When Shari Ulrich's daughter asked her well-known musician mother to fly out to Montreal to cut a few songs as part of her master's degree program at McGill University, Ulrich had to think fast.
But in three weeks, she had enough tracks for the sound recording project - 10 or 11 of which will be released this fall on the new CD that Ulrich plans to call Montreal or The Montreal Sessions.
"Apparently, I can crank them out at a much higher rate than I ever imagined," the Bowen Island resident said with a laugh.
Julia Graff, 23, who engineered the album in less than two weeks, plays the violin on the new album while her childhood friend, Ted Littlemore, also a McGill music student, works the piano and accordion.
This summer, the trio will perform some of the new tunes during a B.C. tour, which on Saturday will stop in Coquitlam as part of the Evergreen Cultural Centre's Music on the Grill series.
Besides her new material, Ulrich will also throw in some folk favourites from over her 35-year career, "Ones that I know the audience wants to hear," said the affable Juno-award winner. Among her best-loved pieces are Oh Daddy, She Remembers, Romeo, I'm Not the One, With or Without You and Every Road.
Though the California native continues to perform solo, she is also famously known for being one of three.
In 1973, she performed with Rick Scott and Joe Mock as the Pied Pumkin String Ensemble; she was also a member of the folk group UHF with Bill Henderson and Ray Forbes. And five years ago, she joined Barney Bentall and Tom Taylor to release Live at Cates Hill under the name BTU.
But playing on stage with her daughter "is pretty darn great, mostly because I didn't plan it this way."
Graff, she said, has much to teach her mom - not just about music but about life, too. "She's very instinctive and very precise," Ulrich said. "Both of us tend to struggle with decisions but when it comes right down to it, she knows what to do instinctively."
Keeping family close is key to Ulrich these days, especially with Graff crafting music of her own and the discovery of her long-lost boy.
Now an architect in Eugene, Ore., Ulrich gave up her son for adoption when she was 16. Five years ago, she contacted reunion.com and, within a day, a "search angel" had tracked him down.
Ulrich included a song about him on her recent album Find Our Way, titled By the Grace of Goodbye. Meeting her son as an adult, who now has a family of his own, "was miraculous," she said, adding it was like the pair had never been apart in 44 years.
"I talk about my life a lot. That's what works about my music," Ulrich said. "And the rewards are tremendous because [the lyrics] speak to so many people. We're like that as humans. We like to hear our lives reflected in art form."
Tickets for Music on the Grill are $50 for the dinner and concert, or $30 for the show only. Call the box office at 604-927-6555 or visit online at www.evergreenculturalcentre.ca.
