Skip to content

Jann Arden dishes on comedy, music and Vietnamese food

Calgary singer-songwriter Jann Arden 's songs are habitually serious in nature, often waxing lyrical on love and loss.
110914_Jann_Arden
Jann Arden performs at the Sudbury Arena Sept. 16. Supplied photo.
Calgary singer-songwriter Jann Arden's songs are habitually serious in nature, often waxing lyrical on love and loss.

And yet she's come to be known as something of a comedian, keeping audiences at her concerts laughing and making multiple appearances on the CBC television comedy program The Rick Mercer Report.

So why this juxtaposition?

“Sadness and happiness are bedfellows, really,” said 52-year-old Arden, speaking to Northern Life in a recent phone interview. “It's like night and day, black and white. They're things that don't exist without each other.”

Although she doesn't plan to start writing funny songs any time soon, she said having a good sense of humour — which she said is inherited from her parents — is crucial to surviving the ups and downs of life.

“You need to kind of laugh at tragic things, and be able to throw your shoulders back,” Arden said. “The best way to do that is to have a sense of humour.”

The veteran musician, who has a couple of decades worth of hits under her belt, is due to play the Sudbury Arena starting at 7 p.m. Sept. 16. The concert is part of a September tour of Canada in support of her new album, "Everything Almost."

Arden — who said she's performed in Sudbury at least half a dozen times — said she loves the warmth of audiences in the Nickel City, not to mention her favourite Vietnamese restaurant.

“I'm not even going to tell people where it is, because I don't want them discovering it and making a lineup for me when I get there,” she jokes.

While Arden has long since hit the big time, she was once a struggling musician who worked in a video store and even on a fishing boat. When asked for her advice to young musicians in a similar position, she said there's no magic bullet.

“You just have to be persistent and just remain steadfast,” Arden said.

“It's like anything you do. You're not going to become a doctor in two nights. You're going to have to go to school for 10 years and practise.

“There's no quick solutions for it, despite what you might see on American Idol or any of these contest shows.”

Opening for Arden during the eastern portion of her tour — including in Sudbury — are the Nashville acoustic pop duo Jill and Kate, a.k.a. Jill Pickering and Kate Rapier.

Best known as background singers for Kelly Clarkson, the musicians struck up a friendship with Arden after she contacted them when they did a cover of her hit song “Insensitive.”
“Every time I talk about (Arden), I rave and rave, because you don't meet a lot of people like that,” Rapier said.

“She champions younger artists, and she's so funny. She's like the perfect amount of self-deprecating. You can't not love her. To play before her every night, seriously, it's like a dream. We'll have as much fun on stage as we will on the bus to the next show.”

Tickets to the concert, which cost between $55.50 and $65.50, are available online at www.greatersudbury.ca or by phone at 705-671-3000.

Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.




Heidi Ulrichsen

About the Author: Heidi Ulrichsen

Read more