Getting ready to step on stage, she knew performing was nothing new for her. The size of the crowd may be one of her bigger recent shows. The venue, elegant, clean, and indoors, with a capacity for 250 people, looked to be full. She knew her friends and family had come out to support her, but that, too, wasn’t causing the moment’s anxiety.
She had practiced and practiced, maybe squeezing in a few more rehearsals just to be sure. And her band was more than capable of backing her up.

So what caused the jitters? Who knows for sure. Still, they sure didn’t stop Clarendon-native Julie Corrigan from stepping up and singing her heart out to the RBC Bluesfest attendees at the Barney Danson Theatre on July 12.
“I was nervous,” said Corrigan. “I was probably having anxiety about it for a month beforehand.”
But speaking to her a few days after the show, it’s back to business as usual. The nerves are gone, she got a chance to catch some other performances during the festival and now she can focus on whatever she decides her next effort will be.
And with her talent, her blend of roots, country, pop and blues vibes, she’ll have plenty of options for where she goes in the years to come.
In the meantime however, she’ll be happy to know a nearby road leads to home.
There’s a town that I’m from, not far away
Just down the road up the 148
These are the opening lyrics to one of Corrigan’s songs, entitled “Home”, from her 2015 album The Language. Many in the area will identify with a different spot along the highway, but she knows her’s best.
“I grew up on the Front Road, in Clarendon,” she said, cheerfully and laughing.
She describes her childhood as a quiet one. Corrigan was shy – her high school friends certainly never anticipated her as a performer – but would have music blasting when she got home from school.
She’d sing along to whomever she was into at the time, citing Fiona Apple, Mariah Carey and No Doubt as big influences in high school, and would also perform with her parents. They’d usually host friends for gatherings, which incited some form of music playing throughout.
“My dad plays guitar, my mom plays music,” she said. “Quite often they’d have parties and when they have parties it’s everybody brings an instrument and plays music.
“So I grew up with a very musical family and I’ve always loved and been passionate about music. When I’d come home from school I’d just go blast music upstairs and sing all night,” she continued.
Corrigan would write in her journal, often after another day at Pontiac High School. She’d write about her day, which eventually led into poetry, and in turn, song writing.
“When I wasn’t writing in the journal I started writing poems,” said Corrigan. “Then when I learned guitar, it led into melodies.”
After high school, she attended Carleton University, studying political science and human rights. Though, in hindsight, she wishes she had pushed her efforts elsewhere.
“I wish I went into music, but I took political science,” she said, laughing.
Where the river runs wild, and we were defined
In our own world, all we had was time
Her living may be in the city, but her music comes from her roots. Nowadays, living in Ottawa, she’ll play four or five nights a week, surviving mostly off of her music and performances to get by. A feat many musicians strive for.
Her musical career began when she was around 20 years old. Putting out an ad on an Ottawa music site, she got her start in a much different direction.
“I was in a compas band, a Haitian band, doing harmonies for ten years,” said Corrigan.
Compas is classified as dance music with roots in the European and African dance, and is important to Haitian culture. A very different start to what she is doing now, but important to her overall journey and influences.
Corrigan, as mentioned, grew up shy. Stepping out of her comfort zone, performing regularly with the band and maintaining standard rehearsals, blew those boundaries apart. Forcing herself out, she could only grow as a performer and a musician.
“Every time you’re on stage, you get more and more comfortable,” she said. “Well, it took a long time for me, because I was so shy, but it just helped me grow.”
She’s come a long way since then performing for a huge variety of events, including the Canadian Tulip Festival, at the Grassroots Festival and even down in Barbados.
And with time, eventually, it led to more writing, more strumming and recording. Starting back in 2013, she began the trip home when she stepped into the studio.
Couldn’t wait to leave, couldn’t wait to roam
Couldn’t wait to breathe the air that ain’t your home
After coming through the end of a decade-long relationship, sometimes it’s easiest to wander somewhere familiar, even if it’s only in your thoughts.
“I didn’t realize the impact growing up in the country, growing up in Shawville had on me until I started working on my album,” said Corrigan. “I just got really homesick.”
She began writing and preparing for her recording with thoughts of home. In and out of two years she wrote and recorded, working with producer Dave Draves at the Little Bullhorn Studios in Ottawa.
Eventually, it culminated into her first full-length album titled The Language, an ode to growing up and living in Shawville and the area.
“As teenagers, we couldn’t wait to get out of there. We didn’t realize how lucky we were and now that I’m older, I realize how lucky I was to grow up in the country,” said Corrigan.
She followed this album release with a tour along the Canadian East coast, driving herself through 12 nights. Of course, she hasn’t sat idle since then, always planning and working towards more.
But you will come back and when you do
There’ll be a song pining for you
Up next, she’s hoping to record another album and tour farther. Corrigan was terribly excited at the thought of touring Western Canada and eventually Europe one day.
Perhaps one of the craziest facts about her solo music career is that she’s done it all by herself, with only herself as her manager.
“I sort of have an idea of what I’m doing and until I reach a point where I don’t have the time to do all the work, then that’d be good [to have],” said Corrigan.
She has worked closely with a number of Ottawa and the Valley musicians, always eager to share how much she adores what they do, while discussing the importance of the area to her music.
Corrigan was ecstatic to hear that her home was proud and rooting for her every step of the way.
“That’s why it’s so nice,” said Corrigan, of growing up in Shawville. “People from the Valley support their own.”