‘Healing is not always pretty’: Crystal Shawanda returns to Sudbury with a message of healing and family

Juno-nominated singer-songwriter Crystal Shawanda brings her raw, grief-inspired album Sing Pretty Blues to Sudbury’s Knox Hall on Friday.

Singer-songwriter Crystal Shawanda is set to take the stage in Sudbury for a performance of her new, Juno-nominated album.

Sing Pretty Blues is Shawanda’s first album in three years.

“It’s got a lot of life in it,” she said, speaking with CTV News on Monday.

“You know, the past three years, a lot happened. Good, bad and everything in between.”

Shawanda said, when the album was first in production, her manager, Rob Pioli, passed away.

“I worked with him for 14 years, which is like a lifetime in the music business,” she said.

“It was a lot to take on, a lot to process. And then, you know, also having loved ones who were fighting addiction and, you know, loving someone who’s going through that. So, some of the songs definitely, definitely reflect that.”

‘Dirty’ is one song that reflects that pain, written by Mitzi Dawn and Charlie Worsham.

Shawanda said the pair first presented her with the song 15 years ago, but decided to wait to record it after she transitioned from country to blues music. Then, a month after the song was released, her nephew passed away.

“I kept getting messages from fans who said that the song helped them so much and it helped them, you know, come to terms with their loved one, help them understand them better,” she said.

“That’s when I knew I had to start singing this song again.”

Shawanda said creating the music video became a form of healing and therapy.

“I went to a place where he played as a little boy, and I sang the song over and over again and made peace with everything, and I let him go, and I put that emotion into the video,” she said.

“It was just about me dealing with my grief and me coming back to who he really was, because their loved ones are more than their struggles.”

The title track is about changing the narrative. Shawanda said the idea for it came from when a photographer told her she didn’t “sing pretty.”

“I could have been I could have been hurt by that. I could have been offended,” she said. “But he’s right, I don’t sing pretty. I work way too hard to sing pretty when I’m on stage, you know, scrunch up my face and I don’t really care what I look like because it’s not just a show. You know? Every song I’m singing, I’m healing a different part of myself.”

While she now lives in Nashville, Shawanda grew up in Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island and has connections to Sudbury. She said she is looking forward to performing in Nickel City this Friday.

“I performed at the Christmas telethon several times when I was a kid,” she said.

“I’ve had family who has lived there through the years and who still live there and a lot of folks are from my whole hometown. I have all these different connections.”

She will be performing alongside her husband Dewayne Strobel and her nine-year-old daughter, Zhaawande, affectionately known as ‘Zaza.’

“I’ll be singing my heart out, which is my favourite thing to do on stage for my fans,” Shawanda said.

“But to look to my side and see my husband playing his guitar, playing his heart out and then to look down and see our daughter singing her heart out.”

The Juno-nominated artist said ‘Zaza’ has grown up on the stage, on the road and in recording studios.

“Music comes very naturally to her,” said Shawanda.

The mother told CTV News that Zaza loves dancing and singing, and that she performs two solo songs every night. She is homeschooled but also attends the dance academy in Nashville.

Shawanda said she always tells her to “have fun.”

“Every night is a surprise. What she does, what she says, you know, we’re watching her bloom and evolve as an artist herself and as a performer, and it’s quite exciting to watch,” she said.

Zaza is set to release her own music later this year. Shawanda is also in the midst of creating an Americana album.

Shawanda and her family will be performing at the Knox Hall in Sudbury this Friday at 7 p.m. with a portion of the proceeds going to the Sudbury Food Bank.

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