Bowen Island-based folk singer Shari Ulrich has had a decades-long career in music, acting, and television. Born in California, the two-time Juno Awards winner moved to Canada with her family in 1969 at 18, following the Kent State shootings and growing unrest surrounding the Vietnam War. Ulrich attributes the experiences of these turbulent times of protest with shaping both her artistic identity and her relationship with music. She remembers the energy that surrounded the live performances at the start of her career, and the learnings that came with it.
“I wasn’t an artist when I came here [Canada]. I didn’t know music was going to be what I did,” says Ulrich, who is performing at this year’s Victoria Folk Music Festival alongside Chantal Kreviazuk, The Sadies, The Deep Dark Woods, Barney Bentall, and others. “I’m not the best musician in the world… but I had this epiphany at some point that I just had to take myself on stage.”
A multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter, Ulrich describes her craft as a weaving of her gathered life experience and her artistic growth. She says that she has the need to constantly rediscover both herself and her voice.
“I still didn’t know who I was,” she says. “I was still really young, and I didn’t have my own music yet, so I intertwined life and songwriting.”
Looking back on her five decades of career in television hosting, acting, composing, as well as her music, Ulrich says that each creative path grew from the same artistic foundation.
“All these things came out of music,” she says. “Always serve music first, not your success… [Have] confidence in yourself to get there. I’m in a position where I’m so established in a grassroots kind of way that I know I can keep doing this… At least we can affect those people in front of us.”
Ulrich says that rejection and uncertainty are not just unavoidable but are defining characteristics of the entertainment industry and working in the arts. She says that she had to rebuild her career after her first record deal collapsed, allowing her to refocus her music and career path.
“It probably helped that I got dropped by the record label because I realized I couldn’t base whether or not I continued being a singer/songwriter on whether or not I could make a record label enough money,” she says. “I knew the audience was there, so I had to go grassroots.”
Ulrich says that vulnerability—especially while performing live—was essential to her becoming the artist she is today. That vulnerability has given her the confidence and self-worth necessary to navigate the competitive entertainment industry and empowered her to remain true to her artistic vision. For Ulrich, authenticity matters more than perfection.
“I play with people who are way better than me sometimes, and I feel good about my songwriting… because I write from that very authentic place,” she says. “If things went wrong during a performance… I would bring humour into it, and then it became people’s favourite parts of the night. I think it’s partly because I take my ego out of it, and I feel so honoured to be able to make it, create it, and perform it. And it really isn’t about me.”
Ulrich sees social media changing expectations for young artists, creating pressure to constantly remain visible online.
“There’s a lot of pressure to be a content creator, and I don’t want to do it… As the demand is more, I do less, and I’m so grateful my daughter and I didn’t grow up on screens, so I really support the non-linear.”
Ulrich says art and music are universal forms of human connection. She emphasizes that those same differences can help to bring people of all walks together.
“Your uniqueness,” she says, “is your superpower.”
Victoria Folk Music Festival
Saturday, July 4
$89, Royal Athletic Park
vicfolkfest.com