Roadtrippin’ in Whitecourt and chatting up Canadian country music artist Michelle Wright

Last Thursday night, the lights in the fieldhouse at the Allan and Jean Millar Centre were turned
down low as everything else was turned up: excitement, fun, and, most importantly, sound. The
Great Canadian Roadtrip is a cross-country tour featuring three well-known country acts, and
Whitecourt made the list of places it stopped to visit thanks to the Whitecourt & Woodlands
Performing Arts Society.
Michelle Wright, Doc Walker, and Jason McCoy took the stage at the AJMC at 8 pm with a
cheering crowd before them, ready to party. Singing all their hits and some new ones, the trio of
acts meshed perfectly on the stage together and put on one heck of a show.
Wright is one of Canada’s most awarded female country singers of the 90s, with many awards,
including an induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. The daughter of two
performer parents, who also worked hard as farmers, Wright grew up in a musical household
and holds fond memories of watching her parents perform on the local circuit of Merlin, Ontario,
near Chatham.
Getting on the tour bus and travelling the country with Doc Walker and Jason McCoy has been
a wonderful experience for Wright. The tour started late last year with the central leg, focused
on Ontario, and they are now making their way through the west. They are planning an eastern
leg this spring. “There’s just something special and wonderful about playing music together,
hanging out on the bus, and being with the fans. It’s a real adrenaline rush. It’s a unique
experience that not everyone gets to have in their lifetime.”
She said the camaraderie of life on the bus is like nothing else. “You’re working together
towards something, and you get up on that stage, and you get to feel that reward of the
feedback from the crowd and just the fun of being together. It’s a beautiful thing,” said Wright,
speaking to the Whitecourt Press before the show.
Seeing different generations out in the audience is another treat of tour life. “That’s what you
hope for. You put your music out there and hope that it stands the test of time and that the next
generation will come and see you. I’m certainly very thankful to be experiencing that,” said
Wright. The crowd in Whitecourt featured youths up to seniors, with everyone having a great
time.
When it comes to performing, Wright said her biggest hits remain favourites for her to sing live.
“There’s no doubt that Take It Like A Man is still one of those magic moments every night for
me, and Safe In The Arms of Love and He Would Be Sixteen and Nobody’s Girl. People just
love those. I look down at my set list and look forward to performing those songs every chance I
get.”
Hearing people sing her songs back to her from the audience is a feeling Wright said she will
never forget. “It’s a thrill. What more can I say? It’s an exciting, wonderful, rewarding, humbling
experience to have these songs that have been out there all these years and to have people
singing them back to you. It’s fabulous.”
One of her biggest hits, He Would Be Sixteen, almost didn’t happen. Wright explained that she
wasn’t sure if she should record it. “I wasn’t going to record it initially. I thought, who wants to

hear this song? But I guess it’s just so honest and an experience that a lot of women have had
to deal with. I could not have imagined that it would’ve been that special,” she said, calling the
song magical and special. The crowd in Whitecourt could be heard singing along, which Wright
thanked them for.
When asked how she felt performing in a small town versus a big city, Wright said once the
show begins, it doesn’t matter one bit. She said people come to shows to turn the world off for a
bit. “Once we are all together under that rooftop, it’s a universal thing, and we all come together
to share a night of music. I count on the fact that once the lights come down and the music
starts, the magic starts.”
Along with her biggest hits, Wright also performed some of her latest songs from her 2022
album Milestone, celebrating the 30th anniversary of her biggest hit, Take It Like A Man. Wright
said they kept everything the same from the original but freshened it up sonically. She even had
four of the six original musicians join her in the studio to record it.
The record includes new songs and some she’s kept undercover, waiting for the right time to
bring them out. “Faithless Kind was a song I’ve had for twenty years. Lovin’ This Day, I’ve also
had it for twenty years. This album combines a celebration of Take It Like A Man and taking a
moment to record songs that I loved with all my heart but couldn’t get the record labels to agree
to record them. I thought, you know what, this is my record, and I’m going to record these
songs. And I finally did.”
I’m With You, originally recorded by Delbert McClinton in 1990, caught Wright’s attention one
day on the radio. “I went, man, that song is so cool. Someday, I’ll want to record that song. So, I
recorded it on this record.” Wright said she couldn’t pick a favourite if she tried. The first single,
Small Town, takes her back to her roots, growing up in a small farming community. “It’s perfect
for anybody from a small town,” she said. The song even samples the Canadian anthem and
mentions the Stanley Cup, which the Whitecourt crowd cheered over.
Wright said passion is the key to those looking to follow their dreams, be it music or something
else. Wright, who crisscrossed North America for nine years, performing six nights a week,
before she landed her record deal, knows a thing or two about having passion. “If you feel a
calling, follow it and see where it leads you, but be prepared to be very focused and to work
very hard and do what it takes.”
Wright said she hoped everyone enjoyed the concert and was grateful to see folks dancing and
singing along. “Thank you, Whitecourt, so much for being there with us, me and the boys in the
Great Canadian Roadtrip, Doc Walker and Jason McCoy and myself. Thank you, it was
magnificent!”
TAGLINE:
Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Michelle Wright, along with Jason McCoy and Doc
Walker, was in town last week for the Great Canadian Roadtrip tour. Their Thursday night show
at the AJMC blew the roof off the place as attendees enjoyed songs from all three acts, with
many dancing the night away on the dance floor.