Travelling Mabels close to sellout

Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor

 

Those hoping to catch the Travelling Mabels at the Strathmore Travelodge on Oct. 17 better order tickets quick.
“We are almost 75 per cent sold out,” said organizer Linda Storksen.
The Travelling Mabels were voted the Academy of Country Music Awards 2011 Group of the Year.
Suzanne Levesque characterized their music as a little bit of everything. She said they would play accordion, acoustic and bass guitar and piano as well as sing in three-part harmony.
“We play country, folk and acoustic rock and sing three-part female harmony,” said Levesque.
The group is partly comprised of Levesque and her mother Eva, who writes many songs, and their stage name is derived from a song she wrote about a bluetic hound dog.
The two met their other band mates, Lana and Keith Floen, at the Canadian Country Music Awards (CCMA) and jammed with them at a Royalty records party, which led to them forming the Travelling Mabels.
Lana has opened for some famous stage artists such as Shania Twain, Tom Jackson and Ian Tyson.
Keith was nominated at the 2012 CCMA as the Keyboard Player of the Year. He is a jack-of-all-trades, taking care of the road management, stage and lighting, as well as helping the group cut their album in the recording studio in the Floen home.
They have two albums and are working on their third.
They will have CD’s for sale at the Oct. 17 performance or they can be purchased through iTunes or cdbaby.com.
“If you are planning on coming out, we know you’ll enjoy yourself,” said Levesque. “We get comments from our patrons all the time about Eva. She tends to keep it light and tell corny jokes. People say they feel uplifted when they leave.”