"I stood in a tent near the hospital in Exeter, NH, on a rainy day in June 2002. Thirty people were singing my songs along with me. 'J'ai Gagne (I Won)' and 'January Thaw' were favorites of the cancer survivors' support group there; a social worker [+]"I stood in a tent near the hospital in Exeter, NH, on a rainy day in June 2002. Thirty people were singing my songs along with me. 'J'ai Gagne (I Won)' and 'January Thaw' were favorites of the cancer survivors' support group there; a social worker had found my music on the Internet. It was such a visceral feeling of triumph over suffering and a joy at being alive and together - that day gave me fuel for months, " recalls Ina May Wool.
Ina May Wool has garnered her share of affirmation and acclaim since the release of her debut CD, "Moon Over 97th Street" in 1999. The Edinburgh Folk Festival invited her to play, and she toured the UK as well as in Europe. Representatives from BMI and ASCAP chose one of her songs for a CD of the 15 best unsigned acoustic artists worldwide, and she's been a finalist in the New Jersey Folk Festival songwriter contest and the Plowshares Songwriting Competition. The Just Plain Folks Music Awards named "Elephant Learning to Dance" the best song by a female singer/songwriter and placed "Moon Over 97th Street" in the top five albums worldwide. Suzanne Vega included one of her tunes on the Vigil CD, a collection by New York songwriters after 9/11 also featuring Vega, Christine Lavin, Richard Julian, and Jack Hardy.
In the 13 songs on the new CD, "Crack It Open" (release November 2003), Wool travels further down some of the roads hinted at in her debut. "When Tears Come Down" rings of some undiscovered Hank Williams gem you'd swear must have been burnished by time. "Lucky" is a love song with just the right touch of quirkiness. "Frida" broods but stays vibrant with colors and celebrates Frida Kahlo's strength and fire. Throughout the CD you'll find gorgeous vocal harmonies and a musical palette featuring rich color from accordion to steel guitar to banjo to clarinet to Irish bouzouki to mandolin.
"We were riding in the car listening over and over to this new CD - and it dawned on me that there is a theme I hadn't planned at all coming through all these songs. It's all about survival with joy intact, with rebirth and renewal." Wool's come to this new place in her life and writing from an eclectic apprenticeship - from bar bands to opening concerts in her native New England to New York's off off Broadway and r & b a
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