Raw, rootsy, sultry and serene. That’s what I want you to hear. Me.
I spent most of my childhood in a little suburb of Cleveland, OH called Chagrin Falls. A friend visiting once described it as a Charles Dickens-like fairy-tale land, and to be honest, it...
Raw, rootsy, sultry and serene. That’s what I want you to hear. Me.
I spent most of my childhood in a little suburb of Cleveland, OH called Chagrin Falls. A friend visiting once described it as a Charles Dickens-like fairy-tale land, and to be honest, it could be. I loved growing up there, but I’m happy to be exploring more of the world. I’ve come to crave adventure.
Music runs through my veins. I suppose it’s the blood that beats through my heart and keeps me alive as each day passes. It started with my Papa who gave it to my mom who was the first to teach me piano and guitar. Of course, whenever people ask where I got my musical inclination from, we say it had to have been my dad because we have no idea where his went. Needless to say, he plays the hell out of a kazoo. I’m grateful for growing up surrounded by laughter, and to this day, with my family is still my favorite place to be.
Intermixed with musical theater roles in high school (skipping around stage as Little Red Ridinghood among one of my fondest memories), my favorite guitarist and long-time friend Adam Tressler dragged me into the wonderful world of gigging and I fell in love. This love of creating and performing led me to study at Berklee College of Music (toss up between that and engineering… a tough decision to make). I decided to leave bill-paying up to the gods of fate and grabbed on to music as hard as I could.
As a World Scholarship Tour recipient, I studied a variety of things and whatever could make me a better artist, singer and songwriter. Toward the end of my time in school, I began touring the country as the lead female vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the Boston-based Johnny Ray Band. We played bars and clubs, weddings and corporate functions, casinos and the Las Vegas Strip playing everything from Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn to Natalie Cole, R&B and disco hits from Aretha Franklin and Donna Summers, classic Americana and folk, current top 40s and topping it all off with classic rock from Aerosmith, Guns ‘N Roses and the Rolling Stones.
The debut album, Peridot, evokes a sense of urgency as I’m doing what I can to dive into this life. A mixture of subject matter - reflective of relationships, challenges and some of those wonderful moments when you realize there’s no going back - I offer you a piece of myself. I hope that it’s healing. That’s what Peridot is, so there you have it.
This is a journey. One that isn’t always easy - but one that is worth every minute. It’s a rollercoaster of sorts, delivering the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, heart-wrenching despondency mirrored in a beautiful image of color, love and imagination. Come join me. It’ll be fun.
SREAD THE WORD.
