{"id":5319,"date":"2014-07-04T00:07:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-04T07:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=5319"},"modified":"2014-07-02T14:48:49","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T21:48:49","slug":"through-blues-to-happiness-with-jill-newman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/07\/04\/through-blues-to-happiness-with-jill-newman\/","title":{"rendered":"Through blues to happiness with Jill Newman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jill Newman at Cottage Bistro May 9 singing from her new CD, Lovestruck Blues<\/em>. (photo by John Endo Greenaway)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Happiness. Perhaps ironically, Jill Newman\u2019s performance at the release party for her latest CD, Lovestruck Blues<\/em>, exuded happiness. The May 9 show at Cottage Bistro featured bright vocals, skilful (and electric) electric-guitar playing, cheerful interactions with the audience and a playlist of well-written, original songs, many about finding love, but also about losing it \u2013 even these, though, exhibit optimism, finding the courage and strength to be on one\u2019s own and true to one\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

Newman\u2019s talents as a songwriter and musician were obvious in her debut recording, Fragile Walls<\/em>, in 2004. The review in the Independent<\/em> (\u201cA garden of musical delights<\/a>,\u201d April 22, 2005) ended with the comment, \u201cIt\u2019s been a long road for Newman to reach this creative milestone. Hopefully, it\u2019s the first of many.\u201d A decade later, Lovestruck Blues<\/em> is another welcome milestone \u2013 and there\u2019s nothing fragile about it. It exhibits the confidence and contentment of someone who has, so to speak, come out the other side. As Newman writes in the CD booklet, \u201cIt is the story of my journey \u2013 of turning my world upside down, taking some risks and being blissfully happy for having done so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
Lovestruck Blues<\/em> is Jill Newman\u2019s second CD.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the period between releases, Newman told the Independent<\/em>, a lot changed for her personally and musically. \u201cMy first CD was the culmination of many years of dreaming of making my own recordings,\u201d she explained. \u201cI was going through a difficult time in my life, including a breakup, so the songs were really all about loss and heartbreak. I had a great producer who took care of almost everything for me, from arranging the songs to organizing and directing the entire recording process.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I\u2019m in a much better place personally, having just gotten married a few years ago and feeling happy. That does present some challenges for writing the blues \u2013 as lately I\u2019ve been writing happy blues songs. I produced Lovestruck Blues<\/em> myself with support from my engineer, Marc L\u2019Esperance. I made all the final decisions in terms of how I wanted the recording to sound and directed the recording sessions in Seattle and Vancouver. I was not going for a retro sound, but that\u2019s really what comes out. I\u2019ve played in everything from country, punk, blues and even an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band, so I\u2019m quite eclectic in my approach to music. I\u2019m often told that my music should be in soundtracks for Quentin Tarantino\u2019s films, the less happy songs, that is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most at home in front of a live audience rather than in the studio, as I really enjoy the energy and the interaction between the audience and the band,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing lots of performances and my live shows are definitely stronger than they were 10 years ago. I\u2019ve also been doing quite a bit of vocal work over the past few years. Songwriting is always a challenge, with lots of hours spent struggling with lyrics \u2013 I still tend to write the music first or jointly with the words and then fine tune the lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lovestruck Blues<\/em> includes 10 original songs, one of which \u2013 \u201cToo Hard to Handle\u201d \u2013 was co-written with Vancouver actor, artist, director, playwright and songwriter Lynna Goldhar Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m originally from Wisconsin, but immigrated to Vancouver Island with my family as a teen. I spent about 25 years living in the Vancouver area, with some brief stints in Washington,\u201d said Newman about her community connections. \u201cI was raised in a secular Jewish household with no religious upbringing, but I identify culturally as Jewish. My most valued connection to the Jewish community was my past involvement with the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. My daughter, Michelle, participated as a young teen in the b\u2019nai mitzvah program, which was a great experience for both of us. I also enjoyed singing in the Jewish Folk Choir and participating in the Peretz programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked for Jewish Family Service Agency in Vancouver and in Seattle and participated in advocacy to address poverty in the Jewish community in Vancouver. I combine my work as a professional guitarist, singer and songwriter with my part-time work as a therapist with teens who are struggling with mental health issues. When I have spare time, I enjoy being in the outdoors kayaking or sailing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Jill Newman and her daughter, Michelle Baynton, at the Lovestruck Blues<\/em> CD release. (photo by John Endo Greenaway)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A woman with many abilities and interests, Newman\u2019s musical path also started somewhere other than where it led.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started in music playing classical flute at age 9 and got involved in community symphony and jazz combos as I got older, with a stint studying jazz in college,\u201d she told the Independent. \u201cMy first stringed instrument was the banjo, followed by the acoustic guitar and pedal steel [guitar], but when I first plugged in an electric guitar (Stratocaster copy) at age 15, I was totally hooked. I loved the sound and the power of the electric guitar, especially turned up loud with distortion. A friend who\u2019d been in rock bands taught me how to bend the strings properly and I began specializing in playing lead guitar \u2013 something very few girls were doing when I was a teen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played constantly and learned everything I could figure out by Heart, Aerosmith, Yes and Led Zeppelin, but I also started writing my own songs and performing in coffeehouses. By my early 20s, I was making a living as a full-time professional guitarist and, other than recovering from a hand injury, I\u2019ve never stopped playing. I feel strongly that we need more female electric guitarist role models and I volunteered as a guitar instructor for Vancouver Girls Rock Camp in 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what draws Newman to the blues? \u201cIt\u2019s the raw emotion and the simplicity of the music that grabs me,\u201d she said, reiterating, \u201cI\u2019ve had a longstanding love of the electric guitar and, when I first began listening to blues players like Freddie King and Eric Clapton, I was blown away by the expressiveness of their playing. In recent years, I\u2019ve been focusing a lot on slide guitar, which has a range of expression that emulates the human voice and beyond. There\u2019s nothing more soulful than Roy Rogers playing slide guitar on Elmore James\u2019 song \u2018The Sky is Crying,\u2019 or almost anything by Ry Cooder or Derek Trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the fun of the Cottage Bistro CD release party \u2013 in which she was accompanied on stage by Loren Etkin on drums and Brian Scott on bass \u2013 was the seemingly spontaneous invitation by<\/p>\n

Newman for her daughter, Michelle Baynton, and Cecile Larochelle to join her in a couple of the songs they each performed with Newman on Lovestruck Blues.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that was the most special about making this new CD,\u201d Newman admitted, \u201cwas getting a chance to record with my daughter, Michelle. She\u2019s just finishing her opera degree at UBC and, despite my doing a very different style of music, we get a lovely vocal blend together. Michelle sang background vocals on my songs, \u2018Everything Will Change\u2019 and \u2018Without You.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Newman, along with Etkin and Cameron Hood (bass), will perform next on July 14, 9 p.m., at Guilt & Co., 1 Alexander St., in Vancouver. For other upcoming performances, keep an eye on jillnewman.net, sign up to receive email updates or like the Jill Newman Blues Facebook page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jill Newman at Cottage Bistro May 9 singing from her new CD, Lovestruck Blues. (photo by John Endo Greenaway) Happiness. Perhaps ironically, Jill Newman\u2019s performance at the release party for her latest CD, Lovestruck Blues, exuded happiness. The May 9 show at Cottage Bistro featured bright vocals, skilful (and electric) electric-guitar playing, cheerful interactions with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[1494,1496,1495,1489,1490,1487,1493,1488,1492,1491],"class_list":["post-5319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-brian-scott","tag-cameron-hood","tag-cecile-larochelle","tag-fragile-walls","tag-guilt-co","tag-jill-newman","tag-loren-etkin","tag-lovestruck-blues","tag-lynna-goldhar-smith","tag-michelle-baynton"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}