Short (50 words)

Songwriter, poet and ironic social commentator evalyn parry is gifted with a sharp pen, a quirky musical sensibility and a wicked sense of humour. “Equally funny and dangerous” (CBC Radio), “parry breathes new life into the folk tradition with her politics, passion and poetry” (Penguin Eggs). Evalyn’s outspoken, personal and political creations hold out a powerful vision of social change, while her irreverent wit holds nothing sacred. Her newest CD is entitled Small Theatres. evalynparry.com

Longer (150 words)

“Equally funny…and dangerous”  CBC Radio

evalyn parry is a critically-acclaimed spoken word artist, songwriter and theatrical creator based in Toronto. From 19^th century cycling heroines to 21^st century sailors; from “feminine protection” to bottled water to the quest for the Northwest Passage, evalyn’s outspoken creations hold out a powerful vision of social and personal change, while her irreverent wit holds nothing sacred.  Accompanying herself on guitar, water bottle, shruti box and loop pedals, parry shoots from the hip and aims for the heart.  Fierce, funny, poignant and provocative, she has been charming audiences at storytelling, poetry, music and theatre festivals from coast to coast of North America.  Her work has been widely broadcast and anthologized; she has released three CD’s, written and produced five plays, and her latest musical performance project SPIN (starring The Bicycle as Muse, Musical Instrument, and Agent of Social Change) will premiere at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto in March 2011. evalynparry.com

Ridiculously long (500 words)

Songwriter, poet and ironic social commentator evalyn parry is gifted with a sharp pen, a quirky musical sensibility and a wicked sense of humour. “Equally funny and dangerous” (CBC Radio), “parry breathes new life into the folk tradition with her politics, passion and poetry” (Penguin Eggs). Evalyn’s outspoken, personal and political creations hold out a powerful vision of social change, while her irreverent wit holds nothing sacred.

One minute she’s singing a ridiculously cheery countrified number about her stalker ex-girlfriend; the next, she’s performing a powerful spoken word piece about “the bottled water scam” and its devastating environmental consequences. Moments later, she gives the audience goose-bumps with a poignant true-story song about a Great Lakes sailor reflecting on the miracle of his life after surviving terminal cancer and visiting the watery grave of the Edmund Fitzgerald on the 29th anniversary of its sinking. She rounds out the set with a hilarious song written from the perspective of a maxi pad.

Her third release, Small Theatres, is a double CD package from Borealis Records, featuring one disc devoted entirely to her musical offerings and a second devoted to her performance poetry. Produced with John Switzer, musical accompaniment on both discs is provided by a host of special guests, including parry’s brother, Richard Reed Parry (The Arcade Fire), Sarah Neufeld and Pietro Amato (The Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre) award-winning vocalist and bassist Suzie Vinnick, violinist Anne Lindsay (Blue Rodeo), two-time Juno-winning roots artist Jenny Whiteley, and legendary Canadian roots musician Ken Whiteley.

parry grew up in a family involved in a wide and esoteric variety of traditional arts and culture, from Morris dancing to the staging of mediaeval pageants, singing sea shanties to playing the Appalachian dulcimer and the Anglo concertina (yes, the same one concertina which Parry now plays). She credits her unusual upbringing with sparking her passionate pursuit of the power of words; storytelling; live performance and folk music’s capacity to both preserve cultural identities and to ignite social change.

evalyn’s recent performance highlights include The Yukon International Storytelling Festival, The Sound Symposium in St John’s NFLD, Hillside Festival, The Calgary International Spokenword Festival, The Lincoln Centre Out of Doors Roots of American Music Festival in New York City, The Banff Centre, and many more. Her spoken word commentaries have been featured on CBC radio and television; her spokenword videos featured on BRAVO, and both her previous releases enjoyed critical acclaim and charted on national campus and community radio.

When not on tour with her own work, evalyn is the Director of the Young Creators Unit at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto, a program dedicated to the development of young, queer-identified artists; she was the recipient of the 2009 Ken MacDougall Award for Upcoming Director in Toronto, and she is a founding member of the Independent Aunties, with whom she has co-authored and performed five plays including the Dora-nominated Breakfast (Buddies in Bad Times 2010, Theatre Centre 2008) and the multiple-award-winning, fringe favorite Clean Irene & Dirty Maxine. evalyn’s latest musical performance project SPIN (starring The Bicycle as Muse, Musical Instrument, and Agent of Social Change) will premiere at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto in March 2011. evalynparry.com