Shadows by Danielle French

Danielle French is an award-winning singer/songwriter who, in her 10+ years as a recording artist, and performer, has worked with an impressive list of musicians and producers that reads like a who’s who of the Canadian music industry. Artists such as Burton Cummings, Rita McNeil, Tom Cochrane, Matthew Good, as well as members Spirit of the West, Blue Rodeo, the Rheostatics, Veal, Sarah McLachlan’s band, Barney Bentall’s band and Mae Moore’s band have leant their talents and/or support to Danielle’s various projects. She has co-written with Matthew Good, Jenny Allen and Annette Ducharme and several of her songs have been covered by Jenny Allen, Shelley Lennox and the Plaid Tongued Devils. Career highlights include being invited onto Rita MacNeil’s hit CBC show Rita and Friends, and being welcomed onto the Calgary leg of Lilith Fair.

On her latest release Shadows, Danielle handpicked a short-list of “musical soul mates” to contribute their particular quirks to this recording. Shadows was co-produced by the multi-multi-talented Jonathan Lewis (the Plaid Tongued Devils, Rembetika Hipsters…), who also played violin, accordion, mandolin and keyboards. This project features the tightest rhythm section in Calgary, with Peter Moller on drums and Diane Kooch on bass (both of Kris Demeanors’ Crack Band). Brent Van Dusen did a bunch of crazy random percussion. The maddest of madmen guitarists, Martin Tielli (Rheostatics) played bizarre and beautiful electric guitars and also contributed some gorgeous vocal tracks and Diego Medina (Chad Van Gaalen’s co-producer and keyboardist) picked up where Martin left off and added just

the right amount of strange synth sounds to take this project into outer space. One of the songs that appears on Shadows, a Tom Waits inspired song called Time to Kill, has already received accolades from her peers, placing 2nd runner up in the Calgary Folk Festival Songwriting Competition in 2005 and made it to the semi-finals in the 2006 International Songwriting Competition. And her song Descending, was recently licensed to the TV show Falcon Beach, which aired nationally on January 26th, 2007. This program will also air on ABC in the United States, on BBC in the UK, and in 30 other countries around the world from Vietnam to Israel. In February 2007. Shadows was completed thanks for the generous support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Danielle has coupled her well-spent studio time with a relentless work ethic. Over the past decade she has toured extensively across Canada and the United States (for three years she literally lived out of her mint green, flowery-curtained Dodge Maxivan!). She’s opened for (surprise!) another who’s who list of performers including Burton Cummings, Holly Cole, The Barenaked Ladies, Spirit of the West, Mae Moore, Melanie Doane, and Lawrence Gowan. She has also been spotted touring with a project called Grrrls with Guitars, a female singer/songwriter showcase and compilation CD series based out of Vancouver.

Danielle’s undying allegiance to film, theatre and the arts culminates in a myriad of ambitious undertakings including writing music for Vertigo Mystery Theatres’ production of Innocent Blood (2004), co-writing and performing in several other theatre productions and performance art projects, as well as hosting a gallery show featuring a series of her photography, titled Reflections from my Rearview Mirror, at The Banff Centre’s Other Gallery (2005). Danielle has also been exploring herself as a filmmaker and her first short film, Avalon, set to one of her songs of the same name, appears as a DVD enhancement on the Shadows CD release. Avalon (the film) was premiered at the Mutton Busting Festival as part of One Yellow Rabbit Theatre’s High Performance Rodeo in 2004, and went on to enjoy screenings at Theatre Junction’s Random Acts Festival (2004), the Calgary International Film Festival (2004) and the Herland Festival. (2005). She is currently processing some ambient Super 8 footage in order to project images during future live performances, adding a multi-media element to her live shows.

It’s obvious that music, for one who oozes creativity from every pore, is just part of the overall tapestry of expression that is Danielle's life. If you haven’t seen Danielle command the stage (in one of her trademark flower-print polyester dresses - where does she find them all?) you now have a mission.

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