If you’ve been to a sporting event in time to catch the anthem in Calgary, you’ve probably already heard Annie Pattison sing. Heck, you probably sang along. She’s sung the anthem for the Flames, Hitmen, Roughnecks, as well as belting out ‘Oh Canada’ at the Winter Olympics and taken a spotlight spot in a previous Stampede Grandstand Show.
Now 17, Pattison has released her first EP, showcasing a whole new way to celebrate Canadian music, just in time for Stampede. Instead of hundred-year old anthems, her first release features three country music songs that she wrote herself, and a gentle cover of Jeff Healy’s ‘Angel Eyes’, to boot.
Pattison, whose influences include Garth Brooks, Lady Antebellum and Sheryl Crow, has a wonderfully soft and sweet country voice that perfectly balances a powerful delivery with a delicate, emotive style. She conveys a sincerity that is beautiful and rich, and accompanied by her simple and suited guitar picking, her songs are as open and clear as a prairie meadow. Innocence can be tough to capture, but she’s managed to float above that saccharine naivety that can swallow a young artist. She brings an authenticity that’s refreshing and sometimes lacking in the genre, and it all adds up to a release that will keep her four tracks running on repeat until her next album.
If you want to check it out for yourself, go to her website, or find her on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. She’ll be out and about for Stampede, but no dates have been released yet.
