By Teresa Mallam/ Prince George Free Press

It’s been four years since singer-songwriter Anita Athavale last performed on stage in Prince George but she was clearly happy to be back Sunday night at Artspace. Now based in Calgary, the talented artist displayed an easy, honest rapport with the crowd – the same homespun quality that has endeared her to fans across the country.

Between songs, Athavale told stories about her life, relationships and experiences. She talked about the recording industry with its “disproportionate number of women and men musicians.” She plugged her newly released album, In The Noise, singing the title track and others like Beast, In Your World and Hopeful Again. She laughed at herself when she forgot a few lyrics, “That’s pretty bad when you forget the words to your own songs,” she joked. “Well, I think I’ll just sing the chorus again.”

Athavale is used to playing with other musicians and she mentioned a few times that she missed them. But the audience didn’t mind, they loved her solo performance for its own richness. Leading into a track from her 2002 debut acoustic album, The First Time, the artist jokingly apologized for doing the “punk rock thing” and thanked people in the audience who helped arrange her local gig. She confessed that returning to her roots (Athavale lived here while honing her musical talents) after years of touring and recording, has its difficulties.

“It’s so much harder to play in front of people who know you so well and who were there when you first started out,” she said. She praised Books and Company (and upstairs Artspace) owner Jim Brinkman for his support of the arts and artists.

“For the owner of a venue to take this kind of interest, it’s just phenomenal,” she said.

From a music-filled childhood spent in Windsor, Ont., to her taking voice lessons and performing in school musicals when the family moved to New Zealand, to following her dream to Vancouver before settling in Alberta, life has come full circle. Last week, she visited PGSS and led a recording studio workshop for students. Some of them came out to hear her perform Sunday.

Easing into Closure from her new album, Athavale recounted how she penned the song after trying vainly to make amends with someone in her life. Another deeply personal song, I Know, written for a friend who was sick, took Athavale away from her acoustic guitar to the piano. Her voice has a great range, with a Sylvia Tyson kind of edge that resonates and hangs in the air, long after the last musical chord has been struck.

Athavale once performed at the Urban Coffeehouse downtown and has fond memories of that early venue. Former Urban musician Richard Krueger  http://www.myspace.com/thebluewood opened for Athavale and later joined her for the final set, playing a couple of covers including oldies like Bob Dylan’s, One More Cup of Coffee.