Christine and the scene
Fellows talks about being a part of Winnipeg’s music community
Jen Zoratti

When Christine Fellows was a little girl, she used to collect fish heads.

I didn’t quite believe it, either, so I had to ask.

“Fish heads,” she laughs. “Yes, that’s true. I’d wait for my dad to bring them back for me — imagine this nerdy squished kid waiting at the dock. I’d bring them home in a pail and stir them around with a stick and talk to them.”

If you haven’t already guessed, the Winnipeg singer/songwriter is a natural storyteller. Her latest album, 2005’s Paper Anniversary, is a testament to that fact. It’s a lyrically pretty storybook about such things as boys who fake their own deaths at 14 and how you can dissect ground owls — all punctuated by a lazy cello, a disjointed piano and what sounds to be a cat purring.

Now this storybook is getting pictures. Teaming up with visual artist Shary Boyle, Fellows is presenting her whimsical DIY folk music in a show for the eyes and ears.

“Shary sits onstage with her overhead projector,” Fellows says. “The best way to explain what she does is ‘handmade animation.’ It’s an extra narrative.

“It’s interesting for me because I spend a lot of time on imagery in my lyrics. So to see someone bring it to life, it’s amazing.”

Fellows sounds a bit distracted. It turns out she’s calling via cell phone from an elevator in Ottawa.

“I’m taking Advil,” she laughs. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but I was sitting on a Canada Council meeting and we had to stay after school. It’s been one of those everything-happens-or-not-at-all days.”

Business is second nature for Fellows, who often works on several projects at a time, including collaborations her husband, Weakerthans frontman John K. Samson, and choreographer Susie Burpee (Ace’s sister). Despite being a celebrated folk figure, Fellows doesn’t consider herself integral to the Winnipeg arts scene.

“I don’t really know how old I am,” she jokes, “but I sort of feel that there’s a new guard in Winnipeg and I’m not part of that. The illusion is there, that I’m really part of it, but I don’t feel like I’m holding it together.”

Still, there’s no one as pro-Winnipeg as Fellows. And even though the local scene changes, she appreciates the evolution and the institutions that help it along.

“It’s interesting to see how the community evolves with clubs,” Fellows says. “But there seems to be two key places — one, John Scoles and Times Change(d) which, when you think about it, that’s the image of the music scene, and Dom (Lloyd) at the West End Cultural Centre. He gets Winnipeg.”

Fellows herself seems to get Winnipeg as well, which is a little surprising for someone not from around these parts. In fact, Fellows was born in Windsor, Ont., and has only been a Winnipegger since ’93.

So why the love for the ’Peg?

“Probably because I’m not from here,” she says. “I don’t have to account for my past.”

Except for maybe the fish heads.