2017 KERRVILLE NEW FOLK WINNER Texas
2015 BC MUSICIAN MAGAZINE SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR British Columbia
Just your run of the mill, post-structuralist cowgirl Americana...
*
Winona Wilde is an artist we need to hear, now more than ever.
On her third album, Wasted Time, the much-travelled Canadian singer/songwriter continues to redefine the image of the troubadour, documenting her life and observing the world with both biting wit and heartbreaking honesty. It’s an approach that echoes some of country music’s greatest composers, such as Townes Van Zandt and Billy Joe Shaver, so it’s no surprise that she was named a winner of the 2017 Kerrville (Texas) Folk Festival’s New Folk competition.
However, what is revealed in the music tells only part of Winona Wilde’s story. A child of Iraqi parents, she was born Noosa Al-Sarraj and became infatuated with playing classical music on piano at a young age. At the same time, her country music-loving nanny planted the seeds for her future devotion to artists like John Prine, Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn, and by her teens she discovered a natural ability to write songs in a similar style.
Al-Sarraj produced Wasted Time herself, working at engineer John Dinsmore’s Toronto studio, Lincoln County Social Club. She played most of the instruments herself as well, with contributions by, among others, Alan Mackie on upright bass, Sean Conway on electric guitar Elise Boeur on fiddle, and Sarah Jane Scouten on harmonies and fiddle. In fact, Al-Sarraj cut the basic tracks live, accompanied only by Mackie, in a single 10-hour session. It was a clear indication of the confidence she had in the material.
Calling her latest offering Wasted Time is therefore slightly misleading, as everything she has experienced up to now has gone into this beautiful nine-song collection led by the title track, a bona fide instant honky tonk classic. As Al-Sarraj explains, “On my first album, I was too afraid to be good. On my second album, I was too afraid to be real. This time I feel like I am as real as I can possibly be, and the songwriting is infinitely more vulnerable.”
Wasted Time is out October 6, 2017.
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"Winona Wilde is champion of the underdog, a blue collar heroine. Demigod of the downtrodden, she calls us all in, together, and using the precision of her well honed voice and her captivating charm, she opens us up and shows us what we're made of. Messy and sparkling we get to leave the theatre together, intact, illuminated and staring our humanity in the face. "
-Verses Festival of Words (Vancouver, BC)
"Winona Wilde don't mind looking truth in the eye, she stares it down and then paints itout loud with the sweetness and depth of a deep brown sugar."
-CFUR 88.7 FM (Prince George, BC)
"John Prine with a Ph.D. in Dorothy Parker."
-Sandy Irvin, Folkus Concert Series (Almonte, ON)
“We’re talking some sultry, alt-country blues.”
- Mark Anthony Brennan, Ride The Tempo (Canadian Music Blog)
"Gorgeous!"
-CBC Radio One, Bandwidth (Ottawa, ON)
2015 BC MUSICIAN MAGAZINE SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR British Columbia
Just your run of the mill, post-structuralist cowgirl Americana...
*
Winona Wilde is an artist we need to hear, now more than ever.
On her third album, Wasted Time, the much-travelled Canadian singer/songwriter continues to redefine the image of the troubadour, documenting her life and observing the world with both biting wit and heartbreaking honesty. It’s an approach that echoes some of country music’s greatest composers, such as Townes Van Zandt and Billy Joe Shaver, so it’s no surprise that she was named a winner of the 2017 Kerrville (Texas) Folk Festival’s New Folk competition.
However, what is revealed in the music tells only part of Winona Wilde’s story. A child of Iraqi parents, she was born Noosa Al-Sarraj and became infatuated with playing classical music on piano at a young age. At the same time, her country music-loving nanny planted the seeds for her future devotion to artists like John Prine, Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn, and by her teens she discovered a natural ability to write songs in a similar style.
Al-Sarraj produced Wasted Time herself, working at engineer John Dinsmore’s Toronto studio, Lincoln County Social Club. She played most of the instruments herself as well, with contributions by, among others, Alan Mackie on upright bass, Sean Conway on electric guitar Elise Boeur on fiddle, and Sarah Jane Scouten on harmonies and fiddle. In fact, Al-Sarraj cut the basic tracks live, accompanied only by Mackie, in a single 10-hour session. It was a clear indication of the confidence she had in the material.
Calling her latest offering Wasted Time is therefore slightly misleading, as everything she has experienced up to now has gone into this beautiful nine-song collection led by the title track, a bona fide instant honky tonk classic. As Al-Sarraj explains, “On my first album, I was too afraid to be good. On my second album, I was too afraid to be real. This time I feel like I am as real as I can possibly be, and the songwriting is infinitely more vulnerable.”
Wasted Time is out October 6, 2017.
*
"Winona Wilde is champion of the underdog, a blue collar heroine. Demigod of the downtrodden, she calls us all in, together, and using the precision of her well honed voice and her captivating charm, she opens us up and shows us what we're made of. Messy and sparkling we get to leave the theatre together, intact, illuminated and staring our humanity in the face. "
-Verses Festival of Words (Vancouver, BC)
"Winona Wilde don't mind looking truth in the eye, she stares it down and then paints itout loud with the sweetness and depth of a deep brown sugar."
-CFUR 88.7 FM (Prince George, BC)
"John Prine with a Ph.D. in Dorothy Parker."
-Sandy Irvin, Folkus Concert Series (Almonte, ON)
“We’re talking some sultry, alt-country blues.”
- Mark Anthony Brennan, Ride The Tempo (Canadian Music Blog)
"Gorgeous!"
-CBC Radio One, Bandwidth (Ottawa, ON)
