Album Notes

Janet Lenore, a singer-songwriter with deep roots in the Northern California countryside, is releasing her first recording in Winter, 2000. Featuring 12 original songs and 5 bonus tracks, the "Ladies of My Family" is like having two CDs in one. The five bonus tracks were taken from a live KDVS radio performance by "Rosenthorn," Janet's folk music partnership with her mother.

Stylistically, this collection of songs tends towards a country-folk flavor with some assertive, bluesy songs thrown into the mix. Janet Lenore augments her acoustic guitar and vocals with her own banjo and mandolin accompaniment. "Ant Song," written from a tiny, rather righteous ant's viewpoint, has Janet playing lead fills using a theremin, an electronic instrument which she herself assembled.

The songs are introspective and funny in turn, and sometimes both at once such as "House Gourmet," a song that describes how a suddenly empty refrigerator signifies the end of a relationship. Exploring other contemporary topics, Janet highlights the universal dilemma of how to wear one's hair ("Hangs Down") and musically conjures a dream diet where weight loss is achieved by eating "Flat Food."

Janet Lenore started making up her own songs soon after she took up the guitar with a vengeance at the age of 12. By the time she was 15, she and her mother had begun performing together as a folk duo in and around their Northern California hometown. The songwriter has fondly dedicated this CD to the music and the memories of her mother and grandmother, both of whom fought cancer in the 1990s.

The CD's bluegrass-styled title track features Janet's guitar and banjo wrapped around a rollicking mandolin solo by guest musician Robin Flower. The last of the 12 original tunes on this recording features the other half of the Flower and McLaren duo, Libby McLaren, whose accordion sets a more melancholy mood for "Trip to France." The CD's other guest performers were drawn from both West and East Coast musicians. Chris Grampp, Ben Jones and Floyd Whitworth play electric guitar; Joel Fisher and Jeff Davis contribute electric bass tracks, and Abhilasha Natarajan played the violin.

Janet made four trips to the Sacramento Valley and the Sierra foothills, sifting through her family photo collections to create the cover art. The front cover portraits represent six generations of women, ranging from Janet's pipe-smoking great great great grandmother to her young niece Megan.