#1 - What is the one album (or ep or song) that you think should be the very next musical thing that everyone presses play on the next time they find themselves thinking “what should I listen to now”?

I’ve been swooning over BC artist Ora Cogan this last little bit and had the opportunity to watch her band play last weekend at Woodstove Festival, which did not disappoint. Her latest album Formless is a work of art you want to fall into, and just keep floating in.

Nicole Atkins is an artist I had to stop everything I was doing recently to find out everything I could about her in the moment. She collaborated with members of the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on her last album Italian Ice, and does all her own visual art too, which I always appreciate cause I like to paint and do the same.

#2 - What is the one movie or tv show that you think should be next in everybody’s metaphorical Netflix queue (ie. it doesn’t have to be available on Netflix or even available on streaming, just a movie or tv show that comes to mind when thinking about what you've enjoyed enough to want to tell someone else to go check it out)?

I am obsessed with time travel and supernatural thrillers, and more recently vikings for whatever reason. Well no, because of Uhtred in The Last Kingdom. I definitely binge-watched that waaay too fast.

The OA quickly became a cult classic when it was dropped by Netflix in its final season - which the internet can’t get over. Nor me.

1899 (made by the creators of Dark, also worth checking out). This was filmed in the same way as The Mandalorian with giant screens around the actors emulating their surroundings. Their casting was done from different countries to really match what it would feel like to have different immigrants traveling across the ocean together in 19th-century Europe.

They had something like over 10 different languages and translators on set, all these things really added authenticity to the performance and concept. Then the story just gets strange. I work as a voice actor when not doing music so I find all this stuff super interesting.

#3 - I (and by “I” I mean “whoever is reading this”) am going to the local book store (or maybe the local library) to find the very next book that I will be putting some valuable ‘me time' aside for. Which book would you get, if you were me (and, I suppose, if you hadn’t already read what you’re about to suggest so you could get to read it again for the first time)?

I took a pretty deep dive into my Russian Doukhobor ancestry this last year through a Canada Arts Council project and wrote an entire album inspired by my family and our background. Much of these songs I’ve been performing through the Kootenays as part of my solo set and just figuring out ways to express these little pieces that are a big part of why I’m a musician today. ‘Negotiating Buck Naked’ was one of the most recent books published on the conflict resolution that happened between the Doukhobors and the government and was written by the former treaty negotiator at the time. It's super fascinating and it answered a lot of questions I had in regard to some of the narratives that got lost or forgotten in the wild history of our area.

The Descendants by Robert Chursinoff is another great novel I highly recommend. He grew up in Castlegar too and went on to have a career as a touring musician but wrote this epic historical fiction with characters from the Doukhobor community and Hells Angels. A must-read!

#4 - Because the people who frequent mountain towns often like to jump around the map (often to other mountowns), I consider the HWY 95EH "local area" to be anywhere that someone living in the Kimberley/Cranbrook area would consider driving to — SO, WITH THAT "LOCAL AREA" CAVEAT IN MIND — please provide some of your top personal recommendations for things to do / experience in the "local area".

We had such a great time on my last East Kootenay Tour…

Erin at Grist & Mash welcomed us in like family and I’ll be back again no question just for the local meat pies they carry. Yes we got a picture.

#5 - And, finally… please give one completely unaided recommendation that you think everyone should start doing / using / eating / thinking / quitting / etc-ing to make their lives a little bit more better / bearable (because if it's worked a bit for you, maybe it'll work a bit for someone else).

Unpopular opinion, unless I’m on tour... half-caff at home has been great for my nervous system. We buy a bag of decaf and full to make our own because it can be hard to find sometimes. 🙃

OK folks, there you have it. Things that Sarah Orton thinks you should consider incorporating into whatever you get up to during the 9-to-5’s and 5-to-9’s of living, whether you are currently in a mountown somewhere in the highway 95/a area or not (although, question 4 is pretty ‘regionally specific’… so you might need to come swing by the Kootenays to fully experience that tip, eh)!

But before you log off and go start thinking about de-caffeinating your life, make sure to follow Sarah on the INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK + also give her latest single ‘Same Same’ a listen below:

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…and if you like what you’re hearing, go do some further sarah-orton-flavoured audio exploring over on the Bandcamp / Spotify / Youtube (+ Sarah is also in a band called Penny Shades).

And then don’t forget that you had a chance to catch Sarah Orton performing in person back on Friday, November 17th, 2023 at Key City Theatre for “A Night Of Rock n’ Roll” (event poster below for a possible social media nostalgia booster for those that attended):

(and also worth noting that Sarah will be back in the KimCran area on November 30th to sing with Moontricks, also at Key City Theatre)

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JEREMY / @HI54LOFI

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