Ray Gibson, Cloverdale Rodeo, Alice McKay Building, May 17-19 at 8 p.m.
ALL it took was one Shania Twain concert and Ray Gibson knew what she wanted to be when she grew up.
"As soon as I saw her sing all her songs and perform live I knew I wanted to be a singer," she says.
Gibson taught herself to play piano and guitar and although it is still early days in her career the Maple Ridge teen has already performed on CTV Morning Live, opened for Tyler Ward and caught the attention of Carrie Underwood.
This weekend she will perform three shows at the Cloverdale Rodeo.
"I'm incredibly excited. It's going to be my first time headlining a show," Gibson says. "I'll have a full band and we will be playing all originals, including a new song of mine that can be heard on the next album."
Although this is Gibson's first time performing at a rodeo, the young country singer has been to a few as a spectator.
"The last time I was at a rodeo was probably before my grandpa passed when I was fairly young. He was a true cowboy, and he made sure to have the family and I come up to Summerland to go to the rodeos that would take place in the summer. So, I am looking forward to experiencing a rodeo again," Gibson says.
In March, Gibson released her first EP titled Ray Gibson, featuring eight co-written songs.
"On this album, I wanted to write songs that covered a wide variety of emotions," she says. "You'll be able to hear songs about love, heartbreak, happiness and some very upbeat country songs as well."
Gibson says the most challenging part about coming up with the album was figuring out which songs to include.
"Since it's not a full album we couldn't use 15 songs, we had to limit it to eight. That was probably the hardest decision to make," Gibson says. "We're going to come out with another EP in a couple of months, some of the songs that we didn't put on this first EP will be on the next EP."
The Maple Ridge secondary school graduate has previously attended songwriting workshops in Los Angeles. She also shot her cover of "We are Young" by Fun, in Venice Beach, Calif., and currently has 179, 574 views on YouTube.
Gibson says she's inspired to write music from what happens in her day to day life.
"Just day-to-day stuff that happens to me or things that I see happen to other people," she says.
"When I go down into the sessions they ask what I want to write about and I tell them whatever I am thinking that day. Sometimes it's people that have brought me down, or relationships."
"I find it hard to write about stuff I don't relate to. That's why I try to keep most of my songs real and right from the heart," she adds.
Last year Gibson performed alongside Aaron Pritchett at Rockin' River Music Fest in Langley, and has also spent time co-writing with the country singer.
"It has been great so far. It's more than what I could have asked for. Aaron helps me out on so many different levels with writing, stage presence and confidence," she says. "He's a great musician, mentor, and a friend to me and I appreciate all that he does."
Gibson will be returning to Los Angeles in late June to finish working on her next album, which she plans to release later this year.
"We will start writing in June and I think we will have the EP out hopefully for September or October."
Gibson has covered a wide range of artists including Carrie Underwood, Carly Rae Jepsen, Garth Brooks, Fun, Foster the People and Nicki Minaj. "I just wanted to take a song that isn't acoustic and slow it down and turn it into something that is my own," she says. "Usually my covers are country or a bit slower but I kind of wanted to do something different."
She says that she picks covers mainly based on what she really likes and not on what everyone else is covering.
"I just hear songs that I like and I get obsessed with it. Then I play it on my laptop over and over again. Then I go on the piano and figure it out," Gibson says.
The Maple Ridge secondary graduate got a big boost last April when Carrie Underwood posted Gibson's cover of her song "Good Girl." She was at the zoo when she found out that her cover had caught the eye of her idol. "I don't even know if there are words to explain how excited I was," Gibson says. "When Carrie Underwood posted my cover of her it really helped me get a lot of followers on Twitter."
Gibson's other musical influences include Taylor Swift, Hunter Hayes and Miranda Lambert.
"Hunter Hayes is such a huge musical influence. Not only is he an amazing singer, but he also plays a number of different instruments as well," Gibson says. "All of Taylor Swift's albums are filled with songs that are so relatable. She is an outstanding writer."
Gibson currently has over 3,000 subscribers and 482,000 views on her YouTube channel. Her management discovered her through YouTube.
"YouTube is the biggest help I've had so far," Gibson says. "YouTube is the main reason I am where I am right now."
Gibson says she'd like to work on improving all areas of herself as an artist, but admits she wants to focus most on her performance skills.
"I really want to work on my performance skills and I also want to work on my voice. I want to be able to sing higher notes and sing louder," she says. "I am just going to keep on working hard and practising with my writing."
