Look at her career and you will understand why Billy The Kid has been hailed the “DIY poster girl” for Canadian indie music. In 2010 alone she boasted more than 200 shows, radio interviews, and television appearances.
This doesn’t include the countless newspaper interviews, music videos, blogs, video blogs, Facebook and Twitter updates.
So who is she and what makes her so special that she gets this kind of attention?
Born Billy Pettinger, “The Kid” is an indie artist on the rise. To categorize her, or her music, is next to impossible, although her solo career has been promoted as acoustic/folk/roots. As a musician, she is much more rounded than that. She is the songwriter and singer for punk band Billy And The lost Boys, an awe inspiring pianist, and able to take centre stage with her guitar in hand singing, These City Lights on CBC’s The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos.
Beyond the music, Billy is one of the best models other independent musicians to follow. Her self-marketing is really unparalleled, from her website blogs, to her Youtube video’s of her writing new material, to her constant interaction with her fans through Facebook and Twitter.
Billy has just finished recording a new album, in studios across North America, all paid for by fan donations.
Billy runs an independent label, LOST, giving more musicians a foot in the door to start their careers.
“It was our way of surviving amidst the mishaps of independence, by throwing out the maps that resulted in a conventional lifestyle and embracing a fierce determination to find our way,” says the artist of her label.
Billy and LOST run a non-profit charity, Lost Youth Music Society.
“It may have a name now, but we’ve always been doing it this way; we don’t just want to focus on one thing, like getting guitars to schools that can’t necessarily afford it,” says the artist. “We play benefit shows because we go, ‘hey here’s a bunch of money, let’s donate it somewhere.’”
Billy The Kid will be in town Saturday, April 2, joining local talent Aimie Laws at the Hideaway Pub.
For more information on Billy The Kid check out her website http://billythekidonline.com or her facebook page www.facebook.com/BillyTheKid.