Every once in a while, you need to hear a friend say, “Just keep going.” Would that they could all do it with the priceless gift for melody Canadian country upstart Angie Bohlke brings to the subject on “Don’t Give In,” a musical wellspring of support that’s the latest single from her debut album, The Best Part of Me.
It’s impossible to remain unswayed by Bohlke’s sincerity as she implores a loved on to persevere and vows the result will be worth it. Imparting thoughtful coping strategies like “trust in yourself” and “think of something beautiful; a place you’ve never been,” she makes the emotional stakes plain on the song’s absolute haymaker of a chorus:
Don’t, don’t give up
Don’t give in
You will make it
Don’t give up, don’t give in
You will win, just reach for my hand
I will understand, but don’t give in
The exquisite balladry plays out at a stately pace, affording maximum breathing room for Bohlke to show off her impeccable tone, sustain and vibrato. That’s not to mention the clearly heartfelt quality of the words—which, like those on the rest of the album, reflect a period of personal growth in her own life that paid off in spades thanks to a determination to keep going at all costs.
“I, like many others, have struggled not only mentally but also emotionally,” Bohlke says. Among the many challenges she’s faced, she cites single motherhood and “coming to terms with my own sexuality” as merely two. But with the passage of time, she says, “I grew increasingly more aware of who I was. I focused more on my own needs and desires.”
And then?
“I found someone who helped me find my true self. I found true love. I found my strength. I found my way.”
This is clearly not someone who’s afraid to play the long game. And it’s been that way for Bohlke on the musical front too. Raised in Placentia, NL, she was performing in school and community concerts at a young age, taking her inspiration from musical muses like Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless and Kenny Rogers. Playing in cover bands was the next logical step. But writing her own songs remained purely a private exercise for a great many years—something she did to help her work through life’s ceaseless ups and downs.
That all changed when COVID hit in 2020, and she realized the secret stash of tunes she had amassed would make perfect fodder for a weekly series of Facebook concerts. Playing live every Saturday to the lockdown crowd exploded her reach on social media and put her career on an unmistakably upward trajectory.
“It was simply amazing,” she reflects. “The fan base that started to follow me has been supporting me ever since.”
The foundation was thus laid for Bohlke to release her first single, “True Love,” on Bandcamp the same year. She followed it in 2022 with the more widely disseminated “The One I Hold at Night,” then “Just One Look” in 2023. The capper was when her first full-length collection, the seven-song The Best Part of Me, dropped last November.
“The album comes just at the right time in my life when I am finally ready to share my experiences through my music,” Bohlke says. “From being in a dark place, to being a single mom, to not knowing who I truly was, to finally finding someone who somehow just put everything into perspective. And finally all the scattered pieces just fell into place.
“I think this album really is the best part of me.”
Along her path of self-actualization, she’s been able to seize a bunch of ancillary opportunities, like performing at the Live at Heart NL Global Music Showcase Sweden and participating in a province-wide tour of Newfoundland and Labrador arts and culture centres. She’s also been featured in the Voices of Placentia Songwriters Series. That’s all pretty good for someone who had sat on her original material for a decade—and the true yearnings of her heart for a good while longer. So when she says “Don’t Give In,” you can be sure she knows whereof she speaks.
