Versatile Canadian singer Treasa Levasseur set for Folkfest appearance

Published: Wednesday, August 18, 2010

By Caitlin Burns

 

As the summer comes to a close, excitement is gearing up for the Philadelphia Folk Festival. This weekend, Treasa Levasseur, a 2010 Juno nominee for Blues Album of the Year, will be performing at the venerable festival.

“I’m really excited to play at the Philadelphia Folk Festival,” Levasseur said. “It’s my biggest concert.”

While many American audiences are not familiar with Levasseur, Canadian audiences have been listening to her since 2006, with the debut of “Not a Straight Line.” Since her new album, “Low Fidelity,” has been nominated, it will be released on Aug. 17 in the United States.

“This is a brand-new exciting reality” Levasseur said. “This is my first release in the U.S.”

Levasseur has taken the time to write all the lyrics and music for her albums.

“Some songs can take an hour and some can take years,” Levasseur said. “‘Low Fidelity’ was written on the mandolin in my backyard.”

Some of her music also has a bit of her personality and humor, such as “(Me and My) Big Fat Mouth.”

“I think it’s just my own sense of humor,” Levasseur said. “Life is too short to not crack a joke every now and then.”

With melody, music and lyrics, her music helps her understand herself better.

“I always find I understand better what’s happening to me after I run it,” Levasseur said.

Although she was trained professionally in music, including 17 years of classical piano training, Levasseur has also had training in acting through theater school.

“Part of me wishes I had gone to music school,” Levasseur said. She also doesn’t regret theater school, since it taught her to feel the words she was performing and not just sing them. “Going to theater school taught me to really mean it.”

Levasseur is also excited to meet and play with Susan Werner at the festival.

“She’s my hero,” Levasseur said. “I’m such a huge fan.”

Levasseur will be traveling throughout the country on tour after her performance at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, but she hopes to take some time to explore the area and, most of all, go to the shore.

“I’m going to take advantage of places I’ve never been,” Levasseur said. “It’s really great.”

 Author: Jon Sobel — Published: Aug 07, 2010

Treasa Levasseur, Low Fidelity

Every so often—and not so often, really—a really special recording comes across my desk. Treasa Levasseur's second disc has been out in her native Canada for a couple of years but is just now about to get a US release, and if we didn't know we needed a true soul music revival, now we do. Low Fidelity is an excellent combination of smooth, soulful grooves, bluesy riffage, and ballsy singing and attitude, all melded together with pointed and (above all) fun songwriting.

Its ten tracks, almost all originals, draw on many of soul's flavors: Aretha-style ballads ("Rest of the Ride"), piano-heavy Motown (the title track), Philly soul ("Talk to Me Babe"), Buddy Guy-style minor-key blues ("Good Ones Never Share"), gospel ("Amen"), even a bit of Sade-type gentle jazzy funk ("Truth Will Set You Free"). My favorite might be the New Orleans-y "Big Fat Mouth," but there's no weak link on the album. And while the above description might suggest a dilettantish collection of distinct styles, that's not at all what this is. Levasseur's powerful but crafty sensibility as a singer and songwriter shines steadily throughout this solid through-and-through album.

 http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=12067

August 2010

The craft of singer/songwriter Treasa Levasseur may have its origin from years of playing folk music, but her style is an amalgam of dexterity. Heavily influenced by such soul artists as Mavis Staples, Carole King and Annie Lennox, she remains musically versatile and has played everything from heavy metal to hip-hop, country, sugary pop, and thoughtful folk music. Levasseur plays piano, accordion, guitar, mandolin, and anything else she can get her hands on.

Born in Winnipeg, raised in North Bay, and a long-time resident in Toronto, Levasseur revealed her talent on her debut album, Not a Straight Line, in 2006.  Since then, she has been attracting an endless stream of praise from Canadian fans and critics alike.  She is releasing her new album in the States, hoping its distinctive rhythms will appeal to a whole new audience.

"Low Fidelity surprised me," Levasseur admits. "I made a record that I wanted to listen to, with a sound that pleased my own ear, and it turns out that a lot of other people like the same sound I do."

With her distinctively sultry voice backed by the likes of producer David Baxter on guitar and Paul Reddick on harmonica and electric harp, the singer/songwriter is ready to take her music stateside. "I am so excited to release this record in the States," says Levasseur, who is set to perform at the Philly Folk Fest on August 22 while also playing shows in Illinois, New York and New Jersey. "If you're into soul music, there's no other place on Earth like America for getting your hands deep into it, getting a hold of its roots."

 August 2010

http://www.billybop.be/admin/CDdetail.asp?ID=9494

 Style: Roots Rock

Receiving the Juno award for the best Blues album of the year is without doubt the best news an artist can receive! Treasa Levasseur, received this award for her brand new album Low Fidelity, her follow up to “Not A Straight Line”. With a rich blend of rhythm and blues, Low Fidelity is best tasted as smoked, dancehall music.

With an album full of smart lyrics, nice arrangements and catchy tunes Low Fidelity opens with one of the most powerful tunes on the album. “Help me Over” really explodes in to your sound system and from that moment on your are lost for the complete duration of the album. “The Good Ones Never Share”, “Me and My big Fat Mouth”, and “Stuck in Soulsville” are all tunes that will stuck with you for quite some time. The sound on this album is quite pleasing and is best define as a mixture of Blues, Jazz, some Soul and Gospel music. Tee total outcome is far from Low Fidelity as a matter of fact is never near Low fidelity at all. “The Good Ones Never Share” is a perfect example of the sound on this album! A sultry voice, a bit of the blues harp some guitar hooks and firm rhythm as the foundation of the song. “Talk to me babe is” is a ballad-like song that makes you sit back and inhale the music. A bit less impressing is the funky jazz-blues tune “Truth Will set you free” but once you reach the title track you immediately know again why you are in! Soulful blues and catchy sounds! “Me and My big Fat Mouth” brings more of the same good stuff! Spiced up with some horns this tune throws in some more soul influences and keeps you rockin’ for another three and a half minutes. “Give me Just one” returns to the blues and on “Rest of the Ride” Treasa takes a deep breath and some rest! “Stuck in Soulsville” is like the title makes you suspect once more a good soulful influenced blues track and with Amen, Treassa closes doses down a really great album in a unforgettable weak!


Low fidelity is due to release in the US on august the 17th and while this album might without doubt not be promoted very much in Europe, I can only advise you to seek the internet in the next weeks and try to grab you copy, cause this album is one of those rare gems that will stick with me around for a very long time and believe me coming from someone who has over 20.000 albums and cd’s at home this really means something!

Mr Blue Boogie

 

Lindsay Zier-Vogel, CTV.ca

Date: Thu. Apr. 8 2010

"You can't deny that I have a really big voice," blues musician and JUNO-nominated Treasa Levasseur says in between teaching gigs in her adopted home of Toronto, "especially when I'm fronting a band. I'm happy to sing quiet backups, but if it's me at the front, that is actually what I do."

It's fitting then that on Levasseur's second album, "Low Fidelity," nominated for Blues Album of the Year, she sings about her "big fat mouth" and all of the fabulous trouble it's gotten her into.

If her voice is larger than life, so is her presence. At the JUNO nomination event in February, it was hard to miss Levasseur, who was sporting a huge fur hat she's taken to wearing to her recent live shows.

"I think it was about $5 at Value Village," she laughs. "It's really great if you have bad hair from working your day job all day, you put the hat on and you look great!"

She was unsure about the type of fur it was made of until a recent trip down to Memphis, TN. "I'm pretty sure it's raccoon because when I was down south a few weeks ago someone said to me, ‘Ah, nice hat! My wife killed one of those last night!' and they don't have beaver down there!" she says with a laugh.

This wasn't Levasseur's first trip down to Memphis this year, nor will it be her last. "As I've moved further away from the folk music and towards rhythm and blues and soul, Memphis is just the natural place for me to end up," she says.

"Every time I go there, good things happen to me and I have a bunch of friends there now and know where a good juke joint is on a Saturday night for chicken wings and two-dollar beers. It's become a home a way from home, especially musically."

From church choir to trip-hop

Though she's knee-deep in the blues these days, Levasseur's musical career began years ago, singing in her mom's choir in the small northern Ontario city of North Bay.

"I sang at a Catholic church, which is really, to me, the opposite of soul music," she laughs.

"My mom bought me a guitar when my very first boyfriend dumped me when I was 17 years old, but I didn't really start playing it until after theatre school when I realized I wasn't going to be an actor," she recalls.

But it was playing keyboard and singing backup in a heavy rock band that got her feet wet in the Toronto music scene.

Always switching it up, Levasseur then moved into hip-hop and made a Portishead-inspired album. "That record definitely didn't get a JUNO nomination," Levasseur laughs. "I was very naïve and I realize now I had no idea what the music industry was all about then."

It took being handed an accordion for Levasseur to find her place in the Toronto music community. "I loved it. It's a portable a keyboard that you don't have to plug in!"

With her accordion strapped on, she began working with roots musician Corin Raymond and started getting offered folk music gigs left, right and centre.

Mixing these folk influences with elements of funk and blues, Levasseur then produced her first album "Not a Straight Line" in 2006.

"Even though this album was not a blues record, the blues community just opened their arms to me," she says, her voice still registering her gratitude and amazement.

Low Fidelity

"I wrote almost the whole record on the mandolin in my back yard one summer after being really unceremoniously dumped in my housewarming-birthday party," Levasseur admits about her JUNO-nominated blues album, "Low Fidelity."

"I thought this guy was going to be the one, but it didn't turn out that way, so I was by myself in this house that we had moved into together that he was gone from and that's how that album happened," she says.

Since, her song-writing has taken a different turn. "Now I'm forcing myself to make time. I schedule myself time, hours to write," she says, citing Corin Raymond as lyrical inspiration.

"He's very hard on himself and he never just phones in the third verse. A lot of songs have a bad third verse and Corin's taught me that that's the place where you just can't be lazy."

Treasa's toughest crowd

Though Levasseur is an engaging musician, singing her own work and performing with countless bands, she performs for her toughest audiences three days a week

"I'm a kids' entertainer. I've been doing it for 11 years," she says. "People have often said to me, ‘You're finally making it, you're not going to have to do your classes any more,' but I would never, ever give up spending time with people under five years old!

"They're the toughest audience. If you're boring, they'll let you know! They'll just walk away. Also, the music industry can be a really fake place with a lot of egos involved, but with early childhood education, there's no personality problems.

"Just last week, one kid said to me, ‘I think you have what it takes to be a professional.'"

 

Sound Proof Online Album Review

By:  Stephanie Cloutier

SOUNDS LIKE: A big-voiced Canadian songstress that isn't shy to mix too many genres into one sound.

WHY/WHY NOT: "Me and my big fat mouth/ Sometimes I wonder where I'd be without." No doubt that lyric has been reflected by all of us at one point or another. Treasa Levasseur takes her experience of it by lending her big voice into the exuberant and cathartic song, "Big Fat Mouth."

Her voice and songwriting abilities shine through in her second album, Low Fidelity, which shows listeners that Levasseur has a reverent style that is hard to not take notice of. Covering a large base of different genres, her sound can be interpreted as anything from soul-jazz ("Stuck in Soulsville" and "Truth Will Set You Free"), to a funky blues-rock explosion with horns ("Big Fat Mouth"), to even a gospel-driven ensemble ("Amen"). Her appreciation for these genres is obvious; her style is blues based more than anything else.

Low Fidelity offers a mature and sophisticated album that is safe and radio-friendly. Levasseur is comfortable mixing genres that she appreciates, drawing from them similarities that the listener is bound to love as well. Her originality is her voice, which, we hope, will continue to grace our company.

Uptown Magazine Review

CD Review - March 26, 2009

On Help Me Over, Treasa Levasseur sings that she is looking for music she "wants to dance to" and Low Fidelity certainly has more than its share of smokey dancehall numbers. Her voice is strong yet feminine, and can hold its own in this bluesy mix of Toronto's finest. Paul Reddick's distinctive electric harp work, Derek Downham's killer keys and David Gavan Baxter and Sean Cotton's tasty guitar riffs stand out for me. Low Fidelity begins with a horn blast that will part your hair, and Treasa's vocal scolding plays off Reddick's back-talking harp throughout. Yum!
— Chris Brown

 

Treasa Levasseur

Low Fidelity

By David McPherson

Where was this sweet, innocent, fill-a-room voice hiding? This dynamite disc opens with the powerful “Help Me Over,” co-written by Corin Raymond and Sean Cotton; the song explodes from the speakers like a gale force wind on a lonely prairie. Levasseur’s languid, “big, fat” voice builds and builds, guiding her and the listener to a cathartic climax. One imagines the sultry songstress leading a gospel choir in a rousing song of salvation in some rural Southern church. From this strong opener, the rest of the record is one choice cut after another — an equal mix of blues, gospel and jazz. While her voice is her strongest instrument, the chanteuse is backed by a dynamite band that includes producer David Baxter on guitar and Paul Reddick on harmonica. This is music that seeps into your soul with lines that linger long and don’t let go until the last note is sung. Leveraging the muscle of Muscle Shoals, the mojo of Motown and the blues from Chicago, Low Fidelity is Levasseur’s coming-out party; Toronto now has a new heroine of song. (Slim Chicken)

 

 

Power vocalist: It's impossible to know where Toronto's Treasa Levasseur's big voice comes from, but she raised the roof and earned a standing ovation at the Lake Stage. She's a big talent on the rise.

 

 "...a fine lyricist, writing clear story songs ... She has a growing and solid reputation as a live and festival performer and, with her strong voice, should provide lots of big moments at her shows." bob mersereau

 

by Greg Quill

Treasa Levasseur – Low Fidelity (Slim Chicken Ent) 3 1/2 stars out of 4

Winnipeg-raised Levasseur is an exceptionally gifted singer-songwriter whose second album is a rich, wholly satisfying amalgam of original soul, blues and R&B confections that showcase her stunning voice and set her up – with help from primo session musicians like David Baxter and Derek Downham – for the big break. This is sophisticated, sassy adult music, with sexy hooks and raunchy licks.

Top Track – Low Fidelity, a defiant love-gone-wrong blues rocker.

Treasa Levasseur Low Fidelity Slim Chicken
by john valentyn
maple blues magazine, oct 09

There is a great deal to like about her second CD: Ms. Levasseur’s vocals are upfront & confident, she has some truly fine songs and an excellent band behind her. “The Good Ones Never Share” is a fascinating modern blues commenting on a wild lifestyle without ever actually concluding that change might be necessary. Paul Reddicksupplies some appropriate harp, which he also does on “Low Fidelity”. It turns out that low fidelity is a problem her soon-to-be-ex partner has, not a comment on the recorded quality of the CD. She does play up the pun though with a lo-fi intro & extro. “(Me and my) Big Fat Mouth” speaks for itself as a title but does not describe its rocking tempo. You’ll be humming this long afterwards and maybe agreeing with the lyrics. A lovely soul ballad, “Talk To Me Baby” features DK Ibomeka on harmony vocal and his silky voice is perfect for the part. “Give Me Just One” is in a more traditional R&B style, as is “Stuck in Soulsville”, a most effective homage to the Stax sound. The album ends on a more serious note with “Amen”, an original gospel song pleading for more religious tolerance. There’s quite a large cast involved in this project so I’ll just say that many of the songs include a chorus & horns and that several players are used at each of the usual instruments, all firmly under the guidance of co-producersDavid Gavan Baxter & Ms. Levasseur. Long time guitarist Sean Cotton deserves mention as do keyboard aces Bill King & Julian Fauth. The CD Release Party is October 2nd at the Lula Lounge. There are two shows, at 6:30 & 9:30 PM and she’ll have a seven-piece band.

by Susan Doolan

Treasa Levasseur...is comfortable in just about any genre, and her first album reflects that. But now she’s into soul...Old school soul, “I went down to Memphis a couple of years ago, and got bitten by the soul bug. It’s where my writing’s been going...Most of the songs have to do with faith. Not only being faithful to another person, but also having faith in yourself, in your friends.”

by Jenny Potter

Soul and Motown aren’t usually associated with Northern Ontario, but Treasa Levasseur is changing minds and turning heads throughout North America. Faised in part in North Bay, the curly haired songstress has taken her classical piano training and fused it with years of singing in church choirs and musical theatre. The result is soulful and often personal melodies that have singled her out as a rising star.

She’s as much a singer/songwriter in the Dusty Springfield and Janis Joplin mode as blues artist, but you’ll kick yourself if you don’t pick up this disc.

Treasa LeVasseur combines a wonderful, early jazz vocal quality with a shredding set of pipes she can turn on -- a high-octane Susan Tedeschi -- whenever she needs them. It’s a stunning weapon that could stand on its own even without the lush, vibrant recording, production and arrangement of this highly heartfelt disc.

It’s all combined with some lovely songwriting about the usual important things: relationships, relationship and... you get the point.

It’s all pretty impressive stuff, and when you combine it with some worthy, worthy soul that is both restrained in its vocal gyrations yet powerful, it’s quite a combo.

In typically modern style, there’s nothing organic about this one, however rootsy it is; producer David Baxter and engineer James Pail have done a masterful job of getting some pretty complex arrangements, with a lot of wall-of-sound stuff going on, adding to the gospel-funk-soul proceedings.

There are occasional dabbles in emotional frailty, rocky brashness, and .....just about every other way there is to admit relationships with other people keep our heads half twisted off half the time. Driven by Levasseur’s wonderful vocal delivery this is damn cool reminder of the humility that comes in admitting we ‘re all works in progress.

Toronto Blues Society - Mapleblues Magazine August 2007

"...lyrically and musically, Treasa's music warms you up and rubs you down. It provides beautiful emotional insight and seems to ask the perfect questions... Treasa's songs don't seem to escape anybody - thery are pure inspiration and undeniable...if you have not seen Treasa Levasseur personify the spirit of the blues while casting her arms to the sky, then you ain't seen nothing yet."

Now Magazine - Toronto

"smoldering voice and hilarious asides"...

Charlottetown Guardian, PEI

It doesn't take long to get hooked on Treasa Levasseur.

Three songs into her first full-length CD, Not A Straight Line, and I was anxiously scanning the Internet in search of any articles that would provide some insight into this Winnipeg-born artist whose small frame houses such a big, brassy voice.

Levasseur, who now calls Toronto home, is a richly talented singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose powerhouse pipes have landed her gigs singing everything from old-school funk, soul and rootsy blues music to freestyle hip-hop and rock.

Ottawa Blues Society Newsletter

Think Joni Mitchell, Etta James, Carole King and Dusty Springfield rolled into one - all influences according to her bio. Treasa's powerful yet sensitive voice has great range - it can whisper, cry, soar with joy and blast you out of your seat - sometimes all in the same song! She has superb pacing and a feel for a tune that characterizes all the great ones. She's also a first class songwriter (every song on the CD is original) with lyrics that emote, entice and captivate. And can she play! - piano, accordion, guitar, mandolin, percussion and a Rhodes and diamonica - whatever they are? Add in a theatre background (actress, playwright, producer) and a career as a successful children's music teacher/entertainer and you have the versatile, eclectic and talented package that is Treasa Levasseur.

Time Magazine Canada

Even Canadian women get the blues sometimes. But a [new CD] lets us hear how just good the blues can be, especially if you mix it up a bit with some generous borrowing from other genres.

Treasa Levasseur's Not a Straight Line is an eclectic melange of blues, jazz, funk, rock, and even a subtle note of country. Consistent throughout are Levasseur's fresh lyrics and mature storytelling. In Solitary Man, the most straightforward blues number on the CD, Levasseur sings of a man with "a hole in his heart about five miles wide." The singer would be his "sweet remedy," but the sad truth she tells us is that even though he says she's "so lovely, she could get a guy high," there's no rescuing him from his despair. In the title track, we meet a physicist and the lover who doesn't speak his language of numbers and infinity. A country song, Nickels and Dimes, introduces us to a woman trying to account for the cost of a love that isn't showing much return. "She wonders where all of the interest went/ She knows it won't break her, but it sure leaves a dent." Learn to Let Go is more philosophical than narrative, but who knew Buddhist thought had so much jazz and funk in it? The CD is an impressive achievement for the 32-year-old Torontonian, who spends her days traveling in a van full of instruments making house calls to teach music to children.