Album Notes

STAY TUNED FOR NEW CD "PIRATE DAYS" OCT. '08 RELEASE
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Marianne Girard has been turning heads with haunting vocals and compelling songwriting since the late 1970s. A regular on the folk circuit, Marianne started her musical journey in Nashville and New York before relocating to Toronto and eventually settling into Keswick, Ontario. Over the last decade Marianne has been building a quiet profile as a songwriter with appearances at festivals and showcases. As a music therapist for the past decade, Marianne understands the power of song and has created a magnificent collection directed by producer John Switzer and highlighted by Canada's finest musicians.

IN THIS TOWN captures the latest evolution of a lifetime's passion for music. For this album Marianne employs a full band, drawing on her traditional roots to weave her elegant lyrics into engaging arrangements. As a writer, Marianne embrances a graceful simplicity in making sense of life's poignant mysteries. With patient compassion and restless urgency she reveals both fool's gold and diamonds. There is an ache, a joy and a longing that are bone and sinew deep. She carries with her younger days of apple trees, tobacco fields, bad boys and tough small town girls, and singing in the church choir.

Radio, early folk records, and the Ed Sullivan Show brought the promise of a bigger world beyond the farmlands, and by 16 she had left home. By 18 she ws playing guitar, and by 21 she was in Nashville, where her voyage as a writer began in earnest. But, as she herself will tell you, she preferred the Smokey Mountains to the smokey songwriters' offices and bars, 'cause just like they say, 'You can't take the country out of the girl.'

Marianne Girard is an astonishingly gifted artist of great integrity, and clarity, and defiant faith in the human spirit. Her journey is one of discovery. And it is one she has steadfastly been willing to share with her audience, despite the vagaries of the show biz spotlight.

And then there is that voice; It resonates a purity of soul and a passion of conviction. Its sound can transform denim into angels'wings. It is described as 'compelling','riveting','haunting', and 'so close to perfect it's scary' by reviewers and audiences alike.

Electricity is afoot, just beneath the skin. It is the gentle storm of Marianne Girard.