Releasing a second album is a dream come true for southern Alberta country/folk music trio, the Travelling Mabels.
The Travelling Mabels, comprised of Longview resident Eva Levesque, her daughter Suzanne Levesque and their friend Lana Floen, will be releasing their second album “Song in a Dream” and it will be their first since their debut CD in 2008.
The Mabels play mostly in the country genre, but they describe their music as more of a folksy and roots sound.
“We are very proud of it, our new album,” said Eva Levesque. “It’s more acoustic than the last and we got more creative this time. It displays and showcases each of our songwriting talents, which are all very different.”
Floen said this second album is an improvement over their debut because the production quality improved a lot this time around.
“It’s good because we have had a couple years now to get more mature with our songwriting and our vocals for this album,” said Floen.
The band was formed in 2008 and they released their first album “Alberta Blue” shortly after. Although the Travelling Mabels didn’t have much experience playing together they jumped right into their first recording.
Floen added the inspiration for all the songs the band wrote come from love, pain, family and life experiences. One of her favourite songs from the new album is “It’s a Sign” because of its high energy and it is fun to perform.
Levesque said her favourite song from the album is “Riding Fences”, which is a neat story she wrote about a young man living in the city, finally achieving his dream of becoming a cowboy.
The title song of the album “Song in a Dream” was written for the Mabels by country music legend Ian Tyson, who also performed on the band’s first album.
The group formed a friendship with Tyson through Floen’s husband Keith, who was the keyboard player for Tyson’s band. Since their first collaboration, Tyson and the Travelling Mabels have written and performed together many times.
The Travelling Mabels all come from musical families and started performing at a young age. All of the ladies also sing lead and create delicious three-part harmonies. Suzanna plays bass guitar, Floen plays acoustic guitar and Eva plays acoustic guitar as well as the harmonica.
The Travelling Mabels will be quite busy this summer with performances booked almost every week in June and July beginning with their CD release party on Sunday, June 12 at the East Longview Hall. Their second release party will be Sunday, June 19 at the Ironwood Stage and Grill in Calgary
One of the Mabels’ favourite events to perform at is the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, where they will be performing again this July.
Also, for the third year in a row the Travelling Mabels will be performing July 10 at the Window of the West Stage at the Calgary Stampede.
For more information about the band and their shows visit www.thetravellingmabels.com.
