Lake La Biche – Calgary-based singer/songwriter Sonia Deleo will take the stage at the Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park campground amphitheater on July 13 for the 2024 Music in the Forest series concert.
For Deleo, who has been performing for decades, music has been a lifelong passion, beginning as a child singing in the church where she grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
“Music has been in my blood and bones since I was a child,” she told Lakeland This Week. “Music is my diary, it’s how I record and process the world around me, and it’s how I tell stories that hopefully others can relate to.”
Deleo describes her style as follows: She writes folk, rock and soul music “with bite”.
Her influences include Fiona Apple, Nina Simone, Ani DiFranco and Sinead O’Connor.
Deleo often tours with her band The New Dads. Her sound, she explained, revolves largely around vocals and lyrics, which she said are rockier when she plays with the full band and a bit more folk/pop when she’s performing solo.
The New Dads consists of Deleo, her younger brother Vinny on drums, Rauth Clement on bass and James Pendleton on guitar. As for the name itself, Deleo explains that the band played a concert a few years ago and each of the men had just become fathers for the first time, so the name The New Dads was born.
“It was a quirky joke at first… but it stuck, and I love it and people love it. So no matter who plays with us, it’s The New Dads for the foreseeable future,” she said, smiling.
When Deleo comes to Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park on July 13, she will perform solo. It won’t be her first stop in Lac La Biche.
In early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Deleo played a concert in the area and is eagerly awaiting her return.
“I’m looking forward to the intimate atmosphere of the venue and will be telling stories, chatting with the audience and playing new, old and unreleased music,” she said.
In 2022, Deleo released her debut album Love Notes to the Monsters. Some of the album’s songs, “Monsters” and “Walk Until,” were the most popular among fans. The first of these tracks gained attention on the radio.
“‘Monsters’ has been played a lot on the radio at CBC, which is nice,” she said, adding that the song with the spooky name has also made a comeback on other radio programs around Halloween.
When asked if fans can expect a new album in the future, Deleo says she is constantly working on new material. In the last few months, she has released two singles and another album is on her to-do list. Currently, Deleo is writing a one-woman musical for a theatre company in Calgary. She will perform this musical in the group’s spring 2025 season and hopes to tour Canada with it afterward. This musical, she says, was inspired by the song “Two Moons” on her album.
Although Deleo works from home a lot, she also rents a studio with a few other Calgary musicians in a shared space called Pocono House. Deleo frequently collaborates with other musicians, some of whom contributed background vocals to her latest single, “Remind Me That I’m Crazy.”
“It’s an amazing community of creators and I love being around and inspired by other people working on their art,” she explained.
Summer stages
As for summer touring, the upcoming season looks “pretty decent and varied,” Deleo said, adding that her band will be touring all over the province this summer.
In addition to the Music in the Forest performance, she will be performing at The Aviary in Edmonton on July 4 and later in September at the Jasper Folk Festival. Deleo will also be playing two solo sets at the Canmore Folk Festival from August 3-5. Deleo enjoys collaborating and writing songs with other musicians. She also takes time out of her regular performance schedule each year to give back with her music. That might be a performance to raise money for pediatric cancer or a free show for displaced refugee families whose homes burned down.
“The humanity of it all is important to me,” she explained. “People are important to me. I’m very grateful to be a part of it.”
Music Mom
When she’s not performing or writing new songs, the mother of two teenage girls enjoys the sun while walking, gardening, cycling or doing yoga.
“I love watching their rugby and volleyball games and enjoy my role as the loud mom on the sidelines,” she says with a laugh, adding that it will probably be a family trip to the Lac La Biche show where we will enjoy a bit of camping in addition to performing.
The Sonia Deleo show for the 2024 Music in the Forest series will be held on Saturday, July 13 at the Sir Winston Churchill Campground Ampitheatre. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and music begins at 7:30 p.m. For more information and tickets, visit the Alberta Parks website.
