Chantal Kreviazuk stays connected to her children while on tour

For Chantal Kreviazuk, a typical day on her current Canadian tour is a balancing act: Call her three boys in the morning. Get her vocals up to par for the show. Sneak out little moments to iChat with the kids. Sing her heart out on stage. Call the kids again before their bedtime.

“I’m pretty useless to them in the mothering role day-to-day right now out on the road. I can imagine how people who are away for extended periods from their children can be a little complacent and apathetic about calling, because it can often be more damaging than good sometimes. You can call and they can be frantic about saying goodbye,” says the 35-year-old singer-songwriter.

“You have to get past that and realize that the child still needs to know that you love them and you are thinking about them.”

This search for equilibrium between her musical and family roles seeps into Kreviazuk’s latest album, Plain Jane — a title that might as well be the way the Winnipeg native would like to identify herself these days.

Being plain and ordinary doesn’t come easy to someone who has been a staple on Canadian charts since her 1996 debut Under These Rocks and Stones. A long-standing marriage to Raine Maida, frontman of Toronto band Our Lady Peace, isn’t exactly a recipe for anonymity either, nor is a home in the Big Smoke a secluded retreat for a Canuck pop couple. But what allows Kreviazuk to step out of the spotlight is her life in Los Angeles, where she can remain in the background crafting hits for artists such as Kelly Clarkson and Gwen Stefani.

“We’re focused on family … and our second jobs as songwriters in a totally different market place, different nation. It’s been a brilliant thing. I like me way better than I would have if I had been just the girl in Canada with the microscope on myself,” she says.

Her self-effacing approach works well when it comes to family. But that doesn’t necessarily mean she allows herself to get dwarfed by the million-selling singers she collaborates with in L.A.

“I realize that they came to me because there was something about me  the artist that they wanted. So I should be building that into the songwriting process with them,” she says.

And if there’s something of her that the self-proclaimed “live performance junkie” wants to get across in the music is authenticity and humility.

“I feel like being more of an artist that people can relate to. I never wanted to be Beyoncé, I never wanted to be Madonna. I wanted to be a singer-songwriter on a life journey  … I wanted to be relatable on a very realistic level.”

Song Quest
Chantal Kreviazuk is one of 13 artists selected for CBC Radio 2’s Great Canadian Song Quest. Hear her song at www.cbc.ca/radio2/songquest.

Chantal Kreviazuk plays
• Toronto’s Massey Hall tonight.