News
News
National Women's Music Festival 2023 - Madison Wisconsin
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The Backyard betties were invited down to the National Women's Music Festival to showcase as an emerging artist. The adventure was very successful and they absolutely loved us!! We met a whole new "Family" of amazing women.
"Tight harmonies, lovely melodies and wonderful wit. One of my favorite new acts! These ladies share an abundance of talent in every performance. Love them!" - Lisa Ferraro/ Music Producer / National Women's Music Festival
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YYC Music Awards Nominations 2023
Just leave has received a YYC Music Award for Folk Recording of the year! This is the second year in a row that Nancy has appeared in this category. Nancy also received a nomination for Industry person of the year for her work on the Write On! Songwriting Experience program in collaboration with Calgary Folk Club, Gallery House Concerts and Bow Valley Music Society. We are launching our 2023-24 this September and Write On! applications are open until July 31, 2023.
Edinburgh Folk Club - People's Choice
Nancy has been busy during her trip over to Scotland performing at open mics and even dropped into the Edinburgh Folk Club 47th Annual Songwriting competition. She won the People's Choice Award. Nancy sang a heartfelt song called "Not Good For Me" which if you’ve not heard this one, it will be a new feature at her summer gigs this year.
Sold Out Fundraisers for our USA Showcase Trip
Thank you to our loyal followers for helping us offset some costs to the USA, we are so grateful to our music community and especially Gallery House Concerts for hosting our fundraiser. It takes a village to achieve great things!!
Our Second fundraiser took place on Canada Day - Thank you to Tricia and family for hosting us at your Canada Day Party. We loved getting YOU all up on the stage with us for a fully interactive show. - You were all a ton of fun.
International Songwriting Competition 2022 - Semifinalist
"Forgiveness and Grace" released in 2022 made it to the Semi-finals of the International Songwriting Competition. Thank you Pip for your beautiful harmonies and Troy Kokol at Reluctant Cowboy Records for capturing the message in his production. Gratitude inn my attitude ❤️
Just Leave - Out February 27, 2023
“Just Leave” is an edgy song about the end of a relationship. You’re at the end of your rope with another person who cannot commit to the relationship, laying it all out on the line - Leave if you can’t stay, go if you need to go. Make the decision cuz it’s killing me.
This is the first release of a co-written song between Nancy Laberge and Pip Hazell and the track also features Pip’s harmonies. There is a lot more to come from this dynamic duo with other new releases on the horizon.
The track was produced by Troy Kokol. This is the second recording project with Nancy and this sound steps outside the traditional sound created in the first album. Troy captures the emotion from the message of the song and replicates the new sound of Nancy’s current music.
Sold Out Backyard Betties Bash - September 3, 2022
Thank you to those that attended our SOLD OUT show at the Ironwood Stage and Grill on September 3. Especially to the dancers upfront - we'll have to make a bigger dance floor next time!! Woohooo
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YYC Music Awards Nomination
Nancy's release "Forgiveness & Grace" was nominated for Folk Recording of the Year at the YYC Music Awards. The awards show took place in September and was a fun-filled night of entertainment and awards presentations. Congratulations to Tim Buckley on the win for his song "Frame by Frame"
Forgiveness & Grace - NEW MUSIC!
Nancy has been working hard on new music and is excited to announce the release of her latest single on to digital platforms on February 8, 2022.
"Some songs come easy and almost feel like they write themselves. Some songs are slow, hard to get out and emotions are a battle with me, so they are not seen as vulnerable. This was a slug fest, a raw story about the most important relationship that I never had. My mom passed away on February 1st, 2021. I spent the last two weeks of her life with her - busy growing up and showing up as an adult rather than a kid. This is a moment where I truly leaned about forgiveness and grace for my mom and myself."
Search on digital platforms "Forgiveness and Grace" or Listen Now on Spotify.
WriteOn! The Songwriting Experience
Nancy is working on an exciting new project WriteOn! The Songwriting Experience. Nancy's first collaboration is with the Calgary Folk Club on their Songwriting Legacy Project for their 50th Anniversary Year. Find out more about WriteOn! here ».
Performance at the Calgary Folk Club
Nancy Laberge and The Backyard Betties performed at the Calgary Folk Club recently in October, 2021. Nancy presented new material as well as an additional member to the band - Pip Hazell singing backup vocals along side long-time band members Sarah Nielson and Mark Cassano. Check out the recap video
Free to Run
2019: Steve Dierkens, a music producer, shared the story about a new documentary, The Secret Marathon, he was editing the music for. I said, "I would love to write a song for a documentary someday." He said, " how about this one?" and the song "Free to Run" was born.
The first time I heard about the documentary and the story I got goose bumps. The courage, the strength and the sacrifice from everyone involved in the project was incredibly inspiring and completely unbelievable to me.
In all the years that I have been songwriting, only three times has a song felt like it has written itself. The message from the documentary is so powerful. While writing the song, I focused on the freedoms I am afforded because I live in Canada. I imagined if I was denied my right to do something as simple as being able to run, how that would affect my life or even cost me my life.
Through Steve's production of the song, he captured the emotion and the vulnerability I was feeling when I wrote it. Steve then shared the song with the creators of the documentary and they said it was a fit. I feel honored to be part of a project that is so meaningful and life changing.
"Inspired by a story of courage, a filmmaker and her legendary marathon mentor, train and travel in secret to join the brave Afghan women who are standing up for equality and freedom, by running in the Marathon of Afghanistan." The Secret Marathon
