After its release on July 28, Sydney Mae’s first album broke iTunes top 20 list of country music albums in just four days.
The 15-year-old country singer/songwriter and guitarist has been performing since she was a toddler thanks to her family’s involvement with the Peace Country Gospel Jamboree in Beaverlodge, Alta. Her first album is titled And So I Sing features five original songs
“My grandparents were one of three couples that put on the jamboree and my mom sang at it. The year I was three years old they had people like Ricky Skaggs come out and Paul Brandt. My mom sang before Paul Brandt and she brought my sister and I up on stage with her and that was my first time performing and I’ve been in love with it ever since,” Mae explained.
Mae’s music has been described as inspirational and her vocals as smoldering.
“I like to focus more on my songwriting and story-telling through my songs … I pull inspiration from different experiences I’ve been through or stories I’ve heard from people around me and things that are affecting my life – there’s a lot to pull from,” Mae said.
Though it’s her first album, Mae has been songwriting for years and has penned a collection of more thsn 100 songs. She said the experience of creating the album was an invaluable one as it gave her studio time.
“My producer is Mike Little and I don’t have enough words to explain how amazing he is. He definitely took me under his wing on this project – he made such an impossible thing possible,” Mae said.
“My album features a full-production song that’s going to be a radio single and the rest are singer/songwriter songs so pretty acoustic – they’re made for that purpose of being able to tell a story and touch people’s lives,” Mae explained.
Mae couldn’t be happier with how her album is performing so far.
“It’s doing really well and I’m really, really proud that people are enjoying it. It’s really exciting for me - it’s my first EP (extended play) and it’s the first opportunity I’ve had to get my music out to people,” Mae said.
Mae recently performed at the Big Valley Jamboree alongside another Cochrane country musician Kaleigh Jo Kirk. Mae was the closing performance on the ATB Financial Homegrown Talent Stage on July 28 and July 29.
With the release of her new album, Mae hopes to book more gigs and spread her music as far as she can. For more information about Sydney Mae and her upcoming performances visit sydneymaemusic.com. And So I Sing is currently available for purchase on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play.
