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Helen Austin aims for mature audience after winning Juno for children's music

Helen Austin flew to Winnipeg last week slightly ambivalent about her chances of winning a children’s album of the year trophy at the 43rd annual Juno Awards.
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Helen Austin arrives on the red carpet for the Juno Awards in Winnipeg, on Sunday. The Comox Valley singer-songwriter won the Juno Award for children's album of the year.

Helen Austin flew to Winnipeg last week slightly ambivalent about her chances of winning a children’s album of the year trophy at the 43rd annual Juno Awards.

The Comox Valley singer-songwriter had been down a similar road already, having earned a children’s album of the year Juno nomination — but no win — in 2013. The experience of going to the Junos was a blast last year, Austin said, so she looked at returning as more of a social and networking event than anything else.

“I really wanted to win last year,” Austin said Monday from the Winnipeg airport. “This year, knowing what it felt like not to win, and realizing it actually wasn’t that bad, I didn’t really mind if I won or not.”

Surprise, surprise: Austin emerged triumphant on Saturday as Colour It, her most recent recording, snagged the first Juno Award of her career.

Austin was presented with the award on Saturday during the non-televised portion of the Junos. It was unfortunate that her kids (16 and 11) couldn’t see her win the award, Austin said. Motherhood is what indirectly spurred her into this arena, after decades as singer-songwriter in the folk idiom.

“Because lots of my songs have that sort of kid quality, that’s how I started writing the kids’ albums,” she said.

To some, she is new to the folk scene, especially in Canada. Austin has a lengthy career behind her, however, that stretches back to her native England, which she left in 2002. (Austin moved to Union Bay with her husband, a Canadian, before settling for good in Royston.)

Nowadays, it’s as if she has two separate halves of her performing personality — that of a folk singer, and that of a children’s’ entertainer. Two consecutive children’s albums (including her debut, Always Be A Unicorn) put her on the map, but she is already at work on a new album of original material under the banner of Big Little Lions, a group she formed with Paul Otten.

That has taken up all of her attention lately. “We’ve only met once but we’ve been writing for a year and a half,” Austin said of Otten. “I haven’t had a chance to bask in the glow of the Junos because I’m moving straight back into the adult recording world right now.”

She will likely continue that into the summer, with “adult” dates on deck for Courtenay’s Vancouver Island Music Festival, the Hornby Island Festival and others.

What's the Juno experience like as a winner?

I was weirdly OK when they called my name. But then I thought, ‘Oh, God, I’ve got to talk now. I’ve got to actually put some sentences together and not just stumble my way through it.’ The beauty of the kids’ award is that it was way at the end of the night, so enough people had gotten tongue tied that even if I did it was fine. But apparently I sounded like I knew what I was talking about, so that was good.

 

How hard is it to be a children’s entertainer? It seems like that adds an extra level of stress to what is already something of a stressful job, given the current music industry environment.

It makes me really appreciate going back into the adult world, but I’ve got kids, so it’s nice to do the kids’s stuff as well.

 

When you hatched the idea to make Always Be a Unicorn, was there a bit of trepidation on your part?

I wasn’t worried about recording it, because I knew who my audience was. People had asked for it, locally. I knew I was pretty safe with that. But I was surprised at how much attention it got outside of the Comox Valley.

 

It must be difficult wearing two hats. Did you ever lose sight of which audience you were writing for?

A lot of the kids’ songs are love songs, because children fall in love the same way that adults do. They just fall in love with their best friend, or their teddy bear or a piece of Lego.

 

It must have felt amazing to win a Juno operating out of your home base in Royston. Better still, the majority of your competition was based in Toronto.

We love it here. The Comox Valley has been a massive, massive part of my success. They are such a supportive community. They have really embraced what I’ve done.

 

Though supportive, did it feel like a leap of faith moving there from London, England? Talk about your sea change.

We went from a city of 10 million people to a town of 1,800 — so, yes. But we love the idea of living half an hour from the ski hill.