Interview with Singer-Songwriter Shari Ulrich

AHC: You've been making music, writing songs and playing in bands for a while now. What has this journey been like for you, it's highs and lows, and what life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way?


Shari: Indeed - “for awhile now” is actually 43 years, so I’d say everything I’ve learned about life, humans, communication, compassion, the meaning of work and creativity - all of it - has been through music. It’s been the greatest “job” I could ever imagine having and every day of my life I am exceedingly grateful for it. I have learned what’s important and the definition of success - at least for me.  I’ve learned that being an artist and performer is a huge gift that we need to protect and honour. That it’s not about “me”, it’s about the music.  And though having it reach many people is what we strive for, that true “success” is about being fulfilled, engaged, ever evolving and learning, the threads of connection woven between us, and with nature. And hopefully leaving the world a little better for having been here.

The lows - being an independent artist means having to unfailingly create ones life - every single day. So there are times it feels relentless and pointless in the big scheme of things, and there are times it’s exhausting. But the highs - they are plentiful - virtually every performance is tremendously rewarding. The interaction with the audience where I am so struck by the power of music to heal and transform. And the gratitude I feel for the opportunity to be able to play a part in that. So really, the highs and lows are running concurrently like lapping waves on the shore.  

I’ve certainly had times early on in my career where I had the support of the “industry” that were a great ride, and had times when I felt like I really needed to take a serious look at whether I should find a way to augment my income, but tenacity and perseverance are a huge part of having a career in music. And I feel in the last 15 years I’m experiencing the fruits of that. 

In recent memory, the biggest high point was winning the CFMA for songwriter of the year for the album that my daughter Julia Graff engineered and produced. She was there in Ottawa with me and my pride was over the moon. Getting to work with her, as a musician, engineer, videographer and photographer was an amazing development.  And of course I am in awe of the person she’s grown to be. I am so so lucky!  As we speak, we are in Nashville together to showcase at the Americana Music Conference.  Lucky me.


AHC: Could talk some about the bands you played in the 70's, the Pied Pumkin String Ensemble and the Hometown Band, and what it was like playing and performing music during that iconic decade?


Shari: The Pied Pumkin was an incomparable experience for me and in many ways, was pivotal in informing my values of live performance. I wasn’t a writer back then, and was kind of the straight man on stage. My personality wasn’t really formed yet, and Rick Scott, who was the most dynamic figure in the band, and the main writer - had a BIG one. Rick and Joe's music was so original, and very joyful and spirited and made people feel SO good! Rick played dulcimer (unlike how anyone else in the world plays the instrument) which meant he was pretty much the drummer, and Joe’s guitar playing is very bass focused so I had all the room in the world to fill in the space in between on fiddle or mandolin. So I learned early on the importance of being in the moment with the music - to improvise and let go, all while serving the song. And our arrangements were incredibly intricate and complex. The infectiousness of that music - how exciting it was for both us and the audience was formidable.  There really has been nothing else like the music of the Pied Pumkin before or since.


CBC producer and musician Claire Lawrence was recording the Pumkin in Prince George for the Great Canadian Gold Rush radio show and he came up to me after to ask if I could come into the studio and play violin and sing on an album he was recording for Valdy. Of course I said yes! That group of musicians ended up touring with Valdy across Canada as his back up band called The Hometown Band.  That first tour the band played 2 songs a night on its own and one was Joe Mock’s “Flying” - and the response was incredibly intoxicating. Claire had it in the back of his mind that the band could become a new vehicle for him as a player, and it was SO exciting to perform in those huge concerts halls - it was irresistibly seductive.  Looking back, I never would have agreed to continue with the Hometown band to the exclusion of the Pumkin who I loved so much, but the manager demanded that. Ironically, we got our record deal on the strength of the song “Flying”. That decision to abandon the Pumkin for the HTB was the the most torturous of my life. 


The Hometown Band was different in so many ways from the Pumkin - much more rock, pop and jazz. And it was the days of record label tour support so we were traveling very comfortably and playing 2 shows a night in every major city in 3000 seat theaters. Valdy’s repertoire was wonderful to play and the HTB music was very challenging music with big arrangements. That was definitely a fantastic chapter.


For both those bands there was a pervasive spirit of experimentation and adventurousness, highly unique arrangements and compositions, and both cutting edge and reflective of a bolder time in music and the music business.  


AHC: Could you talk some about the important role artistic expression plays in the healing process - for both the artist and the audience, as you see it and as it has unfolded for you in your own life and with your own audience?


Shari: I think art at its best is one of our most powerful tools for healing. As the artist it allows us to process our experiences for ourselves as well as translate them into something that can allow others to access their own emotions and responses.  I am ever in awe of its power to do that - to help people FEEL. I have long believed that music in particular gets into our hearts and souls more deeply than anything - and it can crack us wide open to feel the gamut of emotions from elation to sorrow. It’s amazing to me how it works on us. And I’m a believer in sharing our stories - that secrets do not serve us well as individuals or as a society. So I have indeed shared my own life through song - including experiences that may been deemed “too personal” in the past or by others. And yet, that is in fact my greatest reward - the gratitude from an audience that I have shared my story that resonates so with their own.  And of course, in the process of finding that song, I always feel like I don’t own the credit for finding it. When it comes it is deliriously magical.


AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them?


Shari: I grew up in a pretty musical family - my mother played piano (having gone through the royal conservatory system) and my father played recorders. He had them in all keys and he would play songs that I could sing with him. I know he’s the one who recognized that I had a good ear at a very young age. Ironically, it was my siblings who got the piano lessons. I would listen to my sister’s lesson and go to the book when it was over and figure out how what I heard was in the written notes. That’s pretty much how I learned to read music. When I was 9 years old we were offered music in school and my girlfriends and I all picked strings.  So that’s how and when I started to learn the violin. 


As for pivotal songs - there have been SO many!  Probably the most memorable, (after most of the Beatles songs) was hearing Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon album for the first time. I remember where I was and everything about that day. I had never heard anything like it and I was totally smitten.  


AHC: What are your favorite on-tour, on-the-road memories?


Shari: Touring the US in a tour bus with Valdy & the Hometown Band was one of my most powerful memories. I’d never seen North America like that. Waking up on the bus at dawn driving through the middle of the desert - dotted with the classic Saguaro cactuses I’d only seen in movies. It was a fantastic era.


AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote?


Shari: I certainly do!  It was for the 2nd Hometown Band album. I’d been wanting to write songs for ages. I realized that, as a singer, lyrics were very important to me - and very personal - and I wasn’t really feeling very satisfied singing other people’s words. But I just couldn’t seem to get a song written. We handed the 2nd album to A&M records and their classic response was - “we don’t hear any hits”. So that was my cue - I was determined to come up with something that would do the job. So I wrote “Feel Good” on my dulcimer. It’s a simple tune but it worked  - it was one of our more successful singles.  So I figured - okay - I really do have good instincts for this and I should carry on.


AHC: Who are some of your musical inspirations? 

Shari: The aforementioned Joni of course. She was the first real confessional female writer, and far more adventurous than we’d heard before. And utterly unique with that angelic voice.  I think like most people, the biggest influence was all the music I grew up with - Beatles, Jackson Brown, Carla Bonoff, Jesse Winchester, Neil Young, the music of West Side Story, Cat Stephens, CSNY….the list goes one. I mean, it was SUCH a potent era of music.  But more recently I’m inspired by truly exceptional songwriting.  Jonathan Byrd, Jason Isobel, Karen Savõca, Helen Austin, Ron Hynes, Nickel Creek. Again, there are so many. But I think I’m drawn to people who are not only great writers, but have humble, generous spirits and appreciate the gift - and go deep!



AHC: Do you have any words of advice for young musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are trying to find their voice and their way in this world?


Shari: Number one - don’t compare yourself to anyone else. There’s lots to be learned by watching and listening to others but the ONE edge you have is that you are you - and you are unique with your own voice, your own view, your own story and your own way of telling your story. I found that realization very liberating. 


I never really have advice for “how to make it”. Just to stress how important it is that you do it for the right reasons. If you’re doing it because you want to be famous, it will be a rocky road to a disappointing end. The fame is not the goal, it’s creating art and communicating to others. 


The trick to “performing” is to take you, who you are, on stage with you and no matter what happens, as long as the audience is never made to feel uncomfortable. They want to love you. 


Open your eyes when you sing. Otherwise the audience is just being a voyeur watching you have an experience singing your songs, as apposed to being included and part of the exchange.  


Do it cuz you love it.


AHC: Do you have any new projects in motion you'd like to tell people about?


Shari: This was a great year with putting out a new album with Barney Bentall & Tom Taylor (BTU) that was engineered and co-produced by my daughter Julia Graff and her partner James Perrella. And then a new album with the High Bar Gang - the bluegrass band I’m in with Barney Bentall and 5 other fine folks. In October I’ll be diving into writing a new album - it’s time.  I have a few major projects on my “someday” list that I should probably keep to myself in case I never get to them, but I’m more motivated than ever to not waste any time!


For more information visit www.shariulrich.com/


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