Song of the Sea by Julia Lane

The audience was clearly captivated by (her) poignantly clear voice and soul-stirring renditions of Irish ballads" - Lincoln County News, Damariscotta ME

GUEST MUSICIANS

Fred Gosbee-viola,12-string guitar,woodwinds,bass,vocals

Gary Clancy-guitar, percussion

Doreen Conboy- cello

Seagulls, ocean and water sounds courtesy of Mother Nature

All compositions and arrangements copyright Julia Lane

Produced by Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee

The Fishwidow's Song,Isle of Malaga,Migration,The River,

& Run Before the Wind Recorded at Harper's Wood ,

Round Pond , Maine 1998

Fred Gosbee - Recording and Mixing Engineer

All others Recorded at Rosewood Recording Studio,1991-1996 Damariscotta, Maine

Gary Clancy- Recording Engineer

Elwood Doran - Mixing Engineer

Mastered at Limin Music, Northport, Maine

This recording is dedicated to Joanie and Cabot for all their love and care

Special gratitude to Fred for everything and to Joyce, without whom.

JULIA LANE has loved, sung, researched and created folk music since childhood. Fascinated by the stories embodied in the folk songs she heard, she learned to sing the evocative melodies, making up her own songs for her own entertainment. As an adolescent, she studied music theory and took guitar lessons from a lutenist specializing in Elizabethan songs. In researching the sources of the music, the wealth of lore and history recorded in musical form rekindled her interest in the music of her childhood. She became active in madrigal and Renaissance music groups as well as performing as a soloist and providing music for a children's theater group. In addition, she was inspired by the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien and his sources. She composed her first melody for one of his "songs"when she was fifteen and has since completed ten more. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1974, her interest in English and Scottish folk music and lore led her to study in Oxford, England.

She is a self-taught player of the "clarsach" or Celtic folk harp which she began in 1989. As a result of her classic guitar training, she plays in the ancient method using her fingernails which gives a bright, clean sound. Her unique style has won three international competitions. Judge/harpist Kim Robertson praised her "innovative arrangements and energetic performance" and harpist Dennis Doyle declared "she really captured the spirit of the music." Julia Lane is also an exceptional vocalist,"one the Maine coast's foremost voices," whose voice has been called "lovely, vibrant," "reminiscent of Jean Redpath," and compared favorably with Loreena McKennitt, Triona ni Dhomnhaill, and Judy Collins.

In the past fifteen years, she has toured the Eastern U.S., Ireland, England and Scotland playing at festivals, folk clubs, and arts centers, as well as on radio and television. Julia has training in early childhood education and children's theatre and has taught history and social studies through folk music in both formal and informal settings.

Inspiration

Using the vehicle of her expressive, award-winning Celtic harp playing and her silken vocals, Julia Lane now gives new voice to an ancient tradition. Creating original songs reminiscent of the traditional music of her Celtic ancestors, she captures the essential beauty of coastal Maine, her native state. Through the time-honored art of meaningful songwriting, Julia Lane expresses in her words and music our fundamental connection with wind and wave, sea and sky. Her songs are an authentic expression of an intimate experience with the elemental.

Ms. Lane feels the connection between the northeastern American continent and the Celtic lands to be very strong." The most obvious link of course is that of the immigrants who settled here in the last three centuries. I feel it goes deeper than that. Many of the landscapes are strikingly similar. People naturally resonate with their physical surroundings, and the spirituality of the ancient inhabitants of both areas have common themes- a reverence for our relationship with Nature and her cycles." Much of the traditional Celtic music reflects that reverence as do Lane's original compositions. Julia Lane's family has lived in Maine for 300 years and the heritage and history of her Maine ancestors has also proved a source of inspiration.

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