RealTracks Artist Bio: Béatrix Méthé

Born in Moretown, Vermont, Béatrix Méthé moved to her father’s home province before she could walk and spent her childhood in the region of Lanaudière, home to many of Québec’s best-known traditional musicians. From birth, she was immersed in music as the daughter of well-known trad-folk musicians Claude Méthé and Dana Whittle. While learning songs and tunes at home by ear, at nine she came home from fourth grade and announced that she would began studying classical violin. She was a quick student and in no time was performing in the L’Orchestre de Jeunes de Joliette (Youth Orchestra of Joliette) and participating in the obligatory classical competitions. She tagged along on her parents’ tours in Canada, the US, UK and Europe, at folk festivals, clubs and camps, eventually abandoning the classical path to join family band Dentdelion which came to include bandmate Colin Savoie-Levac. It is here that Béatrix developed her stage chops and began composing, singing and arranging.

In 2008, at 13 years old, she and her fellow band members – friends from childhood due to the close relationships between their parents – decided to form Les Poules à Colin. Both she and Colin already had a lot of musical mileage under their respective belts and the incredible dynamic of this tight-knit group very quickly led to their evolution as one of the hottest roots bands around.

As a member of Les Poules à Colin, Béatrix has toured the world, playing major venues in Canada, the US, Europe, UK, Africa and Australia. Highlights include Celtic Connections (Scotland), live concerts on the BBC, Winnipeg Folk Fest, The Fringe, Port Fairy and Festival International de Lafayette in Louisiana, to name but a few.

She has recorded three albums with Les Poules à Colin and one with family band Dentdelion and has added her talents to numerous recordings by other notable artists, including Quinn Bachand' Brishen (Blue Verdun), Kaia Kater (Nine Pin), Ten Strings and a Goat Skin (Auprès du Poêle) and Mike McKenna (Pacific Northwest Bound).

Over the years, Béatrix has honed her compositional skills and in addition to writing for Les Poules à Colin, she has begun to write, record and perform in a unique indie-pop duo with virtuoso multi-instrumentist Quinn Bachand. She also performs as a duo with Colin SavoieLevac. Most recently, they toured Manitoba (Home Routes/Chemin Chez Nous) where they were featured in an episode of Chacun Sa Route with Vanessa Pilon (TVA).

lespoulesacolin.com