High Level Bridge Presents a High Performance Concert

High Level Bridge Presents a High Performance Concert

Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent

Nick and Jennifer Guiton are a married couple who reside in Chipman and perform acoustic, country, gospel, bluegrass and roots music together.

On Oct. 29, this duo kicked off their Love Makes Things Grow Concert Series tour at Vegreville United Church with a concert which was well received by 20 people who attended it.

Jennifer said, “We were born very far apart. Nick was born in Paris and I was born in Edmonton.

For both of us music has been a lifelong journey.

Nick started on the piano at four-yearsold and took up the bass guitar at age 11. He took part in school band on the trumpet and formed a rock band (playing bass guitar) with his friends in his teens. He was surrounded by music growing up so naturally he brought it with him to his adult life.

Post-secondary, he studied music at Selkirk College in Nelson, BC and played in a band during his time there. After college he formed his first professional band, Friction Unlimited, being the bass player, songwriter and band manager. They received moderate success after recording a full-length original album, playing live shows and getting local radio play.

Jennifer and Nick Guiton perform.

(Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

After moving to Alberta, the band dispersed and Nick continued his musical journey as a solo act for several years, honing his song writing and acoustic guitar skills. On the acoustic journey he also found a love for Dobro guitar and banjo and plays them all in our duet “High Level Bridge”. On top of that, he sings as well!

I, also started on piano early in life, and have been singing as long as I can remember. In my teens I played the flute and continued to sing in school, at church and in the community. I studied voice in the classical vein at Malaspina University in BC after high school. I switched gears to contemporary studies at Grant MacEwan in Edmonton after moving to Alberta.

In my teens my grandfather introduced me to the country sound and I started learning guitar. After college I returned to private study in classical voice and was performing regularly in festivals and concerts. I also continued writing my own music and singing folk music by way of busking (street performing) and playing at coffee houses. My love of country and contemporary overlapped with that and all of my experience came together in my first full length album “Sacred”, recorded at DanLyn Studios in Sherwood Park, is ready to go and set to be released next month.

I met Nick during the recording process and he jumped in and sang on a few of the tunes. We realized that we were on the same page musically and found ourselves playing music together almost immediately.

Our love for music and each other connected us and we formed our duet ‘High Level Bridge.’ We have both always loved performing and singing for an audience. The best part about playing music is the sharing with others.

We are inspired to continue performing and writing music by each other, by other musicians we look up to and the people who love and support our music.

We do write our own songs. We had our own songs when we met and have since co-wrote many more.

We use music to express ourselves by sharing our original music and lyrics with others.

Our daily lives really revolve around music. Beyond practicing, writing, arranging, planning and playing shows. I also teach music lessons and Nick works in the Entertainment Industry.

The music genres we perform were chosen based on an ever growing love of acoustic styles. We also putting our own twist on old songs that have great qualities but can be accessible to a new generation.

We love listening to music and have a huge music collection. It inspires us to do our music.”

People in the audience gave their impression of the music. Lorne Fill said, “Their sound holds my entire musical attention.”

Irene Sabados said they have beautiful voices and gave a beautiful performance. Antoinette Fortier commented that the concert was energetic and spirit filled.