Album Notes

The Good Horse a 2 disc set, is an intriguing combination of art forms that evokes Leonard Cohen or mid 60’s Bob Dylan. Here Paula Sinclair coaxed some of Oregon’s most revered poets to let her set their works to music. She’s brought on award-winning poet, playwright and essayist Jarold "Jerry" Ramsey, author’s Dorianne Laux and Joseph Millar and famed Oregonian William Stafford and Debbie West.

The first disc is the original acoustic solo tracks she played when she walked into 8 Ball Studio and said to Rob Stroup " I've got a new project I want you to produce, what do you think?". Disc 2 is the full blown band project. It's rare for the listener to see the transition of an album from start to finish. Sit back and enjoy.

THE GOOD HORSE STORY
After losing my band Bloodhoney, the love of my life, my creative life came to a grinding halt. I had insomnia, I couldn’t write, I couldn’t get gigs and for the first time ever my singing voice became unreliable. 4 notes in the meat of my range came out thin and raspy . I envied those at rest in the obituaries.
I decided to record some of the most prolific songs that I’d written while with Bloodhoney to pull myself out of this funk. Rob Stroup, an excellent producer agreed to work with me. I thought I would feel empowered to reclaim these songs in my own voice pushing them as far into “country” as I pleased. It was a roller coaster ride I hadn’t anticipated. At times I did feel empowered at others I felt unbearably lonely.
Then Langston Hughes entered my life. I’d written a song for his “Lament Over Love” and one morning I sat in my kitchen and played the song for a friend. She sat there stunned and moved to tears.
She told me the song brilliantly expressed the raw pain of the poem and I’d found a new musical voice one that drew me to a place of clarity, creativity and power. My friend encouraged me to drop the Avalanche project and focus entirely on writing a CD of poems.
I did not take my friend’s suggestion at that time, but a seed had been planted. I added “Lament Over Love” to “Avalanche”. And continued writing songs to any poem that struck me. This process became a soothing balm and allowed me to continue and successfully complete “Avalanche”. There was something about giving music to these poems that gave me what I always wanted from a band. This new discovery was very healing for me and by the time I finished “Avalanche” I had completed 7 new songs and my voice was back. It took another friend to point it out to me, ”Hey Paula- these poems are all by Oregon poets.”. And “The Good Horse” was born.
Until recently I , hadn’t found my place in the Portland music scene. My friends are writers, poets, actors, artist and dancers. They invite me to poetry readings, and performances that change the way I think about performing. They plop books of poetry in my lap (William Staffords “Stories That Could Be True), they introduce me to Dorianne Laux and Joseph Millar. They fish out of their purse a poem they’d copied for me Uncle Tumbleweed by Jarold Ramsey. Debbie West poetry about a recent loss reflected perfectly what I was going through.
I am grateful for being introduced to poetry it has become a dear reliable friend, one who even likes to jam with me.