SYDNEY, N.S. - When you only have 20 minutes to show what may be the most important audience of your career what you can do,
it had better be the best 20 minutes you've got.
Singer Patricia Murray recognizes that and at her East Coast Music Awards showcase Friday night in Sydney she did everything right.
The Summerside native kicked off the showcase series with a dramatic set that struck all the right notes.
In that short space of time the effervescent young artist managed to display both the range of her material and the power with which
she is capable of delivering that material.
Murray, who released her first solo album, Portrait, last summer, chose her material well, drawing from both her Celtic songbook, a
particularly appropriate choice for a showcase in Cape Breton, and more traditional folk sources.
She embraced each and every note of her performance with as much passion and intensity as she could possibly muster and was in
turn embraced warmly by her audience who favoured her with an overwhelmingly positive response.
Murray received superb backing from a fine trio of musicians that included Island cellist Rick Tersteeg, fiddler Kim Vincent from the
College of Piping in Summerside and acclaimed Halifax-based guitarist Dave MacIssac, a three-time ECMA winner who was nominated
again this year in the category of roots traditional solo artist.
They laid down a solid foundation for Murray to build on, although there were moments when Tersteeg's cello was lost in the mix.
One nearby musician with some years under his belt made the observation that the sound technician on the board console likely hadn't
had that much occasion to work with cellists prior to Murray's showcase.
But that didn't seem to matter much to her audience, and speaking afterwards Murray said she was pleased with the way her showcase
had gone and with the response she received.
Murray shared the bill Friday night with several of the East Coast's most promising artists, a diverse line-up that included a smattering
of everything from the country sounds of John Curtis Sampson and the pop music of the Carol Ritchie Band to the eclectic groove of
Carlo Spinazzola and the rock, funk and ska mix served up by Timber.
