Vanessa Wittstruck is wrapping up a lot of new fans, in the leadup to Christmas.
Not yet able to legally walk into a bar, the local performer scored major buzz as the opening act at the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation fashion show Friday night. She was the live act to kick off the 2016 Festival of Trees.
This Friday, she is in the spotlight again as the headliner at Shiraz Cafe Restaurant.
It's a musical flurry in time for the snow flurries. Wittstruck has had a busy couple of years, emerging as a successful singer-songwriter through highlights like winning Limelight Quest 2015, opening for The Sweet Lowdown and Old Man Luedecke during last winter's Coldsnap Music Festival, having multiple performance slots at the BCNE, getting the inaugural spot on the local Shaw TV music showcase Earl's Music Emporium and so on. But in the past few months the guitar has been quiet.
"I took a little bit of a break. I'm in my second year of university so I took a bit of time from school to focus on my songwriting," said Wittstruck.
Her singing got her the Limelight win. She carries a smooth vocal tone that recalls classic folk like Judy Collins and leans in on modern territory like Trent Severn or Amanda Rheaume.
Her songwriting is what's catching attention now, in tandem with cover choices you could describe as surprising. On Friday she easily deked through ABBA's The Winner Takes It All, past a Kris Kristofferson tune, then around her latest fascination Bruce Springsteen. Dotted in amongst those favourites were her own original tunes.
"I think it's important in music to make whatever covers you do into something your own, but still attribute it to the original artist," she said. "I'll sometimes keep the lyric but completely rethink the chords and all the progressions, so it's still what people know and love but made into something that's mine and with some added flare. I always love going out to see artists and hearing them push a song I know into a new place, make me think about it in a different way, adding something to what was there before."
She never takes a performing opportunity for granted. Getting paid to perform music isn't an easy job to have, so she has gone to extra lengths to prepare herself. She has more than two hours of music at the ready, with an ability to lean her show towards different audience tastes, depending on the venue.
What she hasn't produced yet is an album. Fans are starting to ask to buy one, she said, so the plans she's been making to make a record are getting an urgent push.
"I do need to do that, but you can't rush something so permanent and representational of your music. It has to be right," she said. "I still have some recording time with Cheslatta (Records, local recording studio), so I have to schedule something soon to get in there and use it and come up with something."
Shiraz will be her next opportunity to test out some pending material on an actual honest audience.
"I've got some new songs, brand new, that I haven't performed in public," she said. "And there will be some older tunes and some covers. I'll be giving the audience a mix, but it's a mix of me, my personal tastes in music."
Wittstruck will take the stage at 7 p.m. on Friday night. There is no admission charge, but a full menu for the Shiraz kitchen.
