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JANET HOLMES
Artist: Janet Holmes Album Title: The Road to The West Cat No.: MSMCD129 Genre: Singer-songwriter/Celtic rock Release date: 12.7.04 Label: Market Square
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"I've made recordings before this but never anything serious, never anything with my name on the front, where it feels like I'm putting some part of myself on the line. You sing in pubs and on festival stages and it's all good fun, but time drags on and people start asking why I don't do it 'for real'. And then I start asking myself the same question! I mean, you only live once…" Janet Holmes
KEY POINTS * Solo debut from 'best kept secret' of Northern Ireland music scene * Guests include international trad fiddle virtuoso Martin Hayes (playing electric!); Ireland's only Woodstock veteran Henry McCullough (Joe Cocker, Wings), (playing acoustic!); solo guitar star Colin Reid; and Texan prog-rock maestro Barry Bynum. * Core band includes pianist Brian Connor (Eleanor McEvoy/Van Morrison) and drummer Liam Bradley (Ronan Keating/Van Morrison) plus Irish dobro ace Colin 'Hillbilly' Henry * Pre-launch concert on Saturday June 19th at the Old Museum Arts Centre, Belfast THE STORY Born and raised in Belfast, Janet Holmes first performed aged 14 and has remained fearless onstage ever since. A teenager in the early '80s, she fronted SOS, a heavy-rock gospel group, for over ten years - recording a single, appearing often on Ulster TV, touring Scotland and supporting international gospel rock artists visiting Belfast. In the early '90s she recorded an EP in Bare Bones, an acoustic duo, and was regularly in demand as a backing vocalist on stage and record for many other local artists (including current Bob Harris fave Brian Houston). Determinedly a 'hobby musician' during this period, things began to veer towards the pro music world with the formation in 1997 of Bird-Dog, fusing classic bluegrass and Irish trad with Swing-era jazz. The group's album, Traditional Roots, appeared within six months and it played throughout Northern Ireland, with numerous music bar residencies and Irish festival appearances. After a triumph at the European Bluegrass Festival in Holland (1999) a track from the group's set featured on the subsequent festival CD. Broadcasts included sessions and concerts for BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Scotland and Dutch radio. Janet left Bird-Dog in mid-2000 when the imminent arrival of a baby put all her musical options on hold. Belfast-based music journalist and biographer, Colin Harper invited Janet to front a track with band 'project' The Legends Of Tomorrow for the September 2000 Market Square Records release People On The Highway: A Bert Jansch Encomium. Among many others contributing to this hugely popular album was long-retired cult British R&B singer Duffy Power. Power was knocked out by Janet's voice and, via Harper, initiated a series of 'virtual duets', recorded in London and Belfast, for True (his first album in 30 years!) Which takes us to this release: The Road To The West - sleeved in the beautiful, dreamlike art of pre-war Belfast art visionary John Luke - encompasses influences that range from the bittersweet country sound of Emmylou Harris to the sweet soul of Paul Carrack, the yearning spirit of Irish traditional music, and the glorious noise of The Who. Some tracks emphasise one specific influence or another; opener 'Be The One' gets the blend just right. Colin Harper comments: "Recordings for this album took place in bursts of activity over a number of months. Along the way we had indications of interest from more than one label, and consequently we were influenced - to an extent - this way or that as to what kind of material we should be recording, what kind of sound we should be aiming for. "Even within the group of people actually making the music there was, and is, a vast range of influences and hence a range of opinion. At the end of the day the twelve tracks chosen, between Colin Henry, Janet and myself, for The Road To The West - out of the eighteen or so recorded - represent a pretty fair consensus. "Market Square mainman Peter Muir pointed out that The Darkness's album is a lean, mean 39 minutes. Not, he conceded, that that had anything to do with the price of peas. But we took his point and aimed at vinyl LP length and, right enough, it doesn't seem to outstay its welcome. But then we're biased…"
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