My parents, Emily of New Moon, Anne of Green Gables, the Girl of the Limberlost, halloween, the Lennon Sisters, Sunshine Superman, Dream Weaver, Catholicism, CKXL, mean girls, Mrs. Rigeaux, Jeff Butler, Ma Crosby, Camp Columbus, John Denver, the silence of the lambs, Supertramp, Fleetwood Mac, lilacs, the Boss, rednecks, the prairie, Henry David Thoreau, Brenda Anderson, Jane Siberry, Pink Floyd, Grant Reddick, Led Zeppelin, marijuana, vodka, Ted Straughan, busking, Back Alley John, Scott Peck, Ron Halliday, Michael Malcolm, AA, C.S. Lewis, Carl Sagan, Robert Frost, Tom Waits, Tom Wolfe, Neil Young, Linda McRae, William Blake, Father Bob, Rickie Lee Jones, Steve Earle, John Ellis, Thor Froslev
Leslie Alexander grew up on an Alberta sheep farm & couldn't wait to get to the city. She hit the road, made a bunch of mistakes & wrote songs about them. She wound up singing on a street corner in Vancouver for spare change. She does not consider this a mistake.
Along came producer John Ellis (Be Good Tanyas), who put together Leslie's first CD Bird in the House (1997). Tom Zillich (Westender) called this collection of tunes about street life & redemption “one of the best indie releases I've heard.” Anyway, it got Leslie out of the rain & into some coffeehouses where she set her sights on the concert stage.
Then she contributed a recording to the Grrrls with Guitars Compilation ..1(FESTIVAL 1999), jumping in a van with a bunch of other Grrrls to tour Western Canada. Noticing the disappearance of grain elevators from the prairies, Leslie began writing songs about the contrasts between her rural roots & her new home in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside that would become her second record Savage Country.
Fellow ex-busker Harry Manx turned up, fresh off the plane from India, so Leslie gave him a good dinner & a few gigs. John Ellis & Wyckham Porteous took them both into the studio to make Savage Country (PHD Canada 2002), also enlisting the help of the Be Good Tanya's Sam Parton, Angela Harris (Maximum Music) & Linda MacRae. Since then, Leslie's appeared on concert & festival stages across Canada, headlining or sharing the spotlight with the likes of Mary Gauthier, Corb Lund, & Jim Byrnes. Music writers praised Savage Country wherever she went, the record turning up on Campus, CBC, BBC, & Australian National Public Radio playlists. In 2004, Savage Country was ..4 Most Played Canadian Folk/Roots album on the CBC's Galaxie Satellite Radio. Today, Leslie's songs are receiving international airplay on her own recordings as well as cuts with other artists and have been licensed to film and television.
Invited to open shows for Barney Bentall in support of his upcoming record on True North (Spring 2006), before long Leslie became a part of his acoustic-based trio, playing banjo, guitar & piano. Pre-production with John Ellis & Wyckham Porteous for her third record was underway when Jane Siberry popped out of the crowd one night & offered to help, contributing vocal tracks & inviting Leslie to open shows for her. Barney & Dustin Bentall also pitched in, as well as folk/roots Sony/BMG artist Jeremy Fisher.
A collection of songs about life, death & dandilions in the concrete, the Garden in the Stones has generated some pre-release buzz as two of its tracks advanced to the semi-finals of the International Song Contest & two others were chosen to be featured on compilation CDs representing Sonicbids & the Pacific Music Industry Association.
Leslie is currently planning to sow seeds across Canada with her first coast-to-coast tour in support of Garden in the Stones. Performing solo or with her band The Wild Rose Hippies featuring John Ellis on pedal steel, banjo, & guitars, Leslie's unique perspective, songs & stories combine to create a show that moves from pin-drop intimacy to foot-stompin', flat-out folk rock'n roll, taking you all the beautiful & terrifying places she's been.
Hope all is going well with your music career. I just wanted to invite you to check me out for your next recording project. If you have any questions E Mail me at LonnieRatliff@gmail.com
Ciao,Leslie Thank you for the add and the friendship. you are very good, I like your stupendous music a lot,and stupendous voice. compliments ..really. you are one of my prefeitis, I feel great admiration for you, talk to you soon, and all of my best wishes to always listen to your good music. all the best.. from italy..and good week neal
Hi Leslie, How is the spring in Canada? You're on tour. That's great, but unfortunatly not in Europe... I hope to hear some new tunes from you! Love and peace! Peter
Hi Les....I do enjoy your music and can hear a Neil Young influence within it. Can't go wrong with that and keep burning a candle for this wonderful world....Ken
Hey Leslie Alexander, was listening to you on my i pod yesterday while wallking round Camden, Gonna build a Garden... hee well, you know the rest. Keep discovering new aspects of your brilliance, kinda infinite your writing is... Please give us another album soon!!! xo
whats up? i found this site and thought i'd tell everyone, it shows you if anyone at school likes you. i dont know how it works but its really cool, it told me a couple different people who have crushes on me. you gotta try it!
thanks again for everything. your house is beautiful and warm like you and you make a mean quinoa salad. i still have the "i am not blue" chorus in my head. :)
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