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Bre McDaniel performing Celestial Folk songs in Cates Park

Singer/songwriter set for summer session on Saturday afternoon
Cates
Bre McDaniel takes time out from recording her new album to perform live at Cates Park on Saturday, Aug. 22 as part of a free afternoon of music also featuring West of Memphis at 2 p.m. and Fallbrigade PPP at 4 p.m.

Bre McDaniel performs in Cates Park on Saturday, Aug. 22 at 3 p.m. For more information visit musart.ca.

For singer/songwriter Bre McDaniel, music flows in the family bloodline. With a mother and two brothers who are no strangers to the stage, it's not entirely surprising she has chosen to follow in those footsteps.

Although not originally intending to become a musician, the North Vancouver native, who is performing in Cates Park on Saturday, realized in university that music just may be her destiny after all.

"My plan wasn't really to pursue the arts at all, I was really interested in art therapy and I thought I'd try out going to an art school for one year to see and then do like a real job later," says the 26-year-old with a laugh explaining it's been a slow build since she first started getting into the music scene in her college years.

"Then during school I started playing music and just getting a lot of response and discovering myself as a musician. It's just been sort of a slow build and I would just say that only this year I've really given myself permission to pursue that and see how far it can go."

Following in the footsteps of her mother, Betty McDaniel (formerly Betty Chaba), a performer of bluegrass, country and rock in both Canada and parts of the United States, McDaniel explains her family was a great source of inspiration for her when it came to her decision to pursue music.

"My mom was a singer songwriter her whole life and somehow pulled that off so that's really impacted me a lot. .. and then my brothers always played in bands too so to me it wasn't that crazy to just have music all the time or to pursue wild dreams like that."

McDaniel is looking forward to performing in Deep Cove, especially since she hasn't been doing too many live shows lately due to the work she's been putting into a new album, which comes out at the end of September.

Among the six-song line up that will be on her new album is single "Tears of St. Lawrence" that was released earlier this month and was named for the recent meteor shower, a theme she says will be focused upon in her upcoming album, Light Pollution, which comes out Sept. 27.

"That collection of songs all has to do with different kinds of light or stars or different ways of seeing so that song that's about the meteor shower fits in with the theme of what other songs are about on there," she says describing her own genre as "celestial folk," a genre she said has evolved from when she first started on the music scene.

"In the past I used to just say 'folk/pop, singer/songwriter,' but this new music that I'm putting out as well as the band that I'm building for live performances, I'm going with the title 'celestial folk,' because sonically, it's reflecting the theme of the songs."

Another single she has recently put out is "To Get To This Gate," a song she says speaks about her own life and the process of becoming a musical artist.

"That song is about the creative process or it could be about a process of recovery or it could be about the process of building a business, all different things. Sort of it's about a process that takes a really long time," she says.

"It's about acknowledging heritage and all the people that are a part of how you get to a place that you've been wanting to go and sort of being on the edge of something new and opening up yourself to recognize how many things are a part of it."

For McDaniel, a part of it is about her own heritage and the musical roots entwined about her immediate family.

"For me it's partly about my family heritage. .. and deciding to take steps to take music more seriously and pursue a career in music, where as my background is actually visual arts. That song is personally speaking to that but I hope for it to be sort of a message of release for anyone, to just keep taking steps forward and have more vision for the future because of realizing the heritage that they have behind them."

Bre McDaniel performs in the Cates Park Concert Series Aug. 22 at 3 p.m. at Cates Park in Deep Cove and is free to watch, just one of seven dates the series has run this summer. On Sunday Aug. 30 the annual Deep Cove Daze takes place at Panorama Park, which among other things will feature artisan booths, food, a beer garden and entertainment for the whole family, including a pie eating contest and cardboard kayak race. Deep Cove Daze runs from 12-8 p.m. with the opening ceremony kicking off at 11:45 a.m.