Praise for my "Life Stories" CD launch

Thank you to Nancy Lyon of Sutton, Quebec for the following review of my CD launch show at CIDI Radio Station on Oct. 6, 2012.

"Julia, Gordon and I loved your show and the whole evening. It was so wonderful to spent a night in the company of people creating songs about life, and love and being ... with rhyme-and humour. The good old stuff. You took me back to skating at Bonsecours, and my mixed up loves and bilingual life efforts, and I smelled the snow and tasted the joy, and the years of life going by provided an enriching and heartfelt depth, yes!!! I was quite overwhelmed and inspired, and grateful to be a part of this evening. I love the depth and variety and sometimes whimsy of your songs.

I could go on... You are such an engaging and comfortable performer. It was a magical evening, and we loved the atmosphere of the venue as well, and the friendliness..."

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

What happens when you share a vision

Just got back (again) from Toronto where Douglas and I and my son Ryan (who has a great ear for music) sat down to listen to the tracks again. Douglas has been working on them since I left them with him in June and this was the first time I'd heard his progress. I'm really excited at how this collection of songs is shaping up.

Douglas has filled out the sound using his own guitars, mandolin, piano, and even some synth cello and English horn! He outlined his plans to me to add pedal steel, accordian, bodhrain, electric guitar and more in the next month, so by the end of October we should be ready to go to the mixing stage.

Danny Greenspoon, a 'musician's musician' in Toronto has agreed to take care of the mixing, working with Douglas to make all the hard final choices as to instrumentation, relative volumes, etc. Then it's off for Mastering.

The highlight of this visit to Toronto was watching and listening as Douglas sat down and played an exquisite piano solo for Silent Night, Starry Night during the playback. Hearing that confirmed for me that I'd made the right decision in handing my 'baby' over to him. He's making it better by far than I could have imagined.

Post-production begins!

I'm off to Toronto this weekend and am taking with me the early mix of the 13 songs for the new CD. I'll be meeting with my final mix producer Douglas Cameron over the weekend to pass along the tunes and lyric sheets to him.

Douglas is a master instrumentalist and wonderful singer with several recording projects to his credit. John and I are really looking forward to seeing what finishing touches Douglas will suggest for this album. We've left quite a few 'blank spaces', ie. solos that haven't been done yet, etc. for him to fill in or to suggest players for, so we'll see what develops over the next month.

Stay tuned!

The final song list

So yesterday we decided to pare down the song list. We were in the process of working on 18 songs, and I knew at some point I was going to have to make a decision about which songs to keep on the record. In order not to put too much time and energy into the songs we would eventually defer to a future project, we've put aside 5 songs and now have a comfortable, lucky 13!

The drum tracks are in!

We got the drum tracks back from Kid Carson in Toronto and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. His playing adds amazing energy to the tunes. Long-distance recording has its challenges though.

We recorded the 'bed tracks', that is basic guitar, bass and vocal, to a click track (an electronic metronome) which was supposed to make his job easy. Unfortunately I'm not used to playing to a click track so I played slightly ahead or behind the beat in places. Luckily with the recording program Sonar, John was able to synchronize these spots so that everything lines up on the beat. It's not an exact science though, and sometimes there's patch-work to do, but all in all we're happy.

Thanks to Kid for his great work!

Piano tracks done today!

Today, Easter Monday, was a special day in the recording studio. It was the day Susan Reininger, Director of the Pot Pourri Choir (of which I am a member) came in to add piano tracks to two of the new songs.

Susan is a very busy lady who not only directs the choir part-time, but also plays organ for Emmanuel United Church, and teaches privately. I am both honoured and touched that she would make the time to learn these pieces and to write out the musical notation for me to keep.

"Angels in Her Pockets" and "Beautiful Dream" are both now graced with her tasteful and tuneful piano playing. Thanks Susan!

'God and Dog' , the song by Wendy Francisco

At the beginning of the process of making my new CD, there was one song I knew I wanted to include. It wasn't one of my own, however. The song was brought to my attention by my friend Christa Wilde. She sent me the link to a song called 'God and Dog' by Wendy Francisco.

When I heard it my heart just went BOOM! If you're not a dog lover, then it won't resonate with you, but it hit me hard. So when I started putting songs together for the CD, I contacted Wendy and asked for permission to record the song. (www.godanddog.com).

She granted me that permission, so one of the first songs I recorded early this year was 'God and Dog', a simple guitar and vocal done live. I didn't want to add anything to it because the song is so simple and pure. Little did I know when I recorded it that I would soon be facing the loss of my own beautiful little dog, Whimsey.

Whimsey passed away this morning in our arms after a sudden worsening of heart and kidney problems. She would have been 15 in August. I think now that it was a miracle I recorded 'God and Dog' before today as I certainly would not have been able to do it now.

And so the new CD will be dedicated to our darling girl. Good-bye my Whimsey...until we meet again, I hope!

Good times with Douglas Cameron at Hugh's Room

Hugh's Room in Toronto is a fabulous restaurant and entertainment space catering to those who love primarily acoustic music. While in that city this past weekend, my hubby Ted and I along with our son Ryan and his gal Lisa and our good friend Barbara checked out the 'Neil Young Tribute' night at Hugh's.

One of my oldest and dearest musical friends, Douglas Cameron, was on the bill. He opened the night solo, playing his exotic-looking banjola. Later he came back to prove his incredibly versatile skills by playing piano and mandolin. There's really no instrument he can't play. And his voice...well, there's nothing he can't sing either.

For those of you who've read this far, here's a secret: Douglas has agreed to do the final mix-down of my new CD at his Toronto studio. I'm thrilled and can't wait to get the basic tracks done so we can start working together...

'Beautiful Dream' now in print

I just got my copy of 'Mitre', Bishop's University's creative magazine and was thrilled to see the lyrics for my song 'Beautiful Dream' right near the top of the list of poetry entries. This song is my quintessential Canadian love pastoral.

Here are the opening lines...

I'm dreaming of a river, and an old birch-bark canoe
Paddles split the surface, and water-drops like jewels
Trees that line the shore all standing straight and tall
Somewhere in the distance a whip-poor-will's call...

I ask you, how often do you get to sing 'whip-poor-will' in a song?

'Shy' Di adding her sweet soprano to the mix!

This CD is really about collaboration. I want to get as many of my friends on it as possible, and that's why I've asked my good friend Di Plant of Knowlton, Quebec to lend her talents to two of the songs. The two we're working on together are 'Little Stone' and 'Lullabye for Baby Boy'. Sweet and simple, these two songs are my two little pearls. Not flashy but precious anyway.

Di is a multi-talented whirlwind on the local entertainment scene. She has starred in several musical theatre productions at Arts Knowlton, and is also a co-member of the Pot Pourri choir. She's also the consummate hostess and is famous for her generosity in opening her home to friends. Thanks Di!

An old friend steps in to play drums...

My old friend Kid Carson, a 'player' on the music scene in Toronto for decades, who once starred in that city's production of 'Hair', has graciously offered to add drum tracks to five of the songs on the new album.

We're going to be sending the songs to him in Toronto from here in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, where he'll add the drums tracks to the existing rhythm guitar, bass and lead vocal tracks.

I met Kid in the early 80s at Fat Albert's Coffee House in T.O. where he used to take time out of his busy schedule running his own 'back-line' musical equipment rental company to play guitar and sing some original tunes. He's still in business and still playing drums with some of his hundreds of musical friends and acquaintances.

You can find Kid on Facebook and at his company website www.kiddiecarmusic.com.

She sings like an 'angel'...

Thank you to France LePitre for her beautiful background vocals on two of the songs for the new CD. We recorded her vocals yesterday and her voice really soars on those high notes!

All the basic tracks are done!

Yesterday John and I completed the recording of the "basic" tracks for all the songs, with me playing guitar and singing the lead vocals. There are 16 songs in all on the CD (at the moment!), and all but one are originals.

I hope to add various other voices and instruments to the mix over the next several weeks. Drums, bass, piano on a few songs, lead guitar, hopefully some more exotic instruments like pedal steel and mandolin and maybe even a cello! The biggest challenge now will be keeping track of where we are in the process, so I've decided I'd better get myself a good journal!

More to come...

My new CD...what to call it?

So the working title was 'C major, Ursa minor'...which I really like. C major is the first chord I think I ever learned on the guitar when I was 11 years old. Ursa minor is another name for the Little Dipper constellation. Ever since my Dad taught me about the stars, I've loved looking up at the night sky and identifying my old favourites. But there's more.

Ursa is the latin word for 'bear'...so Ursa minor means 'little bear'. One of the songs on the CD is called 'Where the Wild Things Are', a song I wrote in memory of Timothy Treadwell. More about him later.

But it also reminds me of my little dog, Whimsey, who is my sweet long-term companion. She'll be 15 years old this summer!

New hairdo...new photos!

Yup! Decided to cut my bangs. Just fresh from the hairdresser I got my sweet hubby Ted to take some new photos. Hope you like the one above!

January 27, 2011 - I'm getting song lyrics published!

I got word a few weeks ago that the lyrics to my song 'Beautiful Dream' are going to be published in Mitre, the literary magazine out of Bishop's University

The launch of Mitre will happen in April, 2011...I'm hoping the CD will be ready to go by then so I can do a simultaneous launch.

If you'd like to pre-order a copy of Mitre, please contact me and I'll forward you the editor's address. And of course, if you'd like to pre-order a copy of my new CD 'C major, Ursa minor' let me know that too!

January 27, 2011 - Started vocal tracks!

I'm very excited. Yesterday I spent two-plus hours in the studio with John Cameron and in just a short time managed to do the melody vocal tracks for 8 songs! There are 8 more to go, and I'm writing 2 more songs now. We'll see which ones make it to the final CD.

When we were done, John mixed them down quickly and burned them to a CD so when I left, I could pop it in my car's CD player. All the way home I was working out harmonies for the songs. So much fun! I'm probably going to do some of the harmony tracks myself, but will be inviting friends to add their voices too. I love collaborating with others because it brings in new energy that can add a unique quality to the recording.

I believe I've chosen the first track for the CD. It's called 'Enough' and it's a song I actually wrote in 2007. It's going to be bare-bones...just one voice and guitar.

John is doing an amazing job with the sound. He's letting me use a microphone that dates back to 1974. It lends a wonderful warm quality to my voice. Then he adds a little reverb, but not too much. He's even offered to play bass, so he's going to try working on one song this week and we'll see how it goes. A really multi-talented guy!

Keep watching this space for more news!

November, 2010 - In the studio once again

In 2003 I recorded my first collection of songs to a CD format. This album, entitled "Love and Fear" was very nicely received. I created a myspace page and began marketing the CD using www.cdbaby.com, a wonderfully helpful and efficient site that is very fair to artists. Unfortunately my myspace page has been ruined by over-commercialization so I'm no longer using it and will use this blog, which I control, instead.

A few years ago, CD Baby re-formatted my songs on their site so that they could be sold as MP3 files online like iTunes. This was an amazing development for me, since I wouldn't have had a clue how to do this on my own.

Now, in 2010, I've managed to collect enough songs I care for to record again. The working title of this album is 'C major, Ursa minor'.

I'm working with John Cameron in his home studio in Knowlton, Quebec. I love the casual atmosphere, and appreciate the sound-proof room and hard-working heater! If you would like to be informed of progress on the recording, just sign up as a follower of this blog.

Thanks for your support!
Julia