She's Okotoks raised with a love for giving back! 

I got the chance to catch up with the lovely and talented Ellen Doty leading into the holiday season to chat a little bit about some new music and a giving campaign 4 years in the running.

Now Edmonton based she spent her youth here in the Foothills moving north to The City of Champions for love!

As is the way right? ...I mean if there's a reason to go across the province, that better be it right

Ellen Doty Feat. Wyatt C. Louis

Mittens is her new song (available on Apple Music, Spotify Dec 1st) 

Co-written with Wyatt C. Louis Mittens is a lovely original Christmas song! Traditions, love and a little nostalgia. 

"It's a holiday song! Talks about the Holidays and some of our holiday traditions and things that we like to do. You'll hear that Wyatt throws the word Yahtzee in there! He plays with this gram every year so a fun tradition that we were able to throw Yahtzee in the song there."

Cover Design by Shannon Hewlko

They recorded the holiday tune in the OCL Studios in Chestermere with the help of Justin Kudding and Spencer Cheyne. 

"We did have to wear masks when we came in the building and we recorded our vocals from separate booths but we were able to see each other during that process so that was really nice ... my friend Devin Hart is playing piano and B3 on the recording and he is actually also from Calgary. So lots of folks from the area."

Along with the beautiful stories told in the song, Ellen is hoping to warm some souls along the way in the form of coffee and helping those that might need it get a warm place to sleep. 

For the past 4 years, Ellen has been partnered up with Monogram Coffee in Calgary.

"It's becoming a holiday tradition now," says Doty "I partnered with Monogram. I write a song with an artist and they roast coffee named after the song and then we donate $5 from every bag to a local charity and it also comes with the free download of the song. So it's pretty cool."

This year they will be donating to the Mustard Seed.

"Monogram and I decided together. We just felt like around the Holidays that, especially in Alberta, it's pretty cold and a lot of people are struggling with basic necessities. The Mustard Seed is working to eliminate homelessness and poverty in Alberta. In Calgary and all over West."

Last year they also added a new way to help out. An Ice Cream shop located in Calgary, Made by Marcus, will be collaborating with Monogram Coffee to create a coffee ice cream inspired by “Mittens”. A portion of the proceeds from every scoop or pint sold until the 31st will also be going towards the campaign supporting the Mustard Seed.

The Mustard Seed operates in multiple locations in western Canada, including Alberta and British Columbia, and offers an expansive range of programs and services to our most vulnerable community.

"We really think they're doing great work, so I wanted to support them."

The campaign runs all December and you can support by picking up bags of coffee HERE 
This year ATB is joining the campaign and will be matching every donation! 

"Pretty incredible. Your donations will be doubled, so it'll be actually $10 from every bag and $4 from every pint. So pretty great year to give back and help out the community."

Ellen Doty and Wyatt C. Louis will also be promoting their new track and the Holiday Giveback Campaign with the help from the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra on Dec. 12
They will be performing with them as part of their free virtual concert series.

Register HERE

The Concert was recorded last week but will be streamed live on the 12th. 

"That was my first time doing that. I've done some big band jazz stuff with kinda larger bands, but that was my first time with the orchestra so it was very exciting and really neat to be in the room and kind of feel the energy of the players all there together."

"We did have to do with masks on... so it's a little different than usual, but that's how it goes these days."  

Stay tuned to hear more from Ellen! 

 


Looking forward to our next chat! 

~Logan