Reviews for WHAT SINGS IN THE BLOOD
“What Sings in the Blood”, Rosemary Phelan’s third CD release in as many years, is an
inspiring and reassuring collection of modern roots songs: a healing offering of love for a
wounded world.
Many of the songs have a contemplative, prayer-like quality, as they reflect on universal
themes of life and death, richness and poverty, war and peace, and of course, love.
Though a melancholy current is present at times, a message of joy ultimately prevails, as
it does in “Red Dress” (“hang up your blue dress, let down your hair / step out and just
take a chance / beauty’s unfurling itself everywhere / put on your red dress and dance”).
In this intimate and personal recording (produced by Jason LaPrade and Rosemary
Phelan; engineered, mixed and mastered by LaPrade), Rosemary’s sweetly mature voice
takes on an surprisingly spontaneous quality in songs such as “I’ve Got the Stars”, a
compassionate yet lighthearted portrait of a woman on Toronto’s streets.
It’s this light and hopeful tone that keeps the record aloft, even when the subject is
violence and war (“Three Wishes”). On that song, Rosemary is joined by guests Ian
Tamblyn and Jon Brooks, who add power and weight to the message. David Francey
appears as well, in the lovely duet “Overwhelmed”, a positive take on a word that’s often
used in our fraught culture, and the opening track “Redwing”, which could be a
companion to Francey’s own “Red Winged Blackbird”.
(Special mention must be made of the colour red, which is an important element of
several songs. “Hymn for the Innocent”, in particular, uses many shades of that colour to
express life’s sorrows and joys. And Michael Wrycraft’s elegant album design highlights
the red of both the bird above and the blood below.)
The production here is thoughtful and understated, but many instruments are used to
create a meditative rootsy mood. Jason LaPrade on guitar and dobro is a constant
complementary presence. He’s joined by Chris Coole on banjo, Murray Foster on
acoustic bass, Emlyn Stam on piano, accordion and violin, Adam Warner on drums and
Ian Tamblyn on First Nations flute, hammered dulcimer and Tibetan singing bowls.
Rosemary Phelan’s “What Sings in the Blood” is a record with a remarkable lightness of
spirit, considering how deeply it delves into the human condition. There’s both gentleness
and strength here…and a fleeting sense of grace, like the flutter of a bird’s wing. Above
all, “What Sings in the Blood” is a welcome and timely reminder of the love and joy that
is always present, running deep beneath the circumstances of our lives."
Lynn Harrison
rootsmusic.ca
************************************************************************
"... No sooner had [Rosemary Phelan] recorded the impressive What
Sings in the Blood when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. As a
result she will not be performing at her CD launch Oct 27 at Hugh’s
Room. In her absence some of Canada’s most accomplished
singer/songwriters have agreed to participate in what has become a
benefit concert.
This poignant back story should not distract from the artistic merits
of What Sings in the Blood.
Phelan has a lovely voice, full of feeling and emotion more powerful for
being devoid of affectation. Her songwriting brings us back to a time
when folk was neither a dirty nor an embarrassing form of music.
Accompanying herself on guitar, whistle and glockenspiel, she is joined
by co-producer Jason LaPrade on guitar, dobro and harmony vocals,
along with fellow singer/songwriters Jon Brooks, Ian Tamblyn and
David Francey among a stellar cast of guest musicians and vocalists."
Robert Reid
GUELPH MERCURY & WATERLOO RECORD, Oct. 18, 2010
************************************************************************
Rosemary Phelan has a soothing, pure voice from a different era. Produced by Phelan and
long-time collaborator Jason LaPrade, her fourth album features consistently good
playing by an impressive cast that includes banjo player Chris Coole (Foggy Hogtown
Boys), bassist Murray Foster (Great Big Sea) and drummer Adam Warner.
Phelan’s lyrics range from the conversational to the spiritual. David Francey sings on a
number of the songs, and gently political folk-rocker Three Wishes, with harmonies by
Ian Tamblyn and Jon Brooks, is beautiful. Recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer,
Phelan is unable to play her scheduled CD release show, so a number of friends, led by
Brooks, will launch it for her at a benefit concert.
top track: Three Wishes
Album rating: NNN
Sarah Greene, NOW Magazine
************************************************************************
"I have been enjoying, even marveling at, What Sings in the Blood. It is perfect material
for The Road Home program. The music is simple and simply lovely. The lyrics
exquisite. The production wonderfully uncluttered, clean. The musicianship beautifully
refined. Thank you for seeing this through.
And now Rosemary's story. Her personal dance of life lately, in the context of this jewel
of an album, is utterly compelling. I wish I could be in Toronto for what will certainly be
an extraordinary CD release party next week.
I will be programming Rosemary's offerings enthusiastically, Johan, and expect to return
to them often.
Thanks again and please pass on my best wishes and gratitude to Rosemary. She has a
sudden big fan at CKUA. May she release a dozen more gems like this."
Bob Chelmick
Producer/Host, The Road Home
************************************************************************
"If I’m not mistaken, Toronto-based singer-songwriter and community nurse Rosemary
Phelan had already finished recording What Sings in the Blood, a lovely set of haunting
songs, and was already scheduled to launch the album this Wednesday (October 27) with
a concert at Hugh’s Room in Toronto before she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in
July.
With her cancer battle, some of these songs – no doubt influenced by her years as a
community nurse – seem almost prophetic as she poetically wrestles with human
mortality. “Oh you never do know if tomorrow will come,” she sings in “Redwing,” the
first song on the album and “Red sky at night, gold light at dawn/Will still burn bright
when we are gone,” she sings in “We Never Cry.” In “Overwhelmed,” Rosemary seems
to be reflecting the ongoing struggle between life and death faced by someone dealing
with serious illness.
Not all of the songs call for reinterpretation in light of Rosemary’s cancer battle. “Three
Wishes” is a peace song that longs for a world in which prayers for peace are no longer
necessary; “Hymn for the Innocent,” which touches on many themes ranging from the
innocence of childbirth to the sacrifices of war, almost seems like a Stephen Foster song
from 150 years ago; and “Red Dress,” is a mature love song borne of life’s everyday
struggles (and is one of several songs on the CD in which the colour red figures in one
way or another).
Rosemary’s singing is compellingly lovely throughout the album. Her voice, sincere
lyrics, folk-inflected melodies and tasteful arrangements draw the listener right into the
songs. Kudos, too, to such supporting musicians and singers as co-producer Jason
LaPrade, David Francey, Jon Brooks, banjo player Chris Coole and multiinstrumentalist/singer Ian Tamblyn whose tasteful contributions help make this CD a
success.
With Rosemary now undergoing chemotherapy, the Hugh’s Room CD launch has been
turned into a benefit concert featuring Jon Brooks, Annabelle Chvostek, Chris Coole,
Spencer Lewis, David Newland, Evalyn Parry, Elizabeth Shepherd, Tannis
Slimmon, Ian Tamblyn, Adam Warner and Katherine Wheatley singing her songs.
The host will be Andy Frank of Roots Music Canada."
--Mike Regenstreif
FOLK ROOTS, FOLK BRANCHES
************************************************************************
What Sings in the Blood might be a call to arms for the inner soul. It is a major
breakthrough for this artist with strong content, perfectly paced, with many nuggets
embedded deep within its songs. Like a timed-release capsule, when taken aurally it will
provide a depth of understanding of both the
simple miracles of every day life, and a vision for change in the collective hearts of the
world community.
Jason LaPrade produced and recorded this album at his Crystal Clear Sound studio in
Toronto. He played on Oliver Shorer’s final epic CD, “Hymns & Hers” and is quickly
making a name for himself both as a dobro player for session work in Toronto's vibrant
music community as well as an independent record producer. Interpreting Phelan's most
diverse and complex work as a songwriter to date, the use of drums/ percussion, brass,
grand piano, unpredictable entries of stringed instruments, or well-placed vocals has
allowed each song to possess its own identity.
The first song, Redwing, begins the journey with Rosemary’s rich and crystal clear a
capella over an ominous, dark, modal drone:
“Redwing oh Redwing in the blue sky
won’t you come down and tell what you see from on high….
I planted my garden in rows neat and fine
Lilies all tangled with bittersweet vine
I wait for the rain and I pray for some sun
Oh you never do know if tomorrow will come”
David Francey adds his understated confirmation on the chorus, and the song continues
with two more verses before ending with:
“The hour is late and the times they are dire
Some say our world will be ended in fire
And do as we may, do as we might
Love only love can set things aright.”
I’ve got the Stars follows in a lighter tone thanks to Chris Coole’s rambling but
expressive, emphatic banjo. However, the tale of a homeless woman in the subway still
bears a message:
“I’ve got the stars for a roof up above
And nobody tells me who I cannot love
I got no walls to box my spirit in
Or to block out the light and the music”
Then high-pitched dobro tone descends from the heavens down to the bowels of the
studio with We Never Cry:
“in heaven’s hall
wild prayers rise
where the mighty fall
under cobalt skies
pick and saw
and the steel chains fly
where money is law
but we never cry”
With but one last moment of respite with the cowgirl ballad Red Dress, What Sings in the
Blood is finally ready to take hold of the listener and not let go till the last note is played
– some six songs later. Heart Upon the Alter offers the bone chilling account of the
emptiness of this “stone white silent love.”
“I am flame, I am water
you are wind across the land
you have held me like no other
I was springtime in your hands”
Then, without getting too comfortable, she finds hope amid the flames:
“oh I have walked the hollow corridors
where your voice no longer sounds
stepped ever lightly round the borders
of our shared and sacred ground
something golden still abides there
like a shimmer of dust from distant stars
love will resound and will reside there
long after we this world depart”
What follows is the harder edged folk-rocker Three Wishes that may be destined to
explode in the hands of some electrified group down the road someday. But if words are
daggers challenging the powers that be in this world to be accountable, this song draws
plenty of its own blood:
“I want to walk on the sand at Kandahar
taste the perfume of forgiveness on the breeze
i want to know the human heart has come that far
and never sing another prayer for peace”
However, there is a surprise chorus that at first, I wasn’t totally sure what to make of but
have since been thoroughly won over by. It appeared at first to be 'too simple.' Suffice to
say, it makes a distinct impression when it’s heard live, and these are the many things that
so many artists can offer that are never even found on a small silver disc. They must be
seen and heard to be felt. I know, because when the chorus “Oh my heart” was sung
during her CD release concert at Hugh’s Room in Toronto, it penetrated the outer layers
of the soul and we all opened up.
It is something you have to experience to know.
Then Overwhelmed –with its profound poetry of verse:
“You say we’re all pieces of the stars
that long ago lit up the endless dark.
i don’t know but i swear from time to time
i feel something deep inside me shine
and i’m overwhelmed…. overwhelmed”
David Francey takes the next verse to a place no one can touch. It took me awhile before
I even attempted to try this one myself but have since thrown it into my own bag because
the song takes me to that most profound place every time I sing it.
Then to finish the triumvirate, Hymn for the Innocent, cloaked in the warmth of Emilyn
Stam’s grand piano and the majestic French horn, is the epitome of what Woody Guthrie
did for his songs. What is that? To tell it like it is, but not for the purpose of tearing down
for destructions sake but to find redemption, forgiveness and rebuilding in our tied
together world –with the hope of achieving real change.. Yes, it’s a fine line that all
songwriters who follow this creed have to ride, but in Hymn, it is employed to perfection:
“scarlet the shame of the untamed hand
scarlet the blame of man for man
scarlet the rage that will not understand
oh the sorrows, oh the sorrows of this world”
As the odyssey continues, the songs ends:
“Rose blooms the pearl of greatest price
rose glow the bonfires of sacrifice
rose bleeds the heart that does not think twice
but lays itself, lays itself down for this world
blessed are those with eyes that see
blessed are those who hold the key
blessed are those who let it be
oh the beauty, oh the beauty of this world”
I don’t know who will play this song, or under what category if might fall under. Judy
Collins might be comfortable singing it. But it's Rosemary’s for now.
Lost Nation Road, featuring the haunting flutes of Canada’s great folk treasure Ian
Tamblyn, is the song that ties the whole album together:
“home... there’s an echo inside
home… and it won’t be denied
it sings in the blood it rings in the bone
every soul has a home”
Finally, Invisible is a nod for the flowering of consciousness achieved often by the
elderly or those aware enough to have learned to strip away much of the what gets in our
way.
“I see your radiant souls
ancient monuments of gold
fear and sorrow fade to white
in the beauty of that light
the bright invisible”
Some people write songs for different reasons. Willie Nile is a rocker second, and a
humanitarian first. That’s the order in which I view him. Rosemary has ‘layed it down for
this world” and we, the listeners, are ever grateful."
Spencer Lewis
NO DEPRESSION
************************************************
Reviews for AVALANCHE LILY (2007)
"... I must say that rarely am I so impressed with a CD at first listen. ... this truly is a joy;
it's like love at first sight. If you truly believe it, then you are afraid to revisit it, although
you must return... [it] makes me wish for a broken heart and an end to war and a return to
optimism."
Roger Wise, Restless Mornings
(Jan 2, 2008)
************************************************
"With the release of Avalanche Lily, Toronto-based singer songwriter
Rosemary Phelan has created a beacon in what can often be a wasteland of acoustic
music.
Each song in the collection provides a personal, clear-eyed view of life's
vistas. There is the realization of the depth of love in Silver Threads ,
the inspiration of nature captured in The Nesting Bird... a
soldier's overwhelming sense of duty in the sorrowful The Ballad of Tom Stone... Not to
mention my personal favourite from the album, Lay Your Burden Down, an anthem to
hope and helping if there ever was one.
Phelan has supplemented her gorgeous voice with some of Toronto's finest... musicians,
including Jason LaPrade, David Woodhead, Dave Clarke, Chris Coole, Suzie Vinnick
and Adam Warner. Each contributes to an understated yet powerful collection that will,
in my opinion, quickly become a standard.
Add a dash of hope and a shred of inspiration and presto! you have a CD that comforts
and inspires all in the same moment. Well done Rosemary Phelan, I only hope that I don't
wear the CD out too quickly through constant use."
Steve Clarke, Acoustic Planet
(Aug 1, 2007)
* ***********************************************
... I was immediately taken with the beauty and simplicity of [Rosemary's] songs. They
reminded me in a way of the music of David Francey, in their simplicity and grace... I
gave her songs the close listen they deserve... Please allow me to introduce you to
March's feature on FOLKSTREAM: The Hallfolk Music Stream - ROSEMARY
PHELAN!
Chuck Hall, Hallfolk House concerts
(March, 2008)