Long before her albums’ cover art were reprinted in Japanese, Mallory Chipman (Top 40 ‘23) was just a kid taking cello and piano lessons and singing in choirs in Edmonton. Back then, she never imagined where music would take her.
After high school, Chipman didn’t hesitate to follow her passion. She earned a Bachelor of Music at MacEwan University, then a Master’s degree at the London College of Music in England. For years she performed mostly in Edmonton while teaching in the department of music at MacEwan where she was Section Head of Voice and developed songwriting curricula during her seven year tenure.
Now, Chipman returns to the local stage on July 10 with a performance at La Cité Francophone — the first stop on a national tour supporting her new album, Songs to a Wild God.
But recently, her homegrown talents of singing and playing the guitar have taken her abroad.
When she started performing internationally, it was usually a festival gig here and there in Europe. But it wasn’t until last year where she booked a 14-day tour in Japan, all thanks to a tour manager who discovered her at a Calgary show.
“I got off stage and he gave me his card,” she recalls. “I remember being really surprised and feeling like … this seems too good to be true.”
The next day, after the excitement wore off, she gave him a call. “He said ‘No, I’m serious. Let’s talk about this. If you’re serious, I’m serious.’”
And he was. Within three months, hotels and flights were booked, tour dates were secured and Chipman’s albums were printed in Japanese for the merch table.
Back home, Chipman continues to be deeply involved in Edmonton’s music scene. She was the Edmonton Public Library’s (EPL) first-ever musician-in-residence in 2023, where she hosted songwriting circles, workshops on how to enhance home-recording and production, and offered one-on-one support.
“I don’t believe in hoarding knowledge,” she says. “There’s enough room in this scene for absolutely everybody who wants to be here.”
Currently, she serves as a guest director for Vox Collective, an indie community choir. In addition to performing and teaching, Chipman frequently collaborates and produces for local artists like Tanjeryne, King of Foxes and Francesco Rizzuto — helping to elevate emerging voices in the city.
Continuing on that legacy of performing is her cross-Canada tour for Songs to a Wild God — a folk-rock and spoken word record — which hit number one on CKUA radio after its 2024 release. The tour is set to begin at the Wild Roses Festival in Evansburg, Alberta, and with one of her early stops at La Cité Francophone in Edmonton, she’s kicking off the tour with a strong dose of hometown love.
“Edmonton is my favourite city in the world,” she says. “Every time I tour elsewhere, even within Canada, I am always finding things that I love about every community I visit. But it also always reminds me more and more how much I love Edmonton.”
Chipman will be performing at La Cité Francophone on July 10 at 7:00 p.m.
