A song bird that soars...

Carleigh Aikins can easily be described as a jack of all trades when it comes to the world of art. Having shared the staged with such notable performers as Bahamas, Macy Grey, City and Colour, and John Oates and performing on stages throughout North America and Europe, she is currently touring the US as the newest member of Denver Colorado's Paper Bird in support of their self-titled new album.

In addition to being a sought after supporting and featured performer, she also dazzles with her unique visual pieces on canvas and intricate dioramas. Her studies in Landscape evoke dreamlike fairy tales, and her large-scale project, The Spirit of Our City commissioned by the City of Barrie in 2008, not only stands as example of her talent, it represents her love for her hometown. Keeping the love and respect for the arts alive is very apparent with Carleigh, who spends a great deal of her time supporting local talents and lending her expertise to city boards that are dedicated to promoting the arts.

She took some time from her hectic life to give us a little insight into what makes her tick:

First off I was hoping that you could tell us a little about growing up with such a creative ribbon flowing through you. Do you have any memories of being a kid and feeling creatively inspired even then? I think most kids are inherently creative beings and some of us have a support system that truly nurtures it and others have that stiffened as they mature. For me- I was surrounded with nurturing energy to peruse my natural creativity. My dad was a very hard working man. My mother is such an Incredible woman and she worked with what little we had growing up as she stayed at home raising us in her early twenties. We never wanted for anything. And she relished in the holidays and birthdays; as she'd make costumes for recitals or Halloween, and because she could throw beautiful parties that she put so much thought in to and could send us on scavenger hunts or spend hours decorating. She still does it to this day in addition to singing in a choir for 20 years and gardening and hosting so very generously. She also became a social worker without any degree and taught us all what it meant to be a feminist. So that creative energy was always around. My parents loved musicals and the arts and were always patrons of it. My dad worked in radio. I can remember being very young and asking my mother to draw horses that I could colour in. And she created a studio space/playroom that I would tinker around in with our endless supply of craft materials. My mom always sang harmonies in the car and I can remember listening to her and emulating her. That's how I developed such an ear for harmony singing. Singing to Billy Joel in my mom's Honda. My Uncle Paul was in theatre and we would go to see him perform and that sparked so much in me to become a performer. He now leads the theatre department at Etobicoke School of the Arts. I also had incredible teachers who further nurtured my creative soul and I'm so incredibly grateful they were in my life. For example I had the same choral director from kindergarten to twelfth grade who always championed my voice. My second grade teacher would allow me to stay in during her breaks at recess and teach me how to use pastels and water colours, and my first grade teacher would do the same as he nurtured my interest in cursive writing. It was truly fortunate to have the education experience that I did. I loved school and thrived in the structure of it luckily enough- I think sometimes the school system can fail creative kids who actually don't thrive in that structure. But I did.

Did you have a sense that you would follow a musical path as an adult and as your

career? There was never any doubt in my mind that I would always have music in my life. I don't think I always saw it as a career- it was just what I had to do and what brought me joy. As I matured I knew that the only way I could feel full-filled was if I was building a career as a vocalist. For a long time I thought that I would have a career in theatre. And it was for some time. I never honestly expected to be a touring musician traveling the world like a gypsy out if a suitcase. But whatever lead me to that, I'm grateful for the colourful experience.

Was there anyone that sticks out as an early inspiration for you? All the musicians in my life- Afie Jurvanen and Carlin ( of Zeus) and his brother Liam Nicholson and their whole circle were Hugely instrumental in my formative years. It's been over 20 years of looking up to them. There is a long list of Barrie/Toronto musicians that fall in this category. Being on the road is one of the greatest adventures and one of the loneliest times all at once. Do you have any memories that stick out as a high or a low while touring? I found myself touring very suddenly and quickly. I was at a loss for where to go after my first band dissolved in Barrie. I enrolled at OCAD and thought I would be there for four years. But then Afie invited me in to his band and suddenly I found myself traveling the world. Those first months I can remember being absolutely over the moon, floating on air that I got to do what I was doing. That was certainly the most exciting happiest time of my life. And I look back on the elation of that with great fondness and gratitude. Afie and I laughed non-stop on our first tour together and there was a strong sense that we both were in disbelief that after growing up together we were seeing the world together. The community of traveling musicians I got to meet while on the road are some of my closest friends now despite our strange transient lifestyles. There is a bond that develops when you're traveling with people that cannot be matched. There are thousands of moments I could rehash here as highlights. But as the road wore on I became very exhausted and I hadn't taken caution to pace myself. There was no booklet on how to do it, I just had to learn through harsh experience. I began to burn out physically and mentally and emotionally. I developed a sort of " stage fright " where the place I had always felt most at home ( on stage) became a very difficult environment for me. I felt severely exposed and fragile. An anxiety disorder began to strip me from what should have been some of the biggest triumphs of my career. Singing on stages like the Ryman Auditorium, Massey Hall, Chicago Theatre, Farm-Aid, huge theatres in Europe, the Colbert Report, Conan- all felt uncomfortable to me and it was very disheartening. I needed to step back and rest and restore my self and my relationships with my co-workers. That was the hardest time in my career. I've somewhat recovered from that now. But it still creeps in as anxiety does. I'm still trying to learn how to maintain balance while living this crazy lifestyle. But here I am still on the road because despite the discomfort there is nothing else I can see myself doing. It's just about finding balance and taking care of yourself.

Do you have a bucket list of places that you want to perform? If so, where? I've definitely been lucky enough to cross a lot of those off the list- however a lot of those places I performed were while backing another artist. I would love to return to them and be able to sing my own songs on those stages. I've resided to be ok with the fact that I may never get that chance again. But I'm so grateful I had the chance. Getting to do that with Paper Bird, singing my songs to a sold-out Red Rocks Amphitheater opening for Hall & Oates in the state where I started my journey with Paper Bird was a great highlight. Paper Bird also performed our songs with the Colorado Symphony at Chataqua which is a lifelong dream-to have my songs orchestrated and arranged for a symphony. Of course there are places like the Hollywood Bowl or the Greek, and I'd love to return to Europe and I've never been to Australia. Touring South America would also be a dream come true.

How do you think the collaboration of your creativity is different when working with new people vs. being a part of a band? Do you have a preference? There's of course a synergy and comfort that develops after years of traveling and performing with one fixed group of people. Sometimes the process of doing that can dissolve relationships and it's very heartbreaking. Like a marriage ending. So there's always that underlying fear for me that it could all end badly, because I've experience that within groups I've worked with for long periods of time in the past. But I know that there is a path for everyone and a huge lesson for me has been accepting that things end and allowing my heart to move on and be open to new opportunities. I absolutely love collaborating with new people and will always jump at a chance to do that. When I'm called in to the studio to work with an artist on their recordings it's a practice in enriching my own craft. The spontaneity of adapting to what each artist is trying to achieve, and especially just the "hang"- learning how to get along and interact with new people, is something I thrive on. And if I ever get to travel with a new group it's always a wonderful way to change up what can become a monotonous thing at times. I love people and connecting with them and this job allows for that on a regular basis. I've learned that there are thousands of people who can do what I do, and that ultimately landing a "gig" may just come down to whether or not you're easy to be around for hours and weeks and months on end in confined quarters and out of the comfort zone of home.

You dream up some pretty impressive visual art pieces as well. Does the inspiration for your music and your artwork come from the same place? Painting for me comes in waves just as songwriting does. There is catharsis in both- it just depends what needs to come out and through what medium. It's growing increasingly more difficult for me to paint as I'm rarely in one place for long enough to allow that inspiration to percolate and be expressed. Songwriting is a little bit easier because there are more direct means for expressing it and crafting it while traveling. Ultimately all expression is born from the same place- but some of it had to come to the surface with more immediacy.

Have you ever made a piece that you couldn't let go of or were sad when you did put it in someone else's home? Any piece that I create on my own time from my own vision is like a child that you can't stand to part with. Which is why sometimes it's easier to just paint what a client asks me to. I honestly have less attachment to those pieces because they weren't born from my head but are catering to someone else's particular vision. I love creating pieces for friends and family because I know I will get to see them again. When I was younger and less responsible I sold some pieces to people I didn't know before I captured an image of them properly. Those are kind of lost to the ether in a way and I don't even remember what they look like. Do you have a long game idea of where you

want your career to go?

I want to just feel stable and able to support myself comfortably and get to share my work with people. If I could buy a small house and have food on the table and be able to not have to work unfulfilling side jobs, that would mean total success to me and I believe the universe will always support that and supply that to me. If I can still be creating and performing for another 20 years then great. I do know the reality of this chosen career and I am all too aware that even achieving huge commercial success does not guarantee anything long term. I'm just trying to feel happy each day and grateful and to trust that all the work I've done will provide for me and pay off eventually. Looking too far in to the future has never been my MO. Just looking to see what opportunities are presenting themselves to me and trusting that each one is a puzzle piece to the larger picture.

And lastly - what can you tell us about your gorgeous new album with Paper Bird? This is the first studio recording I've made with this group of Colorado musicians who've been a

band for ten years. It's been amazing to realize that there is a Colorado sound- one that is very different from the Toronto sound I grew up with. We merged our influences and those became more fleshed out once John Oates stepped in to help write and produce the record. He is a rock and roll hall-of-famer and has written so many of my favourite songs- but despite his history and celebrity he is truly genuine and humble person who was open and willing to impart his vast knowledge while still respecting (and without undermining us) as artists. I'm proud of what we created in Nashville and the studio experience was some of the greatest times in my career. We feel like Nashville is embracing us which is very exciting; and we released the record in partnership with Nashville's Thirty Tigers while maintaining our masters and creating our own label called Sons of Thunder. I'm really personally already looking forward to writing the next record and seeing how we can expand on the sound that we developed after I joined two years ago. We began an extensive American tour in November in support of the self-titled record.

Visit www.carleighaikins.com for more info on Carleigh's adventures and her visual art pieces.

See www.paperbirdband.com for tour dates and give them a LIKE on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/paperbirdband/

Make sure to check out their new album - Paper Bird - available on iTunes now!