The call of New Orleans set the stage for the name and the eclectic versatility and musical catalogue of one of the hottest Canadian bands touring today.

Bywater Call is set to head out on an extensive tour to support the release of their new album, Broken Souvenirs and lead singer/co-writer Meghan Parnell sat down with Blue Rock Review (BRR) to talk about those milestones amidst their exploding popularity.

The seven-piece band is based in Toronto, Canada, but Parnell explained their name comes from her experiences, along with partner Dave Barnes, after spending a lot of time in New Orleans.

“Bywater is a neighbourhood in New Orleans, right next to the French Quarter. And we needed a name. Dave and I’ve spent a lot of time in New Orleans. We really, really love that city. We kind of fell in love with it, the first time we were there and heard how music just permeates everything that’s going on there. So yeah, we thought “Bywater” was just a cool name that meant something to us. And then the “Call” is just the call to go back and visit, but also to incorporate kind of the feeling that we get from that city into the music that we’re making.”

With their rising popularity, BRR asked Parnell how they’re handling the new fame and hectic schedule that goes with it.

She admitted, “It’s hard to get perspective when you’re in the middle of it, but, you know, we’ve certainly seen some really nice growth since our inception. We just got back from a European tour where we’re seeing the turnouts increase every time we’re there and we’re working on the same thing in Canada and the U.S. as well.”

The band includes Parnell; Dave Barnes (guitarist, writer, producer); Bruce McCarthy (drums), Mike Meusel (bass), Andrew Moljgun (keys), Stephen Dyte (trumpet) and Julian Nalli (tenor sax). And Parnell said the growth from the core of herself and Barnes grew organically.

“Dave and I started putting this band together; we never really imagined what that would be. We were just trying to, you know, get into the small local clubs in Toronto and work on writing,” she said. “But touring all over Europe and Canada and the U.S., we just knew the kind of the sound that we wanted, and part of that sound was going to be a horn section.”

The size of the band is rare these days and Parnell remarked, “It’s definitely a challenge, but we’ve established what the sound is for the band and the dynamics on stage and we can’t change it now.”

Bywater Call just finished 25 European dates. And after a brief 10-day break they’re doing 23 more dates in the U.S. and Canada, which presents its own problems in terms of allowing time to rest, record and write.

“Yeah, absolutely. Finding a balance is always a struggle,” she said. “We’re doing our best to kind of carve out some space so everybody can have some personal time. You know, we have to consider mental health.”

Parnell is often compared to Susan Tedeschi and she says that’s just fine with her.

“She’s fantastic. Dave hearing what Derek (Trucks) was doing with the slide guitar and me hearing Susan and really feeling connected with that. Here’s a singer who has a beautiful tone and is, in my opinion, a simple, but gorgeous and incredibly talented singer. While I don’t think what we’re putting out there is the same as the Tedeschi-Trucks Band, I definitely welcome and understand the comparisons with the slide guitar and the raspy female vocal. I mean, it’s an honor to have those names in the same sentence as ours.”

But Bywater Call incorporates a very wide variety of influences, and Parnell says that it’s intentional and has something to do with the size of the band and the contributions from each member.

She explained, “We definitely look to influences where you’re hearing the same kind of instrumentation to get inspiration. So we look at bigger bands like Sly and the Family Stone, and James Brown, or even Amy Winehouse, who had the Dap-Kings behind her, so that definitely plays a part in it. Knowing that we have this instrumentation to incorporate into a song, you know, what do we want the horns to sound like? Well, let’s check out some tunes that have a horn section that maybe reflects the style that we’re going for in a particular song.”

There’s no doubt that the sound of the band has a lot to do with the voice of Meghan Parnell, and she acknowledged the added pressure that brings.

“That (the pressure) is something Dave and I talk about a lot when we’re writing tunes, and how to utilize that. I want emotion to come through in the vocals, you know, emotion and quality and, not necessarily a perfect vocal line or executed perfectly, but something honest. Sometimes we’ll write stuff that we think sits in a place where it sounds really pretty. But other times we don’t want it to sound pretty. So just figuring out how to use my voice is a tool for what we’re trying to get across. And then on the road it’s important that I try to maintain my vocal chords and make sure that I’m performing to the best of my ability every night, because it is a big part of the sound, for sure.”

The new album Broken Souvenirs is due out on July 29th and Blues Rock Review readers are already well aware of it with the release of several singles from the 11-track offering. The latest single, “Is This Thing On?”, was released June 24 following the previous releases of “Only,” “How Long,” and “No One Else.”

She said that pre-releasing singles is an important strategy, noting, “I think it’s part of the music landscape these days, especially a band at our level where you struggle to stay relevant. It’s a scene where monsters like Bruno Mars will put out a tune on a digital platform that’ll eclipse everything. So we’re just trying to stay relevant and keep people interested, leading up to a release.”

She added, “We didn’t write and record it all in one go. We kind of wrote it and recorded it as we had ideas ready and time in our schedule to go into the studio and do it. So, we kind of wanted to release the album in the same way where we don’t want to create a bunch of silence from the band. We want to consistently put things out there.”

Bywater Call made the unusual choice to tour Europe instead of competing in the International Blues Challenge for which they had qualified.

And that gamble paid off as the band has now been nominated for three consecutive years as “International Act of The Year” by the UK Blues Awards.

Pernell recounted that decision. “That competition is pretty awesome, and we’ve seen how it’s helped a lot of people in the scene. But we were going to be going to the UK for the first time that year as a full band. Previously we had an opportunity to introduce ourselves to the UK market as a duo supporting Robert Jon and the Wreck, ahead of bringing the whole band out there. And we thought in terms of bang for our buck and how that would benefit us. We thought that was the right move.”

But now the band is headed out to tour the U.S. and Canada, and Blues Rock Review readers can experience the live show. Parnell says she understands the importance of presenting high-energy, visually-engaging performances to match their tremendous musical talent.

“I think there’s something very real in the music that we offer. Emotion in the music is really, really important to us – very important to me, as a singer, and I make a very big effort to connect with the audience while I’m on stage. And then afterwards I’m always out there talking to people after the show. And I think a lot of that helps create steadfast relationships between you and your fans.”

Bywater Call’s new album Broken Souven...

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