Meet the Groovers

 

PRE-ORDERS ARE AVAILABLE NOW!

Direct email for details.   Official launch date 11th April.

secure your copy via *Download  or  *Flashdrive   .... direct orders get a free BONUS treat with a collection of all lyrics from the album with recording notes, anecdotes about the tracks, studio photos, and more - in Ebook formate emailed direct to you.

Whimsical Virtual Launch

What a Trip!

  After an 8 1/2 month gestation, the new baby is about to be released!

JOURNEY - my newest album -    is being launched at the Lass O'Gowrie Hotel, 14 Railway Street, Wickham on   Sunday afternoon, 21st October, 2.30pm ....and you're invited to come along and join the party.   Entry is FREE.  your invitation is here: 

Journey  contains 6 Original tracks, a Traditional Irish song, and 3 early blues songs selected as a tribute to 3 of the great female blues artists of the 20s, 30s, 40s.

Four of the Original pieces are songs from my final theatre production "Ladies Who Almost Lunch" and all of the songs on the album have a place in my own journey of life.   The Trad Irish song - the Wexford Carol - is done as an acapella piece and multi-tracked for the harmonies.

Recorded at the Funky Lizard Studios,  master instrumentalist Robbie Long has once again surpassed himself in the engineering stakes and I'm thrilled with the flavours he bought to those songs on which he has played.  [with instruments:  Lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, dobro, and fretless bass].

Once more, Russ Redford has placed his stamp on the CD with his lovely blues harmonica.  And for the first time in nearly 20 years of playing together, Gary Roberts finally agreed to record with me.  Russ, Gary and I have been playing intermittently as a trio for over 15 years - we've traveled some miles and shared some memorable journeys.  The 3 tribute songs were recorded Live in Studio in just one take - which says it all about how comfortably we work together.

My favourite song on the album is "Precious Cargo" - the lyrics memories are the treasures, gathered on the journey of life - say that our memories are the precious cargo that we carry on our journey through life. Robbies instrumentation really brings that one to life, for me.   I'll be interested to hear which is YOUR favourite song.

Uncovering "UnderCovered"

It's been a long hard slog but FINALLY the new album has gone to the Cut wizard - it's in the pipeline and with any luck should be completed and available late April.

This one will be a collectors item!  I'm having only a very small run cut and it will be a case of 'first in gets a copy'  ....once the run is sold, that'll be it.   I'm not planning a launch event for this one and you'll need to be on my mailing list to get notified when UnderCovered is available.

So to tantalise your musical taste buds, here is a wordy preview:

• Title:   UnderCovered ..... because my music IS under-covered, it's one of those hidden gems that when unexpectedly found is likely to surprise and delight you, and the title is a wordplay on one of the tracks "Cover Your Load"
• Recording:  the album has been fully recorded, edited, mastered at the studio of Rob Long here in Newcastle where the exceptional studio skills of Rob are another of those 'hidden gems'.   Rob has also done a lot of the instrumentation on the album including: Bass, Drums, Dobro, and a little of the guitar work.  Russ Redford played harmonica and did some backing vocals.  Di Lenham played clarinet on track No. 4 "Carrying Burdens"  for me.  Katriona Hamilton sang lead vocals on the track "Wanna Be".  I am most grateful and very blessed to have such generous musicians contributing to the project.
• Tracks:  there is a  track listing on the January blog post ...Tracks 5, 7, and 11 were 3 songs written especially for the show "Between the Lines"  which was performed here in 2010.  Gemma's Song was written for the character - a 16 year old troubled teen.  It needed a young voice - and a new title - which is how come Kate was invited and accepted to sing on the album - she is an emerging young artist in her own right.  
• Behind a few of the songs: The track "Wise Woman" was written specifically for this project in celebration of all the amazing women in my life - recognising that each one of us is uniquely different and must travel her own path. The track "Carrying Burdens" was written a few years ago for a dear male friend of mine who shall remain nameless - I endeavored to have that track included on the "Luminous" album but it didn't make the cut.....it did for this album.  "Grey Day in Melbourne" is not a poke at Melbourne itself!  I LOVE visiting Melbourne.  This song was inspired by the city because even at it's greyest - it has a rare beauty.  The grey reference reflects the nature of cities around the globe - how each wears its public face yet is comprised of individuals ...all different yet interconnected through the Divinity of Humanity but divided by the contradictions of humanity.

Typically - like all of my albums - it's going to be hard to place this one into just one specific genre/category.  There's a mixture of ballads, blues, pop, a distinct contemporary folk track, and a short bite of Mozart - go figure! Guess my albums are just like me - multi-faceted, hard to define, impossible to pigeonhole.

Don't miss out on your copy of UnderCovered  - it's quite a journey.