It’s rare that someone receives an inheritance of a batch of quality songs that have never been recorded. This is the luck of Emilie Clepper, who brought her father’s songs to life in The Family Record, a filial album that evokes as much the golden dust of Texas as the snowy streets of Quebec.

“It’s a dream come true,” says the singer-songwriter, who is Texan on her father’s side and Quebecois on her mother’s side. Especially since his father, Russell Clepper, was able to participate in the album, in which he sings and plays guitar. Because yes, the father is still very much alive.

“We’ve been discussing this for a long time. At one point he said to me: ‘I’m getting old, we all have an expiration date.’ So we got to work. We had little obstacles in the way, like a pandemic! But we succeeded, and we have reached the big moment where we can finally share this with everyone. »

Emilie Clepper remembers her father singing her own songs like Texas Sunshine to help her fall asleep when she was little. “He would sit on the corner of my bed with his 1963 Gibson J45, which is my guitar now. It’s a song for my grandmother, and this album is dedicated to my son… It’s my family heritage and it’s like a legacy for him. »

She was not aware at the time how rich and deep her father’s pieces were, she says.

Then she learned music, got older, and “became a fan.” If The Family Record is first and foremost a gesture of transmission, it is also a way of saying thank you to his father, who did not continue his career for all kinds of reasons, including to take care of his children. His songs have in fact never been recorded professionally – “there are perhaps small underground recordings” – and he has never had a contract with a record company.

“I spoke to him earlier,” Emilie Clepper, who lives in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, tells us over the phone. “He told me that he feels really blessed and happy that the musicians were able to work on this album, so that I could cover his songs and they could speak to a wider audience. »

It was the invaluable guitarist Joe Grass (Elisapie, Patrick Watson) who produced this completely country-folk album – clearly, his roots influences were compatible with the pieces of Russell Clepper, which were written over several decades and whose several date back to the 1970s. Yet there is a scent of timelessness that emanates from the whole.

“These kinds of Americana music, which have been around for a long time, they endure over time like good wine. It’s aging well,” says Emilie Clepper who, in her interpretation, appropriates her father’s songs with heart.

Russell Clepper spent 15 years of his life in Quebec – he then returned to Texas, and today lives on a Pacific island off the coast of Seattle. It’s fun to hear him talk about Rue Couillard in Streets of Québec, or even sing in French in La valse à Gaétan, which is a bit reminiscent of traditional Quebecois songs. This little piece of Quebec in the imagination of a Texan songwriter is quite moving.

An existence, one suspects, spent between here and there. “My son was born in Texas, so we’re continuing the tradition of traveling for a bit! “, she said, laughing. She has often found it difficult to carry this biculturalism, and this album comes as a bit of a great reconciliation.

“These are my two ports, my two cultural pieces that are one. This album really captures the essence of who I am. » Which comes with its share of challenges, but which gives her a singularity of which she is proud.

Emilie Clepper hopes that people will listen to this almost unpublished repertoire, because it deserves it. “I want these songs to be heard because I find them exceptional,” says the singer, who is aware of how lucky she was to work with her father in this way. Her tour is starting soon and she can’t wait – he will be joining her on stage starting in the spring. She also reminds us how important it is to see him still singing and playing guitar.

“When we follow our path, that’s when we are most useful in our society and to the people around us. We are happy because we follow our hearts and our passions. »