Live soulfully, rooted in love, rocking the world with goodness.

These words also represent influences and inspirations of the music. I grew up singing in church with my mama playing a mean tambourine. Imagine the black gospel church in Blues Brothers. Though we were a mostly white congregation in Maine, we sang soulful gospel songs and danced and clapped for hours. I think this, along with the struggle in my own story, is what infused soul and rhythm into this singer’s blood. Today, I am inspired by soul standards like People Get Ready and soul singer legends Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples. When they sing, you sense and feel that the song comes from a deeper place, that the song is connected to their story and you know there’s more going on than what you can see, hear or describe.

American roots music is a wonderfully rich reflection of people who emigrated from all parts of the world and brought together their sounds and spirit. Many recognize the singer/song-writer tradition of social awareness and community in much of my writing. I certainly appreciate being told that I’ve reminded someone of Joan Baez, Carol King or Joni Mitchell. They are fabulous female artists who had not only a physically stunning voice but they truly had something to say in their music. And today, I really enjoy the current folk-rock and Americana artists that have taken the stage like Ray Lamontagne, The Wailin’ Jennys and Mumford and Sons.

I love rock n’ roll! I never got a lot of exposure to it growing up. But one evening, my husband and I sat and listened through a bunch of youtube videos of 70-90s rock bands to catch me up. In that evening I grew a fondness for Bruce Springsteen and even played over and over again Jon Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life.

You know, I still wonder if I actually met Jon Bon Jovi one time at a guitar store in Dallas when I purchased my Baby Taylor. He was really cool and even though he didn’t introduce himself as Jon when he began to help me find the guitar that I was looking for, later on, he did smile at me and make a comment to another guy in the music shop about me telling all my friends I met Jon Bov Jovi that day. I had no idea what Jon Bon Jovi looked like at the time, but when I looked him up, I was surprised because pictures of him totally look like the dude who sold me my Baby Taylor…I doubt it was him, really, but I still wonder.