On her first bus tour, as such, Serena Ryder is looking forward to coming to Orangeville. She has been on tour before, of course, but this is the first time she is travelling with her band by bus.

"I sleep really well on a tour bus," she said in a telephone interview from Edmonton last week. "We're doing a show a night."

When asked if she found the schedule hard, she remarked: "It can be hard to have a nine to five job - any life can be hard, but I'm having a good time."

Serena was born in Millbrook, just outside Peterborough, in 1983. Like many people who succeed early in life, Serena was showing her potential as a child, when she performed publically at a very young age.

Those early years saw her listening to her parents' collection of the Beatles and Leonard Cohen, absorbing their special musical view of the world.

At 13, she got a guitar from her father which she taught herself to play. A few years later, she took that leap of faith and made her first demo tapes, from which her life has progressed in a steady flow of stepping stones.

In 2002, Serena was able to make a better demo while doing a show in Quebec, which led her to an invitation to play live on the CBC.

Apparently, musician Hawksley Workman happened to hear the broadcast and was so excited by her singing that he called the station on the spot to invite her to record an album on his Isadora label.

The result was her first album, Unlikely Emergency, which was released in 2004 and reissued in the U.S. the following year.

The album's success gave Serena a spot to perform at the 2005 Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame press conference.

Another step up for Serena: her performance at the press conference gave birth to the idea of putting together an album of great Canadian songwriters.

On her debut album for EMI Music Canada, titled If Your Memory Serves You Well and released in late 2006, Serena recorded a collection of 12 covers and three of her own songs, of which Weak in the Knees won a Gold Single award. Performing these songs, written by such masters as Leonard Cohen, was a learning experience for Serena and she referred to them as "these masters of story."

Rapidly heading for the top of the popular music list, Serena won the 2008 JUNO Award for New Artist of the Year, a #1 holiday single for Calling to Say and an invitation to perform on Bravo's Live at the Rehearsal Hall.

A profound tragedy in her life inspired her to write a collection of songs which EMI has produced titled is it o.k. The press release about the album says that she is "at times ... sad, vulnerable and even confused, but always strikingly real. ..."

Of the sad inspiration for the work, Serena said: "... having your world torn apart and your heart broken and shattered is important to embrace. It's essential that you don't deny what has happened - ... your feelings are important."

There is so much of the world's injustice that breaks Serena's heart, as she said last week: "So many things go on in the world - there are wars all around us and we don't feel as much as we should. ... We all come from the same place - underneath, we're the same - so many things break our hearts.

"When you break up with a partner who reflects yourself back to you, that can break your heart and, of course, when someone close to you dies. ..."

Back to her music, her comment about her songs being downloaded was : "I don't have a problem with that - if people love my music - it should be shared - it should be free - they will want to come out to the live shows - people want to shake your hand."

She attended and performed at the Juno Awards in Vancouver this year (this past Sunday), where she was nominated for two awards and won Best Adult Alternative Album.

She said: "I could care less (if I win) - what's important is that the fans and fellow artists nominated them and it shows they care.

"I'm just going to be with my friends and have a good time."

In spite of those brave words, no doubt she was still happy with the award.

Of her coming show tonight (Thursday) in Orangeville, Serena says, "I hope everyone will come - we'll have a really good show - we're gonna rock and roll!"