Melissa Rae Barrie

“I wouldn’t have pursued music at all if it wasn’t for me not being able to play hockey anymore,” confessed Barrie on the eve of her 604 Records album Breakaway. “When I was 15, I had a string of injuries – four major concussions,” continues the comely brunette singer and songwriter, who recently became engaged to Dallas Stars right-winger Brandon Segal.

Not surprisingly, Barrie felt a lot of anger and angst and luckily found an outlet to channel it all: country music. The 11 songs on Breakaway  — recorded in Vancouver and Nashville, with the majority co-produced by Ryan Stewart (Carly Rae Jepsen) and Jesse Tucker (Jessie Farrell) and production contributions by Chad Carlson (Taylor Swift) and Mariana Trench’s Josh Ramsay  — don’t necessarily dwell on the hockey frustration, but Barrie has endured other tribulations that have given her perception a shade of darkness.

“I didn’t have the happiest times growing up as a kid and that’s probably why I got into writing songs in the first place,” she admits. “ When you’re 13 years old you don’t have anyone to talk to, so I started writing poetry and songs from the beginning.”