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“A powerful solo artist
… gorgeous lead vocal and deft guitar playing … her
new recording is a fantastic piece of work. Despite being acoustic,
it rocks fiercely.” "Just gorgeous ... so musical
... oh my." “A contemporary urban folk alchemist …
a persuasive vocalist and multiinstrumentalist, with a natural style
unpolluted by attention seeking postures.” “These are spiritual depths paired with
beautiful vocals.” |
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WHAT IS A SONG? For right now, songs are what I have, songs drive, songs solve, songs soothe and carry and excite and resolve. Songs pull it all together, focus into a channel. And maybe it's something, having songs, and maybe it's nothing much within the big spiral galaxy. But the song spins and moves me, demands my attention whether it gets heard by the masses or not, and my life is for the song now, I can't help it, that's how it is. Dependable or not, I depend on it. I abandon myself to the song. I want to abandon myself to all the rest as well, smash through to the big beautiful world, the people thriving, struggling, rising, the rivers flowing, empires crumbling, the hunger, disease, the injustice, compassion, communion, the bleeding desert, homeless wild animals, forest moving in, the tribes of us weaving out planting seeds at every step. If I manage this larger sight perhaps I can deliver what I see, hear, feel. I'll let you know, maybe in a song. HOW DID I GET HERE? I formed with the vibrations of my mother’s guitar. My dad played mandolin and violin. Everybody sang. I grew up in Toronto, raised on a steady diet of music parties and choir practice. I had my first professional gig with the Canadian Opera Company at seven. My first singing role was in La Bohème when I was eight; the excitement of dressing up, the curtain rising, the sound exploding forth, the audience transported … I fell in love with the stage. I spent my late teens touring in a children’s theatre troupe, singing and dancing about Harriet Tubman and the Brazilian rainforest. I moved to Montréal in the mid 1990’s to live like a bohemian: to play, to explore, to experiment. I sang, I danced, I studied various artistic practices and I honed my songwriting within a community of revolutionary poets. I worked as a multi-media technician, a camera girl, a producer/composer for dance and film, a percussionist for dance classes, a journalist. I went to India and Japan and hung out in Buddhist monasteries. I toured Europe with experimental audio/visual art projects. I scraped rust and peeling paint off the abundant wrought iron of Montréal’s architecture. All the way along I played my songs in the city’s bubbling venues, and popped down to New York for the same purpose. I played in bands as well, from old-time country to dream-pop, from electronica to jazz. I produced my songs, released them independently, and started touring my huge sweet country. THE WAILIN' JENNYS For over two years now I have been on the road with the Wailin’ Jennys. We put out a beautiful record called Firecracker. Four of my songs are on it, including the title track. I learned a ton working so closely with producer David Travers-Smith, not least of which was that under pressure, I could wield a microphone and deliver a professional product. We’ve toured all over the world. I’ve had postcard moments of intense beauty that sparkled through on this wild road, moments that balanced out the twists and sharp corners. The hills of North Cumbria, the Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road, the mountains of Salmon, Idaho. I’ve worked with Bruce Cockburn, Meryl Streep, Bonnie Raitt, Garrison Keillor. I’ve looked upon a few packed stadiums, getting a taste of big. WHAT'S NEXT? This time has clarified something. This current that moves through me needs my attention. I’ve taken my time to grow, and now I can focus all these blessed experiences into a music that is present, vulnerable and true. I’m moving on and emerging anew. With help from my friends I package it up as audaciously and creatively as I can, pile it into a vehicle and take it around. At the core, I love to sing; sweet and low, loud and punchy, all over my range. I love words, curling them around the intangible, alighting on the unspeakable. My main instruments are guitar, mandolin and violin, though I’m one of those people who likes to pick up anything and make it work. I like to groove. I like edges and rich colors and mountain twang. I draw from some deep roots: an expansive mix of North American heritage on one side, Slovak/Moravian on the other. I’ve been sponging up a mad variety of influences throughout my life. They unravel and reformulate into something new as they see fit. It’s my job to put a voice to our human struggles, our pain, our resilience and our capacity to love. Whatever form it takes, I get to stand up there and see us all together, to feel that magic with the audience. |
