKayla, she must have been five
or six and mom would playFarmer's Daughter in the daycare
and Kayla said Auntie Molly,can you please play that
Farmer's Daughter song, son of aBitch of a man?
So you know, there was lots ofhumor that came from mom's
(48:30):
daycare and oh, I just love thekids.
There was nothing better for methan holding those babies when
they were sleeping and stuff asa 12-year-old.
And yeah, it was really a giftbecause I believe that, you know
, the young and the old aretreasures in our world and we
really have to give them thetime and the love that they
(48:51):
really need and deserve.
Speaker 1 (48:53):
Yeah, for sure.
So now that you are at theplace you are in your life, how
do you take care of yourself andrecharge your batteries?
What do you do about that?
Speaker 2 (49:03):
So I know things about myself.
I know I have to get enoughsleep and luckily Doug and I are
pretty good sleepers now sinceI'm past menopause and I also
strive for 30 minutes ofphysical activity a day, whether
at least the minimum of 30.
So whether that's putting onthe Gilmore Girls and walking on
the treadmills to detach fromthe stress of the world,
(49:25):
something aerobic that keeps mybreathing, for my singing good,
and I do weights to keep mymuscle tone and that's
de-stressing for me, that'sawesome, right.
And I have kind of tailored myteaching schedule not to be so
maniacal because I love to workand I love to help people.
(49:47):
But again I've had to say no, Ican't.
I can't take on 15 privatestudents a month in addition to
my, you know, seven to nineclasses a week.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
That's.
You know, that's the mostimportant thing.
I think as we get older we havea little bit more wisdom to
know our balance limits and whatwe have to do for ourselves.
So that's amazing that you'vefigured that out and found a bit
of a sweet spot so that you canbring your A-game when you come
and you're not overstretched.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Sometimes you just get off balance, but you just
pick yourself up because you'reresilient and you put one foot
in front of the other.
Because you're resilient andyou put one foot in front of the
other.
And I had a one of my bestfriends lost her husband within
six weeks to pancreatic cancereight years ago and she, it was
hard, it was hard for her and Iwould phone her almost every day
and I'd say how are you doing?
(50:40):
And she said I just keepputting one foot in front of the
other and that sticks with mebecause that's progress.
Speaker 1 (50:48):
Absolutely, and sometimes it's baby steps right
and that's and that's.
All that matters.
Is that now?
Speaker 2 (50:53):
yeah, now eight years later, she's thriving, you know
she's made some good decisionsand you know she feels the grief
, but it's not not all consuminganymore and you would know, you
, just you know grief is a funnything.
You just lost your mom and it's, and you're in the business of
death phase.
Right, because that's a thing,it's the right.
(51:13):
After someone you love passesthat you are executor of the
will, or even spouse or whateverchild.
There's a business of deaththat has to get dealt with.
And then the grief comes.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
Yeah, and it's really interesting being in the
sandwich generation too, whereyou're looking after your
parents and kind of helping themmanage that next chapter of
their life.
But you also still have, youknow, young adult children, or
even younger children, dependingwhere you are in your life, and
you have to find that littlespace in between where you can
(51:50):
actually care for yourself andmake sure you still have your
cup full enough to do all thethings you're required to do.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
Yeah, that's true story, sister.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
So this has been so much fun.
We could just talk for days anddays and days.
So we'll do this again, buttell everybody just because I
think it's an awesome tool thatyou created the five point
singing system.
We've talked so much about yourcareer and the ways you've kind
of reinvented yourself over theyears, but there's probably
(52:19):
some people that are going to belistening, that are going to go
.
I want to learn from this woman, so talk a little bit about
that.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
So I guess in 2010, it was I'd been teaching since
Alex was little.
I thought it was scary and thenI thought, well, what am I
really going to do?
Like I got to figure somethingout and I don't want to tour
anymore because Alex is little.
So I started teaching andluckily, we were in a house
where I have a 380 square footroom which I've made my music
room.
So I'm sitting in it right nowand I'm looking at a stage with
(52:48):
a drum kit and microphones and aPA system and and I have these
classes in my house and it'sbeen it's really been soul
filling.
It fills my heart up.
I love it because singing ismuch more than just singing.
It is allowing you to be whoyou are in a lot of ways.
And I I say to my adultstudents you find your voice in
(53:08):
this room, you find your voicein the world, because there's a
lot of people who don't speak up, who want to sing, who were
told by a choir director oh yeah, just stand over there and move
your mouth, you don't sing well, or whatever.
There's people coming with alot of baggage.
Our voice is attached to who weare, and so I started teaching
(53:28):
and I started teaching adults,which ironically ended up being
mothers of my children'sstudents.
They said we want to sing, andthen, you know that turned into
a class and then other peoplegot wind of it and they wanted
in and nobody was leaving theother class.
So I started another night.
So it's I do three adult classesa week and it's it is.
It's awesome.
It's awesome.
It is so awesome.
(53:48):
You help people discover whatthey can do.
So in one of my classes I Ibrought in instruments one time
ukuleles.
If you have piano lessons inyour life, great, you know, our
middle C is good on the piano.
Oh, you played.
You played flute.
I'm going to put you on bassbecause you've got really good
feel Well.
Now my friend who I put on bassis now gigging in a band, right
(54:12):
, and because, like, I see whatyou can do but I have to help
you see what you can do.
And so there's a lot of therapythat goes along with this voice
thing.
Speaker 1 (54:22):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (54:23):
Right.
So through all that, when Istarted teaching, I started to
realize Right.
So through all that, when Istarted teaching, I started to
realize, you know this, I'vedeveloped a little system.
It was very interesting that Istarted to see a pattern, and so
I narrowed it down, like apilot does when they get in the
airplane and goes you knowthey're checking and flipping
all their switches.
I thought there's fivepredominant things that a person
(54:46):
needs to know to become areally good singer, and so I'm
going to get a little kind of,you know, technical here, but
it's like breathing.
So you singers, the way I teachand the way I sing, it's all
based on breath where you takethe breath, how deep each breath
is, frequency in the song.
And then the second thing isdiaphragm support.
(55:08):
So that muscle in ourmidsection we manipulated as
singers to the higher we go inour range, the more diaphragm
support we have to engage, andto me that- I remember all that.
Right, it feels like I'm pullingit to my backbone and those two
things working together createplacement, so where the note
sits in your body and actuallyresonates, if you're doing
breathing and diaphragm supportright, then you're going to be
(55:31):
in the right placement.
And then the fourth thing and Iget this with about 15% of my
singers something I call vocalpath, and we learned about this
in our course in LA and it's thedirection that the sound column
comes out of your body once youtake in the breath and you do
the diaphragm support.
And then the fifth thing that alot of people don't realize and
(55:51):
a lot of, a lot of naturallygreat singers have an aha moment
when I, when I bring this up tothem, it's the shape of your
mouth, especially in ourmid-range and above, when we're
singing pop and rock and countryand lots of big sounding songs,
you have to drop your jaw torelease all tension.
So I realized through almost 20years of teaching that those
(56:15):
anything in a song can be fixedwith one of those five points.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
There's going to be a lot of people that will find
your system really useful andhelpful, and I'll definitely
link all of that in the shownotes so people can find you and
get a hold of that five pointsinging system if they would
like to.
And, oh my goodness, what apleasure.
It has been such a joy talkingto you and I just hope you guys
have all the best in 2025.
Speaker 2 (56:38):
Thanks, Marnie, I appreciate it and I appreciate
you asking me to be a guest andone of the things I'm listening
to you as you speak.
You're a great breather.
Speaker 1 (56:48):
Oh well, thank you so much for being here with me,
and we will definitely do thisagain.
Speaker 2 (56:55):
Sounds great.
Speaker 1 (56:56):
Take care oh my goodness, that was so much fun
and so many great nuggets ofwisdom.
So let's recap some of theawesome things we talked about
today.
Number one we need to stay opento following our guidance that
shows up for us, because it canhelp us to create the most
beautiful life.
Number two sometimes we have tohave a little faith that, even
(57:19):
if it seems that we're going inthe wrong direction, that maybe
we need to learn something alongthe way to be able to find our
way back to where we're supposedto be, I believe that to be
true.
Number three we need to haveexperiences that we regret or
where we make mistakes, so thatwe can learn the lessons that
help us to create healthier andbetter boundaries for ourselves.
(57:42):
Number four when you followyour heart's calling, surprising
things and miracles can awaityou.
Number five speak it intoexistence.
If you know there is somethinginside you that you want to
bring into the world, claim it,speak it out loud, believe it
and before long you will beexactly who you want it to be.
(58:03):
Number six if a talent comesparticularly easy to you,
chances are it is a show-throughtalent and it just might be
exactly where you need to leanin to create your next great
chapter or maybe even go viral.
Number seven, know your worth.
Don't be afraid to ask for whatyou deserve, whether it is
(58:27):
financial or otherwise.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday, and if you enjoyed this
episode, I really hope you willshare it with someone you love.
And don't forget to hit thatlittle bell icon so you get
notified every time a newepisode drops.
And if you would be so kind asto leave us a review, it really
helps other audiences to find usand possibly become a part of
(58:50):
the Life is Delicious family.
And, in case no one has toldyou today, there's not one
person on this planet that isexactly like you, and the world
is a better place because you'rehere.
So thank you for being here.
I'll be here next week and Ihope you'll join me right here
on Life is Delicious.
Hey guys, it's Marnie .
I have an awesome guest for youtoday and I'm so grateful that
you're here to check it out.
But before we get into that, Iwant to tell you a bit of a
story that you might not knowabout me.
Back in 1979, my family and Itook this road trip that was for
about a month long, and we livein the interior of British
(00:21):
Columbia, or did at the time.
So we went down across thestates and there was this really
great little store that kind ofhad a little bit of everything.
I can't remember the name of it, but my parents walked in there
and picked up a and I'm goingto date myself an eight track
tape of the Carpenters.
So on this month long journeywe listened to that tape over
(00:42):
and over and over, and at thattime I was probably about 11.
And I just fell in love withKaren Carpenter.
So by the time I got home fromthat trip my parents were just
like I think we should put youinto some voice lessons, what do
you think?
And I was like I love that idea.
So off I went into voicelessons and in high school I had
(01:02):
a band called Line of Fire, sosinging was something that was
really one of my first lovesbefore I got into being a
voiceover artist.
I was in college and I wasstudying advertising and I had
one of my friends who was adrummer come up to me and he
said oh Maren, you got to learnabout this school.
It's so perfect for you.
It's called Musicians Instituteof Technology, it's right in
(01:23):
downtown Hollywood, and I'mgoing to apply, and I think you
should too.
Back then that was way beforethe internet, so I don't even
remember how I actually got theinformation, whether I mailed
away for the catalog or how thatworked, but I ended up
auditioning and moving to LA andthat's where I met today's
guest.
(01:43):
Today's guest is Angela Kelman,and she is a Juno award-winning
artist from Brandon Manitoba.
She's most well known as thelead singer and principal writer
of the Canadian country girlgroup Farmer's Daughter and
after 10 years of touring withFarmer's Daughter and receiving
multiple nominations and awardsfrom BCCMAs to the Junos to the
(02:06):
CCMAs, angela pursued her solocareer, which she recorded
several of her own albumsspanning various genres and
styles.
She had a bossa nova style CaféBrasilia.
She had a Juno nominatedchildren's album called Angela
May's Magnificent Menagerie andin 2021, she had a disco album
called Mirrorball.
There's no style that Angelacannot do.
(02:29):
So we have so much history andso many fun things to talk about
, and I am so excited, so let'sget into it.
I'm a multi-passionateentrepreneur, best-selling
author, foodie and voiceoverartist, and I created the Life
is Delicious podcast with onesimple mission in mind to help
(02:53):
you add more flavor to your lifeand to help you write your own
recipe for a life that feedsyour soul.
I'm so glad you're here.
Good morning, angela.
I'm so glad to have you here.
Do you want to hear somethingsuper funny?
Sure, we've been friends forover 35 years.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
No, we have not, Marnie, because we're only 39.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Oh, that's right, I forgot.
I'm not supposed to tellanybody that's crazy to think
that isn't.
It?
Isn't that insane?
I was doing the math and Ithought what is going on here,
but I guess that's just life.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
That is life.
And then when you look at thosethings that people post about
you know 1980 was so many yearsago it's like, oh my dog, it was
.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, and we remember those days.
We do remember those daysbarely.
Yeah, exactly.
My first question is take meback to when you were a little
girl.
When did you catch sort of thesinging bug and what was your
biggest influence that kind ofled you into the performance
space?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Well, that is.
You know, that is a veryinteresting question.
So I think I had an excellentchoir director in elementary
school and music teacher back inthe days when there was a
permanent music teacher on staff.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right, yeah, that was amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It was amazing and I give her all the credit for
recognizing my natural abilityand saying to my mom and this
would have been about grade five, grade six, so what are you 10,
11?
And I always loved to sing andeveryone in my family could sing
, even though they didn't do itlike I did it.
I was one of those kids that Iget emails from parents about
going.
My daughter's always singing.
(04:32):
You know, so can you help her?
And so I just think I lovemusic so much.
And it was Mrs McMunn in Brandon, manitoba, my elementary school
teacher, that said to my momyou know she hasa gift, but I
don't.
I would advise you not to trainher, which was a really big
thing for her to say, becauseit's natural when parents are
(04:55):
told that their kids have a giftand something to seek out, help
for them or guidance for them.
And Brandon Brandon School ofMusic at Brandon University, it
was classical, mostly classical,and I think that and I'm not
classical and classical is great, but I was just pop music all
the way.
So, between that happening andbetween my dad playing records
(05:22):
like Nat King Cole and PetulaClark and Hank Williams on
Sunday afternoons in our littlehouse in Brandon Manitoba.
You know, morning music speaksto us and so because everyone
was musical in my family, Ithought everyone could sing.
So then you get into school andyou realize the kid standing
(05:42):
next to you in choir is liketone deaf and it's like are you,
are you joshing us?
You know, but no, actually it'sa gift.
It is a gift and I'm sograteful that I was chosen to
have that gift of naturalability to hear and and
duplicate melodies.
And then you know so then itstarted in grade six.
I remember going to the localtelevision show to do a
(06:03):
Christmas carol performance withour principal who played the
piano.
And then from that came wemoved into junior high and there
was no music program and abunch of us rallied and actually
got a music program started ingrade seven and so, and then it
started like a piano player andI would sing in front of the
school.
And then it started like apiano player and I would sing in
(06:24):
front of the school.
And I mean I look back at thatand go, you're 12 and 13 and
you're getting up in front of aschool of 300, 400 kids and
singing for your peers, like Imean that's brave, that's brave,
right.
So for me it's always been thisI don't know, divine
intervention, something comes tome out of the blue, I don't
(06:45):
question it, I just follow it.
And it's led me on this amazinglife and case in point where we
met in Los Angeles two Canadiangirls meeting at a music school
in Los Angeles.
I had been working the scene inWinnipeg in the 80s and was
busy and there was work and Iwas making a living wage.
(07:06):
I was doing had a wonderfullounge partner who taught me so
much.
His name was Tom Dahl and wewould do.
We'd get house gigs all aroundWinnipeg and I was working 48
weeks a year and sometimes I wasworking like a cocktail hour
and then going and singing latenight in another lounge or with
a band.
So it was a great time to be ayoung, developing singer.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, and I learned so much from the School of Hard
Knocks and from some mentors inmy life, like Tom, and then you
know kind of running my own band.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You learn a lot of things really quickly when you
take on the role of band leaderyou know, that's such an amazing
thing that you were advised notto be trained, because that's
very similar.
I started taking lessons at 11as well yes and the teacher that
I went to.
Actually she had this star pupilwho was her opera kind of
(08:04):
classical gal and she was likethe be all and end all of this.
You know her students and Iremember listening to her sing
and thinking I don't ever wantto sound like that and that was
such a.
And so I actually took lessonswith.
Her name was Greta.
I took lessons with her forprobably two or three years and
then I got to a place where Iwas like my I'm getting this is
(08:26):
not working for me because Ican't do the pop the same way.
I don't want to lose that.
So I quit and I said no more ofthat.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So very similar experience and in my teaching
and I advise parents when theycome to me, like I teach kids
classes and I just love it and Iteach adult classes too and
it's, it's such, it's, it fillsup my heart so much.
But we can talk about thatlater.
But I wanted to say that nodisrespect to classical and
operatic training, it's reallybut, you have to know what you
(08:57):
want.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
So what lane you want to be in?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
for sure, so opera and classical are different.
You use different techniquesthan you do with popular music
and you cannot transfer all ofthose techniques into pop music.
Like I can tell.
I walk into wherever andsomeone's singing a pop tune and
I can tell instantly whetherthey've been operatically
trained or not because you haveto understand the difference and
(09:20):
a couple of times I've hadstudents who ended up going to
CAPU in the music program andthey come back to me and I go
what happened to you?
Right, it's like?
No, I have to make you awarethat you leave the operatic
voice at the door when you comeinto my house wanting to learn
how to sing pop songs.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Because that technique doesn't work with
popular music.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
It's a totally different sensibility Apples,
and even the way you use yourvowels and everything right?
Yeah, yeah, it's apples andoranges.
Yeah, totally.
So here's a question becauseI've always been curious, and
the reason I ask this questionis because I love to sing and
that's one of the reasons Iended up at school in Los
Angeles with you, but performingwas not something that came
(10:02):
naturally to me.
So where did your love ofperforming come from?
And another reason I ask isbecause when you get on the
stage and I remember just reallyadmiring you for that so much
when I was a young girl, becauseyou were a little bit older
than me, not by much, but you'dhad lots more experience but you
light up when you're on a stageand it's so apparent that it
(10:24):
fills your heart and your souland you bring this light with
you.
So where did that come from?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
We feel music differently, those of us who
make it our life passion.
I think I've always maintainedthat we need to feel things a
little deeper so that we can,when we get up on stage and sing
and emote, we make everyoneelse feel something, because
(10:49):
that's our job as a singer.
Our job is to interpret the songthe way the writer intended it
and to use all our skillsnatural or learned to deliver an
emotional performance thatmakes your audience sit up, take
notice and feel something,because so many people go
through their lives not reallyfeeling like we're do we just
(11:10):
get on like, especially nowadayswhen everyone's so busy, and we
kind of go into autopilot.
And that's personal opinion.
But, if you can, I think somany of us are drawn to music
because it does remind us we'rehuman, remind us we're emotional
.
The performance thing.
I just love to entertain.
(11:31):
I used to think about myself I'man entertainer first, I'm a
singer second and I'm asongwriter third.
And in any chapter in my lifethose may shift, whatever is the
predominant one.
But I think I and I grew up ina household in the in the
seventies and eighties, I thinkthat, and as a child back in the
(11:53):
day when you could get lost inimagination, like we just had
this great big yard and all theneighborhood kids and cousins
would come over and we'd play.
We'd play outside till dark andwe'd make up plays and we'd
dress up in my mom's bridesmaidgowns from 1956 that were in the
playhouse out back Like just,we had a lot less distraction as
(12:15):
children.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
What a beautiful childhood.
I mean, I remember that too.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yes, we played and we learned so much from play.
So it's a chapter of our lifethat was precious and helped
form who we are today.
But I think I got derailedwhich I often do at this age
when I said I was working 48weeks a year in Winnipeg and one
morning in my beautifulbrownstone apartment that was
(12:40):
fabulous and affordable inWinnipeg, I woke up and a
thought came to me I'm moving toLos Angeles.
Oh, interesting, I have no ideawhere that came from.
I have no idea where that camefrom.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
How did you hear?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
about the school.
I don't even remember and Ithink, and it's not like you
could get on the internet.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
No no.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Right.
So maybe, oh, I think that somefriends, musical friends, in
Edmonton had gone to MI and theywere guitar players and they
were telling me about it, andthen I think I wrote away for
the catalog, right Isn't thatamazing how different things
were back then.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Right, I know, and I remember doing my audition tape
and this is just really going todate me.
But you know my ghetto blasterrecord sing acapella into
cassette tape, put it in anenvelope and mail it off to LA.
That's what I did.
Cross your fingers and wait foran envelope to arrive.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
But you know, we learned once we got there that
they pretty much accepteverybody.
So what you know, it was niceto go.
We got accepted.
Yay't I awesome.
Yeah, there's one girl in theclass that's one step from tone
deaf and then you go oh, but itwas a great school it was a
great school and I learned someskills from that, from kevin
latau who worked with that girl,who actually got her to sing on
(14:01):
pitch, and I still use thattechnique with some of my kids
who struggle Heaven is amazing.
You know, as we've learned overthe years, there's so much
neurodivergency.
Everyone learns differently.
Music is one of the few thingsin life that can be left brain
or right brain, and you willgravitate more to one of those
(14:22):
sides of the brain when you'redoing music.
So you and I are right brainers.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
The little kids who you see reading sheet music,
playing piano like you knowflawlessly or violin, they're
most likely more left brainers,because that's the math of music
.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
We go for the heart, the soul, the feel, the shapes,
the colors, right, and they gofor the math, the breakdown, the
feel, the shapes, the colors,right, and they go for the math,
the breakdown of structure, theprecision of the notes, all
that stuff, and there's no rightor wrong thing.
And then I feel the bestplayers that I've ever
encountered and singers havejust a little bit of both.
(15:01):
They're not only readers oronly feelers, they have just a
little bit of both.
They're not only readers oronly feelers, they have just a
little bit of both.
Again, I'm not an overlyreligious person, I'm a
spiritual person, but I reallythink there's some kind of
divine entity that has thislittle golden thread attached to
you that pulls you in differentdirections.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I 100% believe that and when you're open, especially
as a creative, sometimes wehave to take different paths
that we didn't even know we weregoing to take to get to where
we were meant to be.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So true, so true.
And if you are a creative, youhave to have an outlet.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yes, multiple outlets or multiple yes.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yes, or else it just you feel like a piece of you is
missing, or you're feelingunfulfilled, or you can't put
your finger on it.
Yeah, I tell that to everybody.
If it's in you, you got to doit.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I believe that to be true too.
Do you remember what your veryfirst gig was, your very first
performance gig?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Oh my gosh, that was a long time ago.
Well, I'll tell you, we had ahigh school teacher who had
played in bands all his adultlife and he started a rock band
at our school in Brandon,manitoba, and it was Crocus
Plains Secondary and we werecalled CP Express and we got the
name off the CP Rail, you know,delivery truck or something,
(16:23):
and it was a big band and it wasall high school kids, and so I
think maybe one of the firstgigs we did with that was an
elementary school tour.
And so and I remember, remembermy mom and keep in mind.
This is like the late seventies.
My mom made the four of usgirls or help make um satin
jumpsuits.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Oh fun.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, not the best choice, but anyway, and they
were in different colors.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Very 70s, very 70s.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
And the little kids were just, they treated us like
rock stars, right, and rushedthe stage after the show.
It was very cute.
But then, from that, being oneof the lead singers in that band
, a local dance band called ColdDuck, who had been around
forever, hired me as theirsinger.
So I remember the bass player,Paul Solon, coming to my mom's
(17:15):
house and I'm 16.
And he's like 27 or 28.
And he's going yeah, Mrs Kelman, Molly, we'll look after her
like big brothers, Like we willmake sure that she is like you
know she's all good and they did.
Those guys looked after me andthey were really a great band to
(17:36):
start my performance career formoney with.
I was at 16 and 17 and 18, Iwas working a lot and I you're
going to laugh and I remembermaking 80 and 90 bucks a night,
Like you were doing weekend gigs, right.
So you now this is 1980.
That's good money for back then.
(17:58):
Well, now you only make 80, 90bucks a night for some gigs,
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Isn't that insane.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Right, and it's just like that's insane that
nothing's changed in 45 years,like it's just insane.
And and so many reasons in theworld and social media and
sharing platforms and streamingplatforms has really demonetized
the art for the artist.
And don't get me started onthat, that's another subject day
(18:26):
.
But anyway, that's anotherepisode.
That's another episode.
But you know, we as creatives,we don't do this for fun.
We do this because it's in us,we have something to say and we
should be paid for it.
And there is, you know, there'sdifferent levels of remuneration
(18:47):
and if you're lucky enough todo what I did with Farmer's
Daughter, even though it was astruggle for the first few years
, by the end of our 10 yearstogether we were making some
pretty good money, but we alsoself-managed our career, so most
of that money was going backinto the promotion and again,
this is pre-social media.
(19:08):
So we are dropping $40,000 to$50,000 a video.
We are dropping, you know, tensof thousands of dollars in
recording albums, keeping a bandon the road crossing Canada.
You know you're out in Ontarioand you've got a full bus of
band and you got two days off,but you still have to pay them a
(19:28):
per diem and you still have topay them, pay for their
accommodations, and so you knowthat was a real good reality.
On Music Business 101.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So what was the hardest part of being on the
road?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
The hardest part for me of being on the road was
missing family things.
My mother had a mastectomy andI had said to our management I
need to be there with her andthere was a gig booked in
Calgary at the Saddle Dome andit was some rodeo and I got the
(20:04):
lecture well, if we cancel thatgig, everyone suffers and no one
makes money that day.
And so out of I was kind of Ifelt a bit guilty so I said yes.
So I went to my mother the dayshe I was, I think.
I got there, I was with her theday she had her surgery and the
next morning I went up to thehospital and she was bright eyed
(20:27):
and bushy tailed and I said,mom, I'm gone for like 30 hours
and I'll be back.
I left her bedside after thismajor operation and this is
before Brandon had WestJetservice, so my cousin drove me
into winter, caught a flight toCalgary, showed up for the gig.
The guy that was the promoteron the gig had no idea what he
(20:47):
was doing.
Nobody showed up.
We got stiffed on money.
The guy never paid us and I'mthinking and I left my mother
for this and I will never dothat again.
But um, but one funny thinghappened from that a performance
to 10 people in the Saddledome.
There was a cow there and wealways sing the national anthem
(21:11):
at these things.
We sing, we sang so manynational anthems at places all
over for pro sports and rodeosand public events, yada, yada.
So I hit the pitch pipe.
I don't know, I think we do itin B or something.
Oh, canada, and you got toremember, I got a part above me
and I got a part below me, sothe key used to be pretty bang
(21:32):
on for us to stay in our ranges.
So I hit the pitch pipe and thecow goes and we go oh, okay, we
sing in the key of cow,whatever that cow did, but all
three of us in the same key andwhere that calf hit that note it
was the funniest thing and weyou know jake's eyes are getting
bigger because it's so freakinghigh for her and and, uh, but
(21:55):
it was.
That was one of the funnystories that happened.
Oh, that's, so sad sadness forme of that weekend yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Well, isn't it interesting, though, that we
have to go through those hardmoments to create boundaries for
ourself and to find thosemoments where we say I'm never
doing that again, and that's aline in my sand that will never
move anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, yeah, that, that is so true, and you're
right, we have to have thoselife experiences to teach us
that.
Yeah, well, that didn't work.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Not doing it again and I thinkas getting older, I think I have
way easier time saying no.
And I have a.
I have a girlfriend who's justlike she, is a force, and she's
(22:35):
been a force for the last 30years that I've known her and
one of the things that she saidone time that I've adopted is
that doesn't work for me, andhow can you argue with that when
someone's asking you to dosomething that you may not
really want to do?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
I know and I love that so much and I use that for
myself.
Yes, and I think part of myability to set boundaries now is
, whenever I consider doingsomething, whatever it is for
someone else or an obligation, Ihave to be able to do it and be
happy about it so that I sothat everybody's winning in the
(23:11):
situation, because if I have tocompromise my own happiness or
my needs to help that situation,that's a no-go anymore.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, yeah, and it takes a long time to learn that.
I think, yeah, that's lifelessons, and so I work with a
lot of teenage girls.
I have a real rainbow of kids inmy school and I love them all
and they are amazing and they'revery brave and one of the
things I share with them is youdon't have you.
(23:40):
You can have boundaries at thisage and if you're around
somebody that you don't feelgood around, then you can block
them.
You know, use the social mediaterms.
Yeah, you know you need, and Itell them they're all precious
and they're worthy of someonewho treats them well if they're
choosing partners and myhusband's often out in the
kitchen, just outside the musicroom where I teach, making me
(24:03):
dinner because I have like anhour between classes.
Sometimes I go and you know Isaid you want a partner like
that Exactly, who works alongwith you to make you know things
run smoothly and thinks that,thinks that you're what you do
is great and supports you.
And you know I wish someone hadsaid that to me in my youth
(24:24):
because I think I would havesaved a lot of time.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I.
I think that's such animportant thing and how blessed
are those kids to have you intheir life.
Because if you can learn thatlesson at a young age, your life
you just have so much lessheartache.
You don't have to learn thingsthe their life.
Because if you can learn thatlesson at a young age, your life
you just have so much lessheartache.
You don't have to learn thingsthe hard way and you don't have
to go through as much anguish.
And yeah, you know, it's justknowing that that you can make
(24:48):
choices and surround yourselfwith people that are good to you
.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
That's so funny.
You should say make choices.
Because my Thursday class,which were unruly teenagers
every time they left I go have agood weekend, make good choices
.
And one of the girls who kindof walked a fine line, she said,
oh, I was going to go withthose kids and I went.
Oh no, I heard Angela's voicein my head Make good choices.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
No-transcript conversation with you about the
road and where you were at, andyou were just in a place where
you were just like I just wantto have a baby and I that just
profoundly impacted mydecision-making process because
there was such a pull in myheart to be a mom that was just,
(26:04):
I love to sing and that was mydream was to be a professional
singer.
But having that conversationwith you allowed me to make a
different choice and not feelbad about it, and there's not
one moment in my life that I'veever regretted not pursuing that
professional career, because Ineeded to be a mom at that time.
(26:25):
And I followed my heart and Ialways thank you for that,
because that was such abeautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Well, you know, I've wanted to be three things in my
life or two things a singer anda mother and I've achieved both.
But I've seen a lot threethings in my life or two things
a singer and a mother and I'veachieved both.
But I've seen a lot of mygirlfriends in the industry who
did want to be a mom and, forwhatever reason, didn't end up
being a mom and I think theyfeel a little bit of a loss.
(26:51):
And, having been raised aroundlots of children, I have a
tremendous love for children.
Music and children are mybiggest loves in my life.
I think that with your littleguys you had what I wanted and I
had what you wanted.
But it's finding the balance.
Oh, absolutely, it's findingthe balance and I was lucky in
that the career happened and Igot to a certain level, you know
(27:16):
, top of the Canadian musicindustry for those few years and
then like there's it's a lot ofwork, it's a lot of sacrifice,
it's a lot of heartache, it'smanaging egos, it's it's it's
bittersweet and it can wear youdown.
When Farmer's Daughter wrappedup in the early 2000s, that was
(27:41):
more my choice to move on in mylife because it wasn't feeling
good anymore.
So I just knew, and I'm one tostick it, I'm one to beat a dead
horse you know what I mean.
Like.
It's like and I just again Nota quitter, not a quitter when
I'm in, I'm all in and so.
But it was starting to weigh onme and I thought I am 34, 35,
(28:11):
and I would like to have a child, and this is not feeling good
anymore and so started to pullout of that.
And then our management companywent on to manage Emerson Drive
.
But there's an abrupt halt.
That happens once you've beenin the limelight.
That's very hard to deal with.
And yeah, right, like you know,for a year, two, three after,
(28:34):
people still know who you arebecause it got to be a point
where you were recognizedeverywhere.
We were like because we wereall over.
And in the 90s, country musicwas the market share, it was
over 50%.
This is pre-streaming, this isbuying albums, this is the Garth
Brooks, reba McEntire, vinceGill age of country and the
(28:56):
Dixie Chicks were just startingto emerge.
And you know we had run, we'dbeen running hard for almost 10
years.
Again, something said if youdon't get off this carousel, you
may miss your opportunity tohave that other thing you want
most in your life, which is ababy.
And I was planning to do it onmy own because I relationships
hadn't worked out for me and I.
And one day, on a plane I'mflying and I was also like you
(29:21):
more and I was.
I was exploring other umdirections of my career under
the umbrella of music.
My perfect gig after Farmer'sDaughter would have been like a
talk show, like Rosie O'Donnellor right because of cooking
segment and music, or KellyClarkson music segment, like I
would have loved to have donethat me yeah, right and uh, but
it just didn't turn out that way.
(29:42):
But I had made some inroads atCMT and they asked me to do an
honor interview with Dan Hilland I love Dan Hill.
I love Dan Hill since his posterhung on the back of my
brother's bedroom door in the70s, right.
So I was excited.
So I go out and I buy hislatest CD and I'm reading the
liner notes and I've got somestories and things I remember
from his career past and I wason a plane, I had the liner
(30:05):
notes, I had some otherreferences, some magazines or
whatever, and there's this guysitting a seat next to me with
the middle seat empty, and wewere also the last two to board,
because obviously we'reseasoned flyers, because when
you fly a lot you just wait tothe last possible minute to
board.
We sit down, turns out heforgets his book.
(30:26):
He's an avid reader and I'vegot all this stuff all over my
lap and I'm trying to writequestions because the interview
is the next day at Lodge inKananaskis, and I'm trying to
prep.
I like to be prepared.
I'm a Capricorn, you know he's.
I feel him looking at me and Ilook at him.
I go morning.
He goes hi, he goes.
I'm Doug, I go hi, I'm Angela.
So I'm doing my thing and hekeeps kind of poking me like hey
(30:47):
, what are you doing?
It's like, uh, first of all hegoes.
You're a very, very pretty girllooked at him and I said thank
you.
My mother thinks so Right andso.
I'm trying to shut him down,right, shut him down, and he
keeps, he keeps bugging me and Iand I always say I've tried to
flick him off like a stickybooger, but anyway, um he
finally.
(31:07):
Finally he picks up a magazinewhich is a national geographic
and he's flicking through it andhe's changing the pages.
And I had on a faux leopardprint, um, winter coat, faux fur
, and he found a I don't knowwhat, it's not a pride of
leopards, whatever, it is aleopard, it's a group of
leopards.
And he, he leans over to me,shows me the picture, goes hey,
look, they're wearing your coat.
Okay, buddy, you want to talk?
(31:29):
Let's talk, okay.
So I pack up my shit and I okay,the floor is yours.
So he starts talking.
Well, where do you live?
I said North Van and he said oh, I'm going to a friend's 50th
birthday party in North Van atthe Queen's Cross Pub next week.
You should come, give me yournumber and I go no, I don't know
if this guy's a serial killer.
Anyway, he doesn't know who Iam, which was quite refreshing
(31:51):
actually.
He didn't know who I was.
Uh, he said, but his friendBobby would know who I was
because he was a big countrymusic fan.
So anyway, jump ahead 25 years,we're married and that's the
guy I married and the father ofmy son.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Serendipity, stepped in and gave you another gift.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
We told this story at our wedding and the big thing,
which was really funny I lookedat him and Doug's a wee bit
older than me he's 18 yearsolder than me, but he was a.
You know jeans and a and aturtleneck and funky glasses and
a belt buckle Cause he's anAlberta boy and uh, and when we
started talking I said, uh, areyou married?
(32:31):
And he said no, I've.
I've been separated for 18months.
And I said no, I've beenseparated for 18 months.
And I said, do you have kids?
And he says yes, I have two andI want more.
He said that he claims to thisday.
He did not say that.
I said that made my 35-year-oldlittle ears perk right up,
because you look like you hadyour own car and you could
(32:52):
possibly pay for dinner once ina while.
That's the criteria, rightthere.
Because I've been datingmusicians no, no disrespect to
my musician friends and I havehad a couple of very generous
musician friends.
But yeah, he still claims hedid not say that.
I said, well, then, god madeyou say that because that's the
thing, that was the seal of thedeal.
Like, oh okay, let's talk rightAnyways.
(33:19):
Yeah, so that's funny, and hehad no intention of getting
involved seriously.
You know, we dated for a yearand then and said is this going
forward?
Are we just going to be gettogether for lunch?
and we were both in here we arehere we are, 25 years later in
our son and um, that's a greatstory, it's a good, good story,
and you never know.
And again, whoever you are andwhatever you think, wherever you
(33:40):
think you're at in your life,you're not Exactly.
Yeah, just give in.
Yeah, you're not driving thebus for the big part of the big
picture.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah, so I love that because I believe that too and I
think that's really and lookhow awesome that is because you
got to have a baby and now youhave a grown son, obviously, but
that led you into creatingchildren's albums and sing along
books, and so tell us a littlebit about how that kind of all
came organically.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Again recognizing opportunities.
So I had a student whoseparents had a retail store that
was a Canadian version of and Ihate to say Canadian version of
anything, but it was.
If you've ever heard ofBuild-A-Bear, it was called
Snuggable Huggables and theywanted to do a similar thing
here in Canada.
And the mom had approached meand said we need some music.
(34:32):
We'd like an album for thestore.
Do you know anybody that writeschildren's music?
Now, marnie, I don't know if youwere there when Tommy Tedesco,
who was a famous part of thewrecking crew, who was on
everyone's albums in the 60s and70s and did movie soundtracks,
he was the keynote speaker atour opening day um at MI
(34:54):
Musicians Institute in LA and Iremember hearing him tell a
story about the producers fromCharlie's Angels called and that
particular episode was going tobe shot in Hawaii, and so they
called him and said hey, tommy,do you play Hawaiian music?
He goes, yeah, totally.
So he said the next, he goes.
I had three days till thesession.
I went to Tower Records andbought every Hawaiian music
(35:16):
record there was and I went homeand I woodshed.
He didn't play Hawaiian music,yeah, I do.
And then he woodshed and thenhe nailed the session Well for
me, it was the same thing.
She phones me and said, hey, doyou know anybody that does
children's music?
And I go yeah, I do.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Good girl Love that.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
And good girl love that.
And then it's like and actuallyI do and I always have, and
with Alex, my son, oh my gosh,everything was a song, right,
you know.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
What's funny about that, though, is that I think
that is so powerful when we youknow, when we say something out
loud, I do that, and how oftenhave we done that in our life
where we've claimed like I'm awriter or I'm whatever, and you,
you have no idea how to do that, but you know, there's a piece
of you that has that inside youand that gives you permission to
be it.
Yes, so cool, say yes, and thenfigure it out and claim it and
(36:06):
speak it out loud so that you,your brain, hears it, and the
first few times it feels like animposter, but after you do it
long enough, it's like I am awriter and I do write children's
music, and you did.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
And it was great and I did, and it got Juno nominated
and yeah, that was a real, areal like feather in my cap, as
my mother used to say.
But everything was a song andyou can't help when you have
little kids, like you know.
Like there's a little Spanishsong We'd sing and that was
(36:40):
really fun, until he started tosing it in public.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
And I had to go.
Okay, we can't sing that song.
Careful what you wish for Inrestaurants, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Or get on a party, do what you got to do.
You know it's potty trainingtime, so you make up a song.
It's just the delight ofchildren and I would run all my
songs by Alex.
He was like a year and a halfor two when I was writing that
album and it ended up being agreat thing for us.
The store ended up closing.
We had signed a deal where westill owned the rights to all
(37:11):
the music because I had a bigimagination for these kids'
songs.
And so, through Doug doing someresearch because now we were in
the world of the Internet atthis point when I was writing
the kids' stuff he found thisexcellent artist in Quebec who
did not speak English.
His name was FranfouF-R-A-N-F-O-U.
(37:33):
Unbelievable.
He had done things for likeChirp magazine.
You know, if you have kids, youknow what Chirp magazine is
Chickadee and Chirp and I lovedhis style.
It was colorful and it was boldand it was just everything I
wanted my books to be.
And we communicated via emailand he got the songs, because in
(37:53):
all my songs there's thatlittle entertainment element,
there's a little bit of humor,there's a little bit of
educational references there's.
He got all of it even though wedid not speak the same language
, and it was just a delight towork with him and I did three
books.
I did Frank the Cat and I didDisco Dinosaurs and I did Funky
(38:16):
Monkey, and you can check outAngelaKellmancom.
They're all on there and it wasone of the most fun, creative
endeavors I've ever done right,yeah, and it's really.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
I always think it's for creative people.
We often need to wear more thanone hat.
Oh, we do.
It's so fun to be able toexpress yourself in different
ways and scratch a differentitch, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
And it's the hardest part for us creatives is the
marketing.
But I'm finding that I, evenfor my little local gigs that
I'm still doing, social media ispretty damn powerful, but I
hired a 26 year old to do it forme.
Well done, because I can't likethis has become.
When you have to create, youknow, do all the social media
(39:03):
and do like, it just becomes a24 seven.
You never get a break.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
It's important to do what you're good at so that you
can use your strengths in yourway and, like you say, hiring a
26-year-old.
That's what she's good at, soit's such a beautiful thing it
is and we work great.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
She's my assistant.
She's been with my studentssince she was six and then was
my assistant all when she was inhigh school and and then went
away to university and came backand she's been with me ever
since and I I just couldn't doit without her.
I couldn't.
And she's got a vision.
She sees how you know the endgame and it's really working.
And so I have to laugh becauseI don't know if you follow a
comedian on social media calledLeanne Morgan.
(39:42):
No, she told a story.
All of a sudden I started seeingLeanne Morgan Leanne Morgan and
she's funny and my Christmasgift was to go see her play in
May, so I can't wait.
She's here in Vancouver.
But she told a story about shehired some 20-somethings to be.
They approached her, I think,and said hey, can we, like we
(40:04):
can do social media for you andwe'll post a clip and one of the
first clips they posted of hertalking about going to her and
her husband, who are in theirlate 50s, going to a deaf
leopard journey concert.
And she tells this story andit's hysterical and she does
great physical comedy and shareher facial expressions and her
body language and it's not vileor vulgar and it's just good,
clean, fun.
Lots of family stories andstories about her and her
(40:26):
husband, chuck Morgan, of familystories and stories about her
and her husband chuck morgan,and um, and these two young guys
posted this clip of her talkingabout the journey deaf leopard
concert and she went viral.
And now and she said and shestarted as a silk pad I think
one of the jewelry companiesstill pad or something.
She was an in-home.
You know, you'd book a partywith her and she was.
(40:46):
She knew she was funny and shewould go off script and she
started getting her own banterand and and she couldn't get
arrested to do comedy clubs oranything like no one was
interested, like you're.
Basically you're just ahousewife kind of mentality,
right yeah and so, but then,after this social media thing
went viral, well, she's sellingout all over north america now I
(41:06):
love that and she's got her own.
Chuck Lorre just signed her forher own TV show and she was in
the movie not the best movie,but a lighthearted, you know.
Detach your brain withCordially Invited Reese
Witherspoon and Will Ferrell.
I haven't watched it yet.
Oh, it's cute.
And she's the older sister andI just love her because she's
almost my age.
She said I just love herbecause she's almost my age
(41:28):
she's.
She said I knew I was destinedfor Hollywood as a child.
I just didn't know how I wasgoing to get there Right.
So now she's there and it'sreally her.
Her journey is reallyinteresting.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
It's so funny because I quite often talk about show
through talents and I talk aboutthis a lot on the podcast
because I think that that's aprime example of somebody who
has this gift in them and sooften we discount what comes
naturally and easily to usbecause we think it's just too
easy.
I can't make a living doingthat.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
It's too easy.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
I have to struggle or go get a job or you know, and
somebody has to pay my way.
But it's so often the oppositeof that and if you pay attention
to the things that really shinethrough in your gifts and your
talents, man, you can totallyrun with that and make your
whole life from it as we bothyou know found and I think
(42:20):
that's so great.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Yeah, it is great and you know I've been really lucky
in my life that people alongthe way have recognized my gift
and have rewarded me for it.
The one of the hardest partsabout being your own advocate is
asking for what you're worth.
That is.
I struggle with that.
I struggle with that and I'm ata place where it's like if they
(42:44):
don't want to pay me that Idon't want to do the gig.
And I've found a nice balanceof gigging a little bit more I'd
like a little bit more than Iam now for better pay, because I
got back into some of the localbreweries just to get my chops
up, because singing is veryphysical and it's like
weightlifting.
If you stop doing that for sixmonths you're going to get a
little flabby, and you got towork for a month to get back to
(43:06):
where you were before.
So singing is an ongoing thing.
The way I sing and therepertoire I sing.
It's a lot of energy and a lotof athletic energy, so I need to
stay in shape.
So, anyway, I did a couple ofyou know brewery gigs that
didn't pay well, but now it'slike okay, here's some entities
with a little budget and so anda lot of them ask you what do
you want?
So you fill it in and I'm justat the point where this is what
(43:29):
I want.
If you choose not to, that'sokay.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Yeah, and you know what I do with voiceover work.
I've struggled with asking forwhat I was.
I was always like, am I goingto bid too high?
And then I lose the job and like, oh my goodness and I really
struggled with that too.
And then I got to a point whereI was like you know what?
I've been doing this for a longtime.
I'm really good, I deliver ontime.
And so when people would say,could you please quote on this
job, I would always return theemail saying what's your budget
(43:55):
for the job.
And quite often I would say ohmy goodness, I would charge you
know, let's just say $300.
And then I'd say you tell mewhat your budget is and I'll try
and make it work for you, andthen they might come back, our
budget's 600.
And I go you know what I canmake that work?
And then you make twice as muchmoney and you go.
Why didn't I know that?
Speaker 2 (44:14):
20 years ago.
Why?
Speaker 1 (44:15):
did we undersell ourselves?
I know it's such a powerfulthing.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
I always undersell myself.
I remember I'll tell you astory I had a four piece kind of
vocal thing going on.
It was, it was really good.
I had a four-piece kind ofvocal thing going on, it was
really good, and it was a pianoplayer and it was kind of like
Manhattan Need Transfer thing.
And an agent I used to workwith called me and said, yeah,
yeah, I've got a gig, but thebudget's not that great and it
ended up being like 200 bucks aman, which was the least I will
(44:43):
ever pay anybody, and I said, ok, well, we'll do it this time.
You know who the client was.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Who Mercedes Benz?
That happens a lot in myindustry too.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
And you know what?
It wasn't the client, it wasthe agency.
And it's like and there'sanother lesson learned, right?
It's like, yeah, I won't dothat again.
So and then you go and you'dgive a great performance and
people rave and it's just like,oh great, I just gave you a
thousand dollar performance for200 bucks.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
And once in a while you need to do that to maybe get
in front of that client andthen from that point on you know
you can attract other clientsof that caliber.
But you're not going to do itfor 200 bucks or it's a charity
event.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
You know you want to give charity events a break
because they're there to makemoney for a good cause.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
I love that yeah.
Yeah, we're smart, marn, we'resmart.
Well, we're figuring it out,you know, one day at a time,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
I think we played a game with a bunch of my friends
a couple months back and it waslike say one word that describes
you, and I said resilient.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
I was just going to ask you, as you were talking, I
was going to say where do youthink that resilience comes from
?
Because I think resilience isactually one of the most key
elements to have happiness inyour life.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Yep, and I think it comes from.
I think the resilience camefrom my mother's example,
because my mom was a child ofthe dirty 30s of the Depression.
She was hungry as a child.
They wore rags as a child woulddrift in and the kids would go
(46:29):
out and pick up the cow pattiesto put in the stove to heat the
grandma's old cook stove, whichis about the only thing they had
.
And she would say some days weonly had a piece of bread with a
little bit of sugar sprinkledon it and that's all we had to
eat and as I was a strugglingyoung musician, her first
question to me would always bedo you, are you eating right?
because that was permanentlyinked in her dna and then in 96
(46:52):
she was when she was 63, she washit with breast cancer right,
and she fought it for 22 yearswow she survived it for 22
because she was just that person.
She was silly, sheacious, shewas resilient this isn't going
to get me she'd say in that tone, and she was right, and I think
(47:16):
of a lot of it's mindset.
And so I watched that all mylife and admired her for it.
You know, she was she.
She finally accepted what I didfor a living, when in her
daycare they would turn on CMT.
And here comes my face Right,and all of a sudden, here I am
(47:40):
on TV in her daycare going andshe's going.
Okay, I can relax, it's a thing.
Yeah, it's a thing, it's, she'sdoing it, she's paying her
bills.
We don't have to eat, she'seating.
Buying groceries yeah, she hasher own car, you know she's.
She's not.
She's in a good place.
So.
But I have to tell you a funnystory.
So one of our first farmer'sdaughter radio hits was our
(48:01):
version of Son of a Preacher man.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
I love that version.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Right, we did a country swing version and one of
our little kids I think it wasKayla, she must have been five
or six and mom would playFarmer's Daughter in the daycare
and Kayla said Auntie Molly,can you please play that
Farmer's Daughter song, son of aBitch of a man?
So you know, there was lots ofhumor that came from mom's
(48:30):
daycare and oh, I just love thekids.
There was nothing better for methan holding those babies when
they were sleeping and stuff asa 12-year-old.
And yeah, it was really a giftbecause I believe that, you know
, the young and the old aretreasures in our world and we
really have to give them thetime and the love that they
(48:51):
really need and deserve.
Speaker 1 (48:53):
Yeah, for sure.
So now that you are at theplace you are in your life, how
do you take care of yourself andrecharge your batteries?
What do you do about that?
Speaker 2 (49:03):
So I know things about myself.
I know I have to get enoughsleep and luckily Doug and I are
pretty good sleepers now sinceI'm past menopause and I also
strive for 30 minutes ofphysical activity a day, whether
at least the minimum of 30.
So whether that's putting onthe Gilmore Girls and walking on
the treadmills to detach fromthe stress of the world,
(49:25):
something aerobic that keeps mybreathing, for my singing good,
and I do weights to keep mymuscle tone and that's
de-stressing for me, that'sawesome, right.
And I have kind of tailored myteaching schedule not to be so
maniacal because I love to workand I love to help people.
(49:47):
But again I've had to say no, Ican't.
I can't take on 15 privatestudents a month in addition to
my, you know, seven to nineclasses a week.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
That's.
You know, that's the mostimportant thing.
I think as we get older we havea little bit more wisdom to
know our balance limits and whatwe have to do for ourselves.
So that's amazing that you'vefigured that out and found a bit
of a sweet spot so that you canbring your A-game when you come
and you're not overstretched.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Sometimes you just get off balance, but you just
pick yourself up because you'reresilient and you put one foot
in front of the other.
Because you're resilient andyou put one foot in front of the
other.
And I had a one of my bestfriends lost her husband within
six weeks to pancreatic cancereight years ago and she, it was
hard, it was hard for her and Iwould phone her almost every day
and I'd say how are you doing?
(50:40):
And she said I just keepputting one foot in front of the
other and that sticks with mebecause that's progress.
Speaker 1 (50:48):
Absolutely, and sometimes it's baby steps right
and that's and that's.
All that matters.
Is that now?
Speaker 2 (50:53):
yeah, now eight years later, she's thriving, you know
she's made some good decisionsand you know she feels the grief
, but it's not not all consuminganymore and you would know, you
, just you know grief is a funnything.
You just lost your mom and it's, and you're in the business of
death phase.
Right, because that's a thing,it's the right.
(51:13):
After someone you love passesthat you are executor of the
will, or even spouse or whateverchild.
There's a business of deaththat has to get dealt with.
And then the grief comes.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
Yeah, and it's really interesting being in the
sandwich generation too, whereyou're looking after your
parents and kind of helping themmanage that next chapter of
their life.
But you also still have, youknow, young adult children, or
even younger children, dependingwhere you are in your life, and
you have to find that littlespace in between where you can
(51:50):
actually care for yourself andmake sure you still have your
cup full enough to do all thethings you're required to do.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
Yeah, that's true story, sister.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
So this has been so much fun.
We could just talk for days anddays and days.
So we'll do this again, buttell everybody just because I
think it's an awesome tool thatyou created the five point
singing system.
We've talked so much about yourcareer and the ways you've kind
of reinvented yourself over theyears, but there's probably
(52:19):
some people that are going to belistening, that are going to go
.
I want to learn from this woman, so talk a little bit about
that.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
So I guess in 2010, it was I'd been teaching since
Alex was little.
I thought it was scary and thenI thought, well, what am I
really going to do?
Like I got to figure somethingout and I don't want to tour
anymore because Alex is little.
So I started teaching andluckily, we were in a house
where I have a 380 square footroom which I've made my music
room.
So I'm sitting in it right nowand I'm looking at a stage with
(52:48):
a drum kit and microphones and aPA system and and I have these
classes in my house and it'sbeen it's really been soul
filling.
It fills my heart up.
I love it because singing ismuch more than just singing.
It is allowing you to be whoyou are in a lot of ways.
And I I say to my adultstudents you find your voice in
(53:08):
this room, you find your voicein the world, because there's a
lot of people who don't speak up, who want to sing, who were
told by a choir director oh yeah, just stand over there and move
your mouth, you don't sing well, or whatever.
There's people coming with alot of baggage.
Our voice is attached to who weare, and so I started teaching
(53:28):
and I started teaching adults,which ironically ended up being
mothers of my children'sstudents.
They said we want to sing, andthen, you know that turned into
a class and then other peoplegot wind of it and they wanted
in and nobody was leaving theother class.
So I started another night.
So it's I do three adult classesa week and it's it is.
It's awesome.
It's awesome.
It is so awesome.
(53:48):
You help people discover whatthey can do.
So in one of my classes I Ibrought in instruments one time
ukuleles.
If you have piano lessons inyour life, great, you know, our
middle C is good on the piano.
Oh, you played.
You played flute.
I'm going to put you on bassbecause you've got really good
feel Well.
Now my friend who I put on bassis now gigging in a band, right
(54:12):
, and because, like, I see whatyou can do but I have to help
you see what you can do.
And so there's a lot of therapythat goes along with this voice
thing.
Speaker 1 (54:22):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (54:23):
Right.
So through all that, when Istarted teaching, I started to
realize Right.
So through all that, when Istarted teaching, I started to
realize, you know this, I'vedeveloped a little system.
It was very interesting that Istarted to see a pattern, and so
I narrowed it down, like apilot does when they get in the
airplane and goes you knowthey're checking and flipping
all their switches.
I thought there's fivepredominant things that a person
(54:46):
needs to know to become areally good singer, and so I'm
going to get a little kind of,you know, technical here, but
it's like breathing.
So you singers, the way I teachand the way I sing, it's all
based on breath where you takethe breath, how deep each breath
is, frequency in the song.
And then the second thing isdiaphragm support.
(55:08):
So that muscle in ourmidsection we manipulated as
singers to the higher we go inour range, the more diaphragm
support we have to engage, andto me that- I remember all that.
Right, it feels like I'm pullingit to my backbone and those two
things working together createplacement, so where the note
sits in your body and actuallyresonates, if you're doing
breathing and diaphragm supportright, then you're going to be
(55:31):
in the right placement.
And then the fourth thing and Iget this with about 15% of my
singers something I call vocalpath, and we learned about this
in our course in LA and it's thedirection that the sound column
comes out of your body once youtake in the breath and you do
the diaphragm support.
And then the fifth thing that alot of people don't realize and
(55:51):
a lot of, a lot of naturallygreat singers have an aha moment
when I, when I bring this up tothem, it's the shape of your
mouth, especially in ourmid-range and above, when we're
singing pop and rock and countryand lots of big sounding songs,
you have to drop your jaw torelease all tension.
So I realized through almost 20years of teaching that those
(56:15):
anything in a song can be fixedwith one of those five points.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
There's going to be a lot of people that will find
your system really useful andhelpful, and I'll definitely
link all of that in the shownotes so people can find you and
get a hold of that five pointsinging system if they would
like to.
And, oh my goodness, what apleasure.
It has been such a joy talkingto you and I just hope you guys
have all the best in 2025.
Speaker 2 (56:38):
Thanks, Marnie, I appreciate it and I appreciate
you asking me to be a guest andone of the things I'm listening
to you as you speak.
You're a great breather.
Speaker 1 (56:48):
Oh well, thank you so much for being here with me,
and we will definitely do thisagain.
Speaker 2 (56:55):
Sounds great.
Speaker 1 (56:56):
Take care oh my goodness, that was so much fun
and so many great nuggets ofwisdom.
So let's recap some of theawesome things we talked about
today.
Number one we need to stay opento following our guidance that
shows up for us, because it canhelp us to create the most
beautiful life.
Number two sometimes we have tohave a little faith that, even
(57:19):
if it seems that we're going inthe wrong direction, that maybe
we need to learn something alongthe way to be able to find our
way back to where we're supposedto be, I believe that to be
true.
Number three we need to haveexperiences that we regret or
where we make mistakes, so thatwe can learn the lessons that
help us to create healthier andbetter boundaries for ourselves.
(57:42):
Number four when you followyour heart's calling, surprising
things and miracles can awaityou.
Number five speak it intoexistence.
If you know there is somethinginside you that you want to
bring into the world, claim it,speak it out loud, believe it
and before long you will beexactly who you want it to be.
(58:03):
Number six if a talent comesparticularly easy to you,
chances are it is a show-throughtalent and it just might be
exactly where you need to leanin to create your next great
chapter or maybe even go viral.
Number seven, know your worth.
Don't be afraid to ask for whatyou deserve, whether it is
(58:27):
financial or otherwise.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday, and if you enjoyed this
episode, I really hope you willshare it with someone you love.
And don't forget to hit thatlittle bell icon so you get
notified every time a newepisode drops.
And if you would be so kind asto leave us a review, it really
helps other audiences to find usand possibly become a part of
(58:50):
the Life is Delicious family.
And, in case no one has toldyou today, there's not one
person on this planet that isexactly like you, and the world
is a better place because you'rehere.
So thank you for being here.
I'll be here next week and Ihope you'll join me right here
on Life is Delicious.
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