She looks like an angel and rocks out like a vixen.
Cape Breton girl, Carmen Townsend, opens for Heart at the CN Centre stage tonight, and her sound might surprise the crowd.
That's because her band's style has been known to take people unawares - especially sound engineers who tell them there's no need to do a sound check.
"Well, ah, I'm not really going to play accoustic," she tells the sound man. "And then when they hear us play they say 'Holy s---t!"
Townsend has a unique tone to her voice. She adds inflection where the listener doesn't expect it, the pitch and resonance flow together in an unusual way. It's a style she said she's been working on for a long time.
"Back in high school people would compare me to other singers and I kinda didn't like that because I wanted to have a different sound so I just kept at it," said Townsend.
"I'd lock myself in my little basement bedroom when I was a teenager and just sing and sing and sing. Melody is a big thing for me and usually it comes quite easy and I just try to work it and knead it to make it sound the way it should."
Townsend wrote all but one song on her new album Waitin' and Seein'. Start All Over was written by Jesse Harris, a New York City songwriter who wrote most of the tracks on Nora Jones's first album.
"He saw my live performance of River Rat on YouTube, and we have connections through our producer in New York - they're friends - and he said I had to sing this song," said Townsend.
"He was so generous and told me to do whatever I wanted with the song and I just put my own spin on it. At first I was kinda like 'I don't wanna sing anybody else's song.' But when you have a Grammy-winning songwriter contact you, you're like hang on a second, check your head! You know?"
Townsend, who grew up in Cape Breton and lived all over Canada, said she was living in Toronto at the time, preparing to go solo. Her mantra during that transitional time was "I just wanna start all over, I just wanna start all over."
"And then this song just appears out of nowhere, you know?" Townsend said. "It was so cool."
Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart made the final decision of who would be opening for them during their Red Velvet Car tour.
"I didn't sleep for a whole week knowing Ann and Nancy were listening to my album," said Townsend.
She's got a plan for her part of the concert.
"You're going to get a high energy, positive vibe from a little girl from Cape Breton who feels like she's hit the big time," she said. "It's just a lovely way to be introduced to Canada. I've travelled across before but not quite like this."
Townsend said her luxury tour bus compares favourably to what's she used to.
"Just think about me with nine dudes in a van," Townsend laughed. "The tour bus is awesome."
The show Heart puts on is blowing Townsend away every night of the tour, she said.
"The show is so amazing and they haven't missed a beat or a note and they're fabulous ladies that are very sweet and very talented and I don't even think I could do the scissor kicks that Nancy Wilson's doing. I've been practicing but I'm afraid I'm gonna break something."
The show starts at 7:30 and Townsend is asking everyone to come out and hear an indie rocker from Cape Breton do her thing.
Tickets are on sale at all Ticketmaster outlets.
