Album Notes

Carolyn Messina has been playing piano and guitar almost her entire life – and has been writing original songs since high school. At the age of 18, she was in a serious car accident; the head injuries left her with little or no memory of her life before the accident – names, faces, events were all a blur. Fortunately, she retained the ability to play music but never pursued it professionally until August 2009, when she decided to start performing her original songs at Open Mics & coffeehouses in the NY/NJ Metro area. Since then, she has been booked at several venues, including a November 22, 2009 solo performance at The Bitter End in NYC. Her debut CD "Singer/Songwriter" includes her 9/11 Tribute Song, "The Fall" which she wrote as a tribute to her brother-in-law Michael Sorresse who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Special thanks to the venues who open their doors to unknown singer/songwriters like myself, especially Pastor Lyndon Harris and Meg Braun who run the Christopher Street Coffeehouse in NYC; Rhonda Mallek at The Fine Grind in Little Falls, NJ; the Tasty Coco in Caldwell and Piano’s in Bloomfield, NJ. Thanks to Kostadin Kamcev, who engineered my CD at Mozart Studio in Clifton, NJ.

I also want to thank my family, friends and Christian Community who supported me throughout my life, especially my Mom & Dad, my brother Jim (who was the one who was supposed to take piano lessons til they found me sitting at the piano at age 4); aunt Carolann Garafola (who gave our family our first piano); my uncle, the talented artist Ralph Garafola (who shot my headshots); my songwriting teacher Ina May Wool and all the members of the workshops we took in NYC, especially Annette Kuehn & Emily Pickrell whose feedback and encouragement gave me the nerve to start performing at Open Mics; the incredibly loving, spiritual and talented teenagers from the St. Thomas More Youth Ministry who continue to inspire and encourage me every day (Jenna, Nikki, Justin, Sydney, Desiree, Nicolette, Tori); and last, but certainly not least, I want to thank God. I truly understand that it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.