Newest review of the CD, "Life Stories"

In Love  -good band sound, great vocals, luv the lyrics

Angels In Her Pockets  -good feel to this song, pure guitar trks, nice placement of piano - angelic vocals, beautiful harmonies

Enough  -like the arrangement, well written!  -would work well in a movie sound trk

Beautiful Dream  -the title says it all, I luv the accordian, takes me to Paris -don't want this song to end

Say It Now  -radio will like this trk, toe tapper indeed! -this one calls for a video

Le Tour De Bonsecours  -the artist in you is coming out in this song -beautiful imagery, what a good ride!!

There  -well written, instrumentation is marvelous

Little Stone  -fun, fun,  ..a contender for best song on the album - now I want to know who the musicians are

Better  -wow!  takes me back to the coffeehouse days -one heck of a song!! -strong vocals on this trk

Silent night, Starry night  -beautiful poem put to music - I like the feel you put into this performance

Best Friend  -last year we had to put down our five year old dog 'Sandy' -this song puts a smile on my face

Toronto  -good contol in your vocals, tells a good story

All in all, a very creative project

Well done , Julia!

Johann Lowenberg

Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist

http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Johann-Lowenberg
Toronto,Canada

Photos from the launch of "Life Stories", my new CD

The launch of my new CD entitled "Life Stories" took place on Saturday October 6 at CIDI Radio Village Music Hall in Knowlton, Quebec.

Despite all the logistical challenges of bringing two of my oldest and dearest musical friends from Toronto along for the ride, the evening was like a dream come true for me. As those who know me will attest, I don't perform much these days, but I still love to write, sing and record my songs. Due to the extraordinary creative input and musical contributions of Douglas John Cameron, Meg Tennant and many other amazing musicians this collection of songs ended up becoming a much more wonderful project than I had originally conceived. To honour the contribution of everyone who played on it and had a say in its production, I organized this launch concert.

Thank you to all who came to watch, sing along and purchase CDs. Your enthusiastic response was very much appreciated!

France LePitre (left) and Meg Tennant sang with me...

Meg tunes up with Scott Edmonston looking on...

Meg Tennant with Douglas John Cameron. Doug did a set,
then Meg followed up with one of her own accompanied by Doug.

Julia and France

Encore!!

 

The new CD now available at CDBaby!

I just got the email this morning... "Life Stories" is now up and running on the CDBaby website. This means you can go and preview all the songs for free, download them individually for only .99, or order the complete physical album using Paypal. The launch is tonight at 8 pm at CIDI in Knowlton (enter where Valentine's used to be). There may be a few tickets left so call 450-242-9873 to reserve! To hear previews of the songs, go to www.cdbaby.com/juliarohan.

A Review of the new CD "Life Stories"

by Mark Bailey

The album starts off with a beautiful country love song aptly named “In Love”. Catchy hooks and lovely vocals are complemented perfectly with a steel guitar.

“Angels in her Pockets”, another country song has lovely piano, mandolin and piano to complement the gentle vocals. This is a tender song about a person who has a bright outlook on life.

 

Next we have a song that reminds me of a Joni Mitchell tune. “Enough” is very relaxing with lovely guitar music. I need you and you need me, and that’s enough is the message.

“Beautiful Dream” is a melodic song with an accordion included. The song paints a dreamy scene that the artist remembers when she was still with her lover.

Upbeat and fun, “Say it Now” has the artist asking her lover to commit to a relationship. Lots of great country style music.

Sadly, I don’t speak French, so “Le Tour De Bonsecours” has some lyrics I don’t understand. However, that in no way detracts from the song. The artist almost creates a new genre here with a variety of fun styles.

“There” is a song about people who have suffered a rough life and the artist is thankful for her blessings. Beautiful flute and drum music really punctuate this song.

An upbeat song, “Little Stone”, is made extra special with nice mandolin and harmonica music.

The next song, “Better” is about a failed love where the artist feels she could have done better but doesn’t seem to be bothered about the outcome. Again, nice guitar and harmonica music make this a very pretty song.

Where are you tonight? This is theme of “Silent Night, Starry Night”. Gazing into the stars, the artist wonders where her love has gone.

A cute novelty song about a cute little dog that brightened lives but has since passed on, “Best Friend” is delightful little ditty.

The final song is a life story of a Canadian who wandered throughout Ontario and Quebec, but still dreams of “Toronto”.

In summary, this album varies between county and light pop. The vocal are excellent throughout. The various musical instruments used in this album are played with great skill. The sound and production quality are first-rate. If I had to choose a favorite song, it would be, “In Love”. This song has a Top 40 feel to it. Julia Rohan has done a very fine job with Life Stories.

"I laughed, I cried...!"

The mastering is done, the artwork is completed and today Indiepool sent me my first 'test copy' of the new CD for my approval. I can only say that, as I listened, it was like they say in the old movie advertising phrase: "I laughed, I cried...". Oh yes, and I danced too!

My old friend Douglas J. has done some absolutely beautiful work on the songs. He took the raw materials of my words, melodies, voice and guitar and added just the right number and kind of additional ingredients to make magic out of the mundane.

I hope when you hear it you'll feel something of what I do: that in this case the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts. The CD is called "Life Stories" and the launch is scheduled for Oct. 6, 2012. For an advance copy, contact me at jkrohan@gmail.com.

What's in a name?

After much thought and consideration I've finally come up with a title for my new CD.

"JULIA ROHAN: LIFE STORIES" is the name I've chosen for this collection of songs. I like that the title emphasizes what I've always said...that I'm primarily a writer, a song-writer in this case. I write about things I've felt and experienced, about people and places I've known, and even ones I've imagined. Singing and playing guitar allows me to create a vehicle in which my words can ride from my heart to yours.

I hope they reach you.

Putting the songs in order

Wow! Who knew choosing a song order for my CD would be such a challenge!

For the past few days I've been listening and re-listening to the songs which I have saved as MP3s on my laptop. There's 12 of them, and I know this will sound immodest but my-oh-my do I ever love these songs! It's one thing to write a little ditty on the guitar, but it's quite another to hear that little ditty fleshed out into something with meat on its bones and skin and clothing and a whole personality.

That's what my friend Douglas Cameron has achieved with my little ditties and its awesome to hear. Now if I could only decide on a title I'd be ready to go to the packaging stage...

Mark the date!

At long last the end is in sight. My as-yet-unnamed second CD is now in the mastering stages and will soon be packaged and ready to go. Since summer is such a busy time and I'm still caught up with the promotion of my new book "Weaverworld: Grimsnipe's Revenge", I've decided to opt for an autumn launch. With that in mind, what could be a better time than...

Thanksgiving Weekend! So mark the date in your calendars now. The launch will take place at the CIDI Music Hall in Knowlton on Saturday, October 6 at 8 pm. Tickets will be $10 in advance and $15 at the door. I'll let you know where you can buy the advance tickets as we get closer to the date.

I am absolutely thrilled that I will be joined onstage by my dearest friends from my days as a struggling singer-songwriter in Toronto. Douglas John Cameron (whom I've known since I was 18, and that's a loooonnnnng time ago!) and Meg Tennant (whom I met when I was in my early 20s) are both amazingly talented musicians and wonderful human beings. In the coming weeks I'll post bios about them and links to their music so you can see for yourself.

Whether you ultimately buy the CD or not, I can assure you that this will be an evening of lovely acoustic music...guitars, piano, voices and maybe a few ukeleles...so I hope you'll join us. And of course the CD will be there for you to buy just in case the spirit moves you!

JR

Mastering begins...at last!

If it's true that good things are worth waiting for, then perhaps my second CD will be assured of success. It's certainly taken long enough to produce!

My very dear friend Douglas Cameron has been working on 'enhancing' the songs for the past year by adding extra instrumentation to the basic arrangements. He's a busy Toronto musician who performs, teaches and creates soundtracks for animated TV shows, so I knew when I transferred the songs to him that it wasn't going to be a rush job. Now we jokingly refer to him as 'The World's Slowest Producer'.

As it turns out the timing is perfect. My book "Weaverworld: Grimsnipe's Revenge" ended up being ready to launch this week so I've had to concentrate completely on promoting it while working on the second book in the series. I've barely had time to pick up my guitar this past year! However, the end is now truly in sight.

Mastering begins shortly and shouldn't take too long. Then I have to submit the materials for my cover art to INDIEPOOL, who will be packaging the CD. I'm going to use another photo from the day I spent with my good friend Barbara Sexton, a Toronto artist, wandering around in High Park last fall. We took pictures of each other for our websites and the light was just right so we were really happy with the results. One of them is on the back flap of the hardcover of my book.

I'm thinking about a Thanksgiving weekend launch date for the CD, which is as yet nameless. I thought I knew what to call it but after all this time I'm not sure anymore. Maybe I'll call it 'Thanksgiving'. That would be appropriate, as I have so much to be thankful for!

The mix-down is almost done!

Toronto music pro Danny Greenspoon is now at work on mixing the tracks for my second album. There have been numerous delays but at last it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have deliberately NOT listened to any of the songs in a while so that when I hear them again it will be with fresh ears.

Another unforseen complication is that my first book is about to be published. It was never my intention to launch two very different creative projects in the same year so it's almost embarrassing. The book is a fantasy entitled 'Weaverworld: Grimsnipe's Revenge' and I'm in the last stages of proofing and production right now. The book is being released through iUniverse and will be available in hardcover, paperback and e-book formats online at www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and www.indigo.ca. To keep abreast of news regarding the book please see the dedicated blog at www.weaverworldbooks.blogspot.com.

All the best,
JKR