Peterborough Blogs
Local Country Artist To Release Upcoming Album While Reflecting Recent Success
/It has been a long 13 years of being in the country music business but Peterborough’s Elyse Saunders displays the evolution of her career with a new single for her upcoming album released this fall.
“Sunshine State Of Mind” is Saunders’s latest song that debuted in mid-May and one of three singles — “Free” and “Wine Down” as the others — that have been released for her upcoming album “Free”.
Co-written by Saunders and T.J. Simpson, this was the first single since being nominated for Female Artist of the Year and Rising Star of the Year by the Country Music Association of Ontario.
“Sunshine State of Mind” was meant to radiate joy, summer adventure and sunny escapism according to Saunders.
“We wrote it before the pandemic shut down,” she said. “It would be so nice to get away. We wanted the song to be everything people wanted to think of when they go on a tropical vacation. We also wanted that message to be on vacation no matter where you are.”
Her newest album is a culmination of what she learned in the music business and how she has grown since starting her music career in 2008.
Since 2020, the Peterborough country singer has gained a list of achievements and awards such as Video of the Year at the 2020 Mississauga Music Awards with “Free”. “Wine Down” had 100,000 streams across Spotify and Apple Music, 46,000 YouTube views with two Country Music Association of Ontario nominations.
“I’ve come into my own in the last year and a half and two years that I’ve gotten to this point feeling confident,” explains Saunders. “I feel like music has made me stronger and made me the best version of myself. It forces me out of my comfort zone so you become pretty fearless and unstoppable.”
Saunders reflects on growing up in Peterborough and the surrounding area with how it influenced her to become a country music singer.
The music star has lived in Keene, River Road South just outside of Peterborough and spent a lot of time with her grandmother who lived in the countryside.
“When I talk about Peterborough, a lot of my music reflects that,” said Saunders. “‘Free’ was inspired by my youth, being free of responsibility. It’s nice to come home to Peterborough.”
When asked about her end goal with country music, she wants to go as far as she can with her career.
“I imagine myself as an international artist,” said Saunders. “It’s about finding the right team doing whatever we can together. It’s an amazing gift to be able to have and sharing my music is always exciting to see.”
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PTBOLive Kicks Off Summer Concert Series With Opening Night
/The PTBOLive Summer Concert Series opened its 20-show series at the Peterborough Memorial Centre parking lot Friday night.
Kicking off the series is Classic Albums Live performs Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon on the Enbridge Energy Stage.
“We’ve got a local stage, local production crew, a local food truck and local artists on the state throughout the summer as well,” said Jeremy Giles, PMC facility manager. “It’s really a good local feel and it’s nice to do this for the community.”
Concert-goers attend the show in their parked vehicles in front of the stage to comply with COVID-19 health protocols.
The series is a collaboration presented by Peterborough Memorial Centre, Showplace Performance Centre and Market Hall Performing Arts Centre.
“We haven’t done anything for live music in a long time,” said Emily Martin, Showplace general manager. “Having an outdoor event is really easy to do in terms of being able to bring large numbers of people together.”
“The city has been waiting for something like this,” said Councillor Keith Riel. “It’s a night for the family and I think people need a break.”
The following is the current lineup of the series:
June 25 Classic Albums Live performs Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
June 26 The Jim Cuddy Band with special guest Express & Company
June 27 Splash N Boots
July 2 Big Wreck with special guest Heaps
July 9 The Reklaws with special guest Jesse Slack
July 10 The Trews with special guests Adam & Cale Gontier from Saint Asonia
July 16 Classic Albums Live performs Led Zeppelin's Zeppelin II
July 19 “The Father” Drive-in movie night
July 23 Chad Brownlee with special guest SJ Riley
July 24 Drive’N Queens, Peterborough’s first-ever drive ‘n drag show
Aug 7 Shaun Majumder with Ali Hassan
Aug 14 Sinatra with Matt Dusk
Aug 15 Mini Pop Kids Live
Aug 16 12 Mighty Orphans Drive-in movie night
Aug 20 Classic Albums Live performs The Beatles' Abbey Road
Aug 27 Jackson Delta with Emily Burgess & The Emburys