Calgary songwriter Toni Vere returns with 'Picture of You' after a decade away

Toni Vere wrote her first song at age 12 in Warburg, Alberta, a town of 450. The townspeople were suitably impressed by the girl in the green corner house. "It seemed so surreal that this kid wrote a song. I got so much positive reinforcement," she recalls.

Vere grew up as a Prairie "oil brat," moving from small town to small town with her father's work — Oxbow, Saskatchewan to Warburg to Gull Lake, Saskatchewan and back to Vauxhall, Alberta in the 1960s and 1970s. Music and songwriting were a way to combat loneliness as the perpetual new kid. She took music lessons, wrote songs on piano, and at 18 entered a radio contest in Lethbridge where she was crowned the "youngest songwriter with the most songs."

But the path from 18 to now has not been linear. While she made a living in music for much of her adult life "wrapped up in the cover band scene" in Lethbridge, other demands intervened: work, family, marriages, mental health challenges, and a persistent self-doubt. From 2010 to 2018, she "lost her courage" to engage in the music scene. When COVID lockdowns came in 2020, something shifted. "During COVID, I built myself a home studio," Vere says. "All I did from 2020 to 2023, when I re-emerged in the local scene, was write and record myself: Full production, as much as I could do. I truly found my voice in that process."

The result is "Picture of You", her first recording in 10 years — 10 assured tracks that showcase her chops as a songwriter. Recorded mostly in Calgary with co-producers Jay and Sean Weber of the band Wheels, the album spans nostalgia-and-piano-fueled title ballad; "Average Joe", a wistful steel-guitar-sweetened ode to her small-town upbringing; "Hashmagandy", a bluesy and playful Lucinda Williams-esque track that uses the humble stew of the title as a metaphor for life; and "Don't Shoot the Dog", a fiddle-filled labour song reflecting her day job in health and safety.

The album also carries political songs. "Bonnie", an acoustic ballad, honors Bonnie Critchley, who ran as an independent against federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre when he parachuted into the Battle River-Crowfoot riding.

Vere holds her record launch at Ironwood Stage and Grill on Sunday. For someone who once felt lost from the age of 18 onward, the return to music feels hard-won. "I don't look outward for blame," she says. "I own my mistakes. Through COVID, I uncovered what it was I needed to uncover to move past all of that. I know I am following my truth."