(Media Release)
Last time award-winning Americana singer Eve Selis performed
at Sage Gateshead was in 2016. But when a series of tragedies struck not long
after her return home, she became incapable of listening to music never mind
singing.
Thankfully, with determination and positivity, Eve
will be joining a special line-up at this year’s SummerTyne Americana Festival
and will once again be entertaining some of her greatest fans.
The Festival runs from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 July and is in its 14th year. k.d. lang is the headline opening act
for the Friday whilst Strictly Country featuring Eve Selis, The
Wandering Hearts, Lauren Alaina and Catherine McGrath will headline the
Saturday night. Kiefer Sutherland
will close the weekend on Sunday night.
Strictly
Country, has been specially curated by SummerTyne Americana Festival with a
selection of the best current country music from both sides of the pond. As
part of this, Eve Selis will return and sing music from her previous four
albums as well as new emotionally charged songs.
Eve,
from San Diego, told Sage Gateshead how recent personal events have had a huge
impact on her music.
“Two
weeks after I returned from my tour, my husband had a seizure when driving and
later we found out he had brain cancer,” she said.
“We’ve
been going through all of that with chemotherapy and radiation, have survived
18 months of MRIs which show stable and no change, and that’s all we’re focused
on right now, hoping that there’s a cure."
“That
stopped me working. My husband needed me to be here. I wanted to be here. I
can’t even remember what I was worried about the day before. The things that
were meaningful before it happened are meaningless now. Perspective is ‘hey we
may not live until we’re 100 years old and die in our sleep’. You focus more on
being more present in your life."
“One
of my brothers is in stage four of colon cancer which happened three months
after."
“Three
months after that my other brother died tragically. Life happens and every one
of us has gone through tragedy and every one of us knows about pain and loss.
I’m now on a mission through music to help share what I’ve been through and my
healing process in the hopes it might help someone else. It’s what music is for
all of us. Music is very healing. It’s why you listen to a song over and over
when you’re sad ‘cos it makes you cry and then you feel better and then you
move on from there."
“When
my brother died I couldn’t even listen to music for a month. It was so painful.
When I finally started writing again it came from a space of healing for myself
and I was like ‘I gotta get this out and I’m figuring out what’s helping me’. No
one teaches you how to grieve."
“A
lot of the songs I’ve been writing come from a dark place and some from a light
place and I’ll be sharing those. My approach was about how to make any of this
matter. What I’ve discovered is how healing music is and how music gives you
permission to feel.”
At
this year’s SummerTyne Americana Festival, Eve will be performing for the first
time in Sage One where she will be accompanied by a special SummerTyne
choir:
“Something
I have decided for myself is to say yes to everything that makes sense and
gives me peace. So, when they asked me if I wanted to sing with the choir, oh
my gosh, absolutely.”
SummerTyne
attracts visitors from across the world for a celebration of Americana music in
and around the spectacular setting of Sage Gateshead, on the south bank of the
river Tyne. SummerTyne is a must for all music fans, bringing together
established and new artists from America the UK and beyond. With two popular free
stages outdoors and indoors (on from 12pm each day), music-filled river cruises,
films, family activity and a food village all make-up the festival weekend.
You
can listen to the full interview on the podcast via Sage Gateshead’s website,
Spotify, Acast, iTunes, Soundcloud and YouTube. https://bit.ly/2XyvYFf
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