Review Text
"I've had my pirate days, and my bandit ways, As good as any man...." The title track says it all. After a life full of discovery, ecstasy, restlessness, motherhood and renewal, Marianne Girard has created a new recording of passionate lyrics and melodies; compelling tales of love and adventure, delivered with that same crystal clear voice and roguish narrative style that her fans cherish. Marianne seems to have forgotten to notice all the barriers and obstacles artists face. Serious aficionados of the well crafted tune have always favoured Marianne Girard. With her new CD release Pirate Days, the word is spreading. Girard's siren call of exceptional folk purity, along with her distinctive laser-like focus on newly explored emotional truths -with no looking away and no minimizing- conspire together to produce a gasp of recognition to an unsuspecting listener. Born to a post-war French/Irish Catholic family of 12, and raised in rural southwestern Ontario, Canada, she left home at 16 and found herself in Nashville. It was not this city of rhinestone cowboys that compelled her to stay; it was the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee, where the deep history beckoned from every rock and tree. Marianne emerged a year later as a journeywoman of self expression. And this journey has since taken her from one woman shows in Bistros and small stages, to festivals and concert tours in North America and Europe, bad guitar smashing relationships, recording, motherhood, growth, acceptance and renewal. And it is one journey that she has steadfastly been willing to share with her audience, in despite the vagaries of the show biz spotlight. Like many women, Marianne spent quiet years bringing up two children. "Actually, I remember the exact day," she muses, "when I knew I had to make some serious changes in my life. My oldest daughter was about 7, and I was driving home from a gig in a blinding snowstorm, a few dollars in my pocket after everyone else got paid, when I heard her little voice from the back seat: 'Mom, I just want a normal life.' And that's what I did. I nailed my feet to the floor and changed my focus to them for the next ten years." Through this time, Marianne did maintain her hand in writing the ceremonial song for the United Nations Peace Conference in 1992, mounting a one-woman show "The Mad Woman of Basin Street" deemed a 'tour de force' by Toronto Life Magazine, and an hour-long live show broadcast world-wide on Chicago's CFMT's Midnight Special. She also brought the healing power of music to rural schools, clinics and native reserves. Now that her children are grown, she brings a maturity, depth and renewed focus to her new adventures in music. Her first CD "In This Town" was released in 2002 and brought her back to the festival circuit in Canada, the US and Ireland. European radio called her a "Canadian nightingale" and said "Marianne Girard will melt your heart and move your feet." And, back home, "Songs delivered with a lovely, compelling voice that is full of passion." Les Siemieniuk, Penguin Eggs. Marianne is backed on the recording of "Pirate Days" by stellar players: Rick Fines on slide guitar and dobro (Suzie Vinnick) Tim Bovaconti on electric guitar (Ron Sexsmith) Be Bop Cowboys leader Steve Briggs, mandolin (Best Roots/Country, Now Magazine), Juno nominee Douglas Romanow on keys, Noted vocalist Rosemary Phelan Rhythm Section Gary Craid and John Dymond (Anne Murray, Jann Arden, kd lang, Jason McCoy, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, etc.) And three time North American Fiddle Champion Don Reed. The tunes on "Pirate Days", contain reflections of the past and the realities of right now. "The best of me is yet to come around" she writes in "Train of Love", with a chorus of adult and children's voices behind her. She tackles ageism and racism in a positive manner that is anything but cloying, destined to be an anthem-ic sing-along. "Amanda on the Train" could be autobiographical, but is instead the story of another young gi
