Roberta Donnay - Bohemian

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:31
Size: 82,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:05) 1. Crack In The Sidewalk
(5:02) 2. Fly Me In From Nowhere
(4:34) 3. Graffiti
(3:33) 4. Canada
(4:38) 5. Jody
(5:16) 6. This Train
(4:20) 7. I Will Not Be Blind
(3:59) 8. Ain't Got You

Musicians can take on the role of anthropologist, curious about what came before in music and how musicians reflected their world around them. Award- winning vocalist and songwriter Roberta Donnay is that rare species of musician who almost lives in another time, as she and her Prohibition Mob Band exist to revive the Jazz Age of America. After two very enjoyable CDs of music from the 1920s-30s, Roberta Donnay and her Prohibition Mob Band continue their exploration of early jazz and swing with a tribute to one of the most influential figures in all of jazz. Donnay is possibly the first female singer to record a full-length project devoted exclusively to Louis Armstrong.For My Heart Belongs To Satchmo, Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob Band revive 15 songs from Armstrong's career. Avoiding the obvious hits, Donnay performs both superior obscurities and personal favorites.

“'My Heart Belongs To Satchmo' is such a joyful project for me,” adds Donnay, “I wanted to capture the heart of Satchmo and the love that we have of his music.” Ms. Donnay, her arrangers, and the musicians of the Prohibition Mob Band succeed at paying a loving tribute to the great Satchmo.~ Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian

Featured performers on the recording are Donnay’s Prohibition Mob Band: John R. Burr, piano; Sam Bevan, bass; Deszon Claiborne, drums; Rich Armstrong, coronet/trumpet; Sheldon Brown, clarinet; Mike Rinta, trombone, Matt Baxter, guitar. Guest artists: Annie Stocking, background vocals on “Pennies From Heaven”.

“Bathtub Gin”, listed as One Of The Best Albums 2015 in DownBeat Magazine, is another significant achievement in Donnay’s colorful and productive career as a producer, performer and songwriter. Always writing, Donnay has had many of her songs selected for multiple TV and film placements and has served as a music supervisor for movies. Also a producer and a journalist, Donnay understands how music can help tell the story of issues and events. Her song “One World,” an ASCAP Composer Award-winning song, was selected as a world-peace anthem for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations and was the theme for World Aids Day in South Africa. A longtime resident of the Bay Area, Donnay has been a singer and percussionist with the iconic band Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks since 2005- 2016 and also performs still with “The Hot Licks”. Her own band, The Prohibition Mob Band, is well known out west and tours frequently.

Shares Donnay, I’m honored to have the opportunity to record and perform this music, to carry forward a piece of this legacy, and I hope I can inspire others to re-discover this music and the reasons we fell in love with jazz. Jazz was the music of the people and the music of freedom. Now, more than ever, I feel we need the encouragement, wisdom, and the courage to question authority. Time for a new renaissance! https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/robertadonnay

Bohemian

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Roberta Donnay - Blossom-ing

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:33
Size: 121,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:38) 1. Roberta's Blues
(4:02) 2. Peel Me A Grape
(2:44) 3. Just One Of Those Things
(3:49) 4. Inside A Silent Tear
(2:40) 5. Plus Je T'embrasse
(4:20) 6. Someone To Watch Over Me
(2:32) 7. Moonlight Savings Time
(2:28) 8. A Paris
(3:15) 9. The Party's Over
(3:30) 10. If I Were A Bell
(4:36) 11. Spring In Manhattan
(3:23) 12. Unless It's You
(3:36) 13. You Fascinate Me So
(3:16) 14. I Wish You Love
(2:12) 15. It Amazes Me
(2:23) 16. Put On A Happy Face

Blossom-ing! is vocalist Roberta Donnay's tribute to one of the most memorable jazz singers who ever lived, Blossom Dearie. She does so via sixteen songs associated with Dearie including Billie Holiday's "Billie's (or Blossom's) Blues," retitled here "Roberta's Blues." After leading with that one, Donnay lends her tremulous little-girl voice (eerily similar to Dearie's) to one of Dearie's best-known themes, "Peel Me a Grape," before scanning the others.

Unlike Dearie, Donnay doesn't accompany herself at the piano, but Mike Greensill does a splendid job sitting in for Dearie (who was an excellent pianist). Others backing Donnay are guitarist Jose Neto, bassist Ruth Davies and drummer Mark Lee, with David Sturdevant added on harmonica ("Spring in Manhattan") and MB Gordy on percussion ("Inside a Silent Tear"). Two of the songs are rendered in French, a nod to Dearie's early years in Paris as a member of the vocal group the Blue Stars, which later became the Swingle Singers.

Donnay, who is also a producer and award-winning composer, did not have to drastically alter her persona to record an homage to Dearie; she has basically always sung like that, even though she didn't delve deeply into Dearie's music until well after she had launched her now thirty years and counting career. That came about in some measure through a friendship with Bob Dorough, one of Dearie's close friends and collaborators. After becoming familiar with Dearie's music, Donnay knew she had to record a tribute to her celebrated prototype who died in 2009.

Several of the songs (and composers) on Blossom-ing! are well known, others less so, but every one of them is admirable in its own way, and Donnay makes them breathe with warmth and awareness. Like Dearie's, her voice is well-suited to the music, and her interpretations are earnest and persuasive. Cole Porter, the Gershwin brothers, Jule Styne, Frank Loesser and Johnny Mandel are among the tunesmiths, as are Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh ("You Fascinate Me So," "It Amazes Me"), Lee Adams and Charles Strouse ("Put on a Happy Face"), Anthony Scibetta and Alice Reach ("Spring in Manhattan"), Max Francois and Ben Ryan ("Plus Je t'Embrasse").

Dearie co-wrote "Inside a Silent Tear" and "A Paris," while the peerless Dave Frishberg authored "Peel Me a Grape." Greensill's arrangements are by and large spot-on, with one exception: "The Party's Over," from Bells Are Ringing, is a lament and should be played that way, not as a jaunty foxtrot. Aside from that one slip, no problem. And no problem with Donnay either, as she clearly lends her heart and soul to this rhapsodic tribute to one of the jazz world's remarkable treasures, the incomparable Blossom Dearie. By Jack Bowers https://www.allaboutjazz.com/blossom-ing-roberta-donnay-self-produced

Personnel: Roberta Donnay: voice / vocals; Mike Greensill: piano; Ruth Davies: bass, acoustic; Mark Lee: drums; Jose Neto: guitar; MB Gordy: drums; David Sturdevant: harmonica.

Blossom-ing

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Roberta Donnay - Back Before The Why

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:09
Size: 159,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:50) 1. Catch Me
(5:25) 2. I Don't Want the Nite to End
(4:45) 3. Queen of Pain
(4:48) 4. The Edge
(3:55) 5. Soul to Soul
(4:07) 6. Primal Whispers
(6:32) 7. Harold's Rogue & Jar
(3:55) 8. In My Room
(5:43) 9. Someday
(4:33) 10. Shine
(3:53) 11. Walkin' With the Elephants
(4:05) 12. Call Me the Breeze
(4:06) 13. I'll Be Your Star
(3:54) 14. Ring
(4:30) 15. Ocean

With her singularly enticing sound, few contemporary vocalists are as well suited to dustily vintage material as jazz-blues stylist Roberta Donnay. ~ Jazz Times

Roberta Donnay is a Jazz Age preservationist, guardian of Depression-era sounds, and extender of traditions, but her music isn't covered with cobwebs or dated in any way. ~ All About Jazz

Donnay takes old school jazz, makes it new cool and most of all makes it fun. It swings and it swings hard.~ Critical Jazz


"She is an endangered species." ~ Dr. Herb Wong


The Prohibition Mob Band, led by Roberta Donnay, is a vintage jazz and swing band presenting 1920-1930s swing, blues, and roots music in the jazz tradition. The ensemble's mission is to explore, celebrate, and promote America's jazz roots by interpreting vintage material as well as contributing original works reminiscent of the Jazz Age. Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob Band have been touring the U.S. since 2012. The Prohibition Mob Band released its third CD, "My Heart Belongs To Satchmo" on Blujazz in March 2018. This new record is devoted to the early music of Louis Armstrong, continuing the band's tradition of resurrecting both well-known and obscure vintage music. Previously, the group released "A Little Sugar" (2012) and "Bathtub Gin" (2015) on Motema. "A Little Sugar" spent 9 weeks on the Jazz radio charts, and "Bathtub Gin" was named one of the Best Albums of 2015 by DownBeat Magazine. Award-winning singer and composer Roberta Donnay has been performing and recording for more than two decades. Prior to forming the Prohibition Mob Band, she recorded with legendary producer Orrin Keepnews and was a member of Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks. Donnay's music spans multiple genres, including writing for film and TV. More... http://www.robertadonnay.com/bio/?id=6

Back Before The Why

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Roberta Donnay & The Prohibition Mob Band - A Little Sugar

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:05
Size: 118,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:39)  1. Oh Papa
(2:41)  2. You Got to Swing and Sway
(4:08)  3. Mama's Gone, Goodbye
(5:06)  4. Say It Isn't So
(2:46)  5. I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling
(3:57)  6. One Monkey Don't Stop No Show
(4:13)  7. Rocking Chair
(4:03)  8. (Tropical) Heatwave
(4:43)  9. You Go to My Head
(2:38) 10. Sugar Blues
(3:51) 11. You've Been a Good Ole Wagon
(4:22) 12. (I Want a Little) Sugar in My Bowl
(4:52) 13. Empty Bed Blues

Among veteran songstress Roberta Donnay's career accomplishments is having her song "One World" selected as a world peace anthem for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations; it was also the theme for World Aids Day in South Africa. On her delightfully jazzy, sassy, and colorful follow-up to 2008's jazz standards project What's Your Story, the multi-talented singer aims to achieve global unity in a different way: by pouring A Little Sugar on our differences, taking us back some 80 or 90 years and exploring a time of musical Renaissance that can still tug the heartstrings. In exploring the world of Prohibition-proto-jazz, many singers possessing her charming blend of girlishness and saucy conviction could go the easy route and sing some of the Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Hoagy Carmichael faves we all know. But there's nary a Gershwin tune to be found, and her two jaunts into Berlin's catalog (the elegant and wistful trio piece "Say It Isn't So," the playful Latin romp "(Tropical) Heatwave," and the single dip into the Carmichael canon (a graceful, swaying "Rocking Chair") take her off the beaten path and into the deeper artistry of those composers and their era. Many of Donnay's song choices reflect her love of strong, outspoken female composers and artists whose songs were practically forerunners of the later women's lib movement. 

Opening with the swinging and sultry, brass-fired "Oh Papa" accomplishes this in two ways, because the song was originally recorded by "Mother of the Blues" Ma Rainey and later under a different title by Bessie Smith. Likewise, the brisk and lively "You Got to Swing and Sway"a song that's so danceable one wonders why it is still so obscure which was penned by blues singer Ida Cox in the late '30s when she was making a comeback. The stride/Dixieland-influenced "Mama's Gone Goodbye," originally recorded in 1923, invokes another name largely lost to history but which bears some research: Sippie Wallace. Donnay's big-band arrangement of "Sugar Blues" owes more to Ella Fitzgerald's later recording than any that appeared when it was penned in 1920. Perhaps the epitome of the Great American Songbook and often recorded by popular artists "You Go to My Head" is given a tender, sparse jazz arrangement. Donnay's voice could make any classic material sound wondrous and timeless, but the fact that she digs so deep into American musical history and works with some of the Bay Area's top jazz musicians (under the guise of the Prohibition Mob Band) makes A Little Sugar not only sweet, but a recording that will stand the test of time. ~ Jonathan Widran https://www.allmusic.com/album/a-little-sugar-mw0002433247

A Little Sugar

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Roberta Donnay & The Prohibition Mob Band - My Heart Belongs To Satchmo

Size: 124,0 MB
Time: 52:51
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Jazz, Blues, Swing, Big Band
Art: Front

01. Sugar (That Sugar Baby O' Mine) (3:17)
02. My Bucket's Got A Hole In It (4:05)
03. I'm In The Market For You (3:23)
04. Ol' Man Mose (3:11)
05. That's My Home (3:10)
06. Basin Street Blues (4:16)
07. Up A Lazy River (3:38)
08. I'm A Ding Dong Daddy (From Dumas) (2:36)
09. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans (5:35)
10. On The Sunny Side Of The Street (3:16)
11. Music Goes Round And Round (2:55)
12. Sweet Georgia Brown (2:39)
13. I'm Shootin' High (3:16)
14. A Kiss To Build A Dream On (3:34)
15. Pennies From Heaven (3:53)

Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob Band, based out of San Francisco release "My Heart Belongs To Satchmo", is a tribute to Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven Band's early recordings.

After two very enjoyable CDs of music from the 1920s-30s, Roberta Donnay and her Prohibition Mob Band continue their exploration of early jazz and swing with a tribute to one of the most influential figures in all of jazz. Donnay is possibly the first female singer to record a full-length project devoted exclusively to Louis Armstrong.

For My Heart Belongs To Satchmo, Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob Band revive 15 songs from Armstrong's career. Avoiding the obvious hits, Donnay performs both superior obscurities and personal favorites.

"'My Heart Belongs To Satchmo' is such a joyful project for me," adds Donnay, "I wanted to capture the heart of Satchmo and the love that we have of his music." Ms. Donnay, her arrangers, and the musicians of the Prohibition Mob Band succeed at paying a loving tribute to the great Satchmo. - Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian

My Heart Belongs To Satchmo

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Joel Evans & Friends - Cozy Cool

Size: 195,5 MB
Time: 82:45
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. I Never Say No (Feat. Maggie Herron) (2:50)
02. There You Go (Feat. Jackie Ryan) (4:19)
03. Open Road (Feat. Carla Helmbrecht) (4:37)
04. The Dreamin' Kind (Feat. Roberta Donnay) (3:12)
05. Just The Right Amount Of Wrong (Feat. Tami Damiano) (3:57)
06. Don't Tell Me (Feat. Jackie Ryan) (3:40)
07. I Got Nothin' (To Worry About) [Feat. Roberta Donnay] (3:01)
08. What Have You Done (Feat. Carla Helmbrecht) (3:16)
09. Leaning Into Love (Feat. Jennifer Lee) (4:42)
10. Happy Lovin' You (Feat. Roberta Donnay) (3:09)
11. Christmas Time For Two (Feat. Carla Helmbrecht) (4:41)
12. I Never Say No (Vocal Muted) (2:50)
13. There You Go (Vocal Muted) (4:13)
14. Open Road (Vocal Muted) (4:32)
15. The Dreamin' Kind (Vocal Muted) (3:12)
16. Just The Right Amount Of Wrong (Vocal Muted) (3:52)
17. Don't Tell Me (Vocal Muted) (3:40)
18. I Got Nothin' (To Worry About) (Vocal Muted) (3:01)
19. What Have You Done (Vocal Muted) (3:16)
20. Leaning Into Love (Vocal Muted) (4:42)
21. Happy Lovin' You (Vocal Muted) (3:08)
22. Christmas Time For Two (Vocal Muted) (4:41)

Composer/Songwriter Joel Evans has songs & cues in more than 85 movies and 400 TV episodes; major Hollywood films, hip indie flicks, network and daytime dramas; ranging from Wedding Crashers to Passengers; and from Friends to Stranger Things. The 2014 Daytime Emmy winning special Young & Restless Tribute to Jeanne Cooper features as its main theme, “That’s When I’ll Stop Loving You”, co-written with Byron Walls (Starman, New Christy Minstrels). Ciroq Vodka TV and radio ads highlight his Big Band number, "Fly Away." Grammy-winning vocalist Carmen Bradford sings his song, "No Easy Way To Say Goodbye” on tour with the Count Basie Orchestra. Joel's songs have been recorded by diverse artists, including Spencer Day, Dave Samuels, Shaun Murphy, Roberta Donnay, The Yellowjackets and Peter Tork. (the former Monkee has a great blues band!)

After earning his BA on flute at Cal State University East Bay he performed with a series of groups, and quickly realized the fortunes of a jazz flautist were capricious at best. “We did one gig where our earnings didn't even pay off our bar tab,” he notes wryly. Later, a stint on piano backing Bobby Freeman (“Do You Wanna Dance”) took Evans to Tahoe and Reno, where watching the rock godfather reiterate the same patter night after night further inspired him to improvise. Life imitates art: in the film Rumor Has It, Kevin Costner and Jennifer Aniston share a conversation while the Joel Evans Combo paints the aural backdrop in the same San Francisco hotel bar where he once worked a steady piano gig. Evans’ Hollywood-sophisticated melodies are often used on screen to evoke sumptuous surroundings like hotel lobbies and upscale restaurants, so it’s no coincidence that he spent years performing in just these types of venues. Swing, big band and jazz: he occupies a decided stylistic niche. “I can’t do everything. I don’t write stuff that sounds like the 'Top 10'. I decided early on to hell with it, I’m going to do what I love.”

Unlike many instrumental composers, Evans usually co-writes complete songs. “Until it Happens to You” from Mini’s First Time provided an improbable soundtrack to a fight scene with stars Jeff Goldblum and Alec Baldwin “trying to kill one another, with my Sinatra style swing thing in the background,” laughs Evans. He notes that one of his most unexpected inclusions was in the gritty rock and roll noir film, Sugartown, where his sweet song, “Moody” played behind, as he delicately phrases it, “The depiction of an act of love. But it fit the scene.” A self-professed team player, Evans enlists first call musicians who can deliver the requisite tones; veterans like Dame Cleo Laine's favorite pianist, Larry Dunlap and David Rokeach from the Ray Charles band; seasoned authorities who helped define the genres his compositions reference. Talented Co-writers like Nashville-based Lisa Aschmann and pop/theatrical writer Adryan Russ contribute their magic to the sterling credibility of the songs. ~Bio by Dan Kimpel

Cozy Cool

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Roberta Donnay, Prohibition Mob Band - Bathtub Gin

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:40
Size: 143.5 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[3:51] 1. Bathtub Gin
[4:49] 2. Why Don't You Do Right
[3:25] 3. If You Want The Rainbow (You Must Have The Rain)
[3:52] 4. Wake Up And Live
[2:43] 5. Just What The Doctor Ordered
[4:09] 6. When I Take My Sugar To Tea
[5:58] 7. Shake Sugaree
[4:27] 8. Throw Your Heart (Over The Fence)
[3:50] 9. (We've Got To) Put The Sun Back In The Sky
[3:36] 10. Happy Feet
[3:36] 11. Bye Bye Blackbird
[3:18] 12. Kitchen Man
[4:57] 13. Smile
[3:36] 14. Horizontal Mambo
[6:25] 15. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues

Roberta Donnay: vocals; John R. Burr: piano; Sam Bevan: bass; Michael Barsimanto: drums; Rich Armstrong: coronet, trumpet, flugelhorn; Sheldon Brown: saxophones, clarinet; Wayne Wallace: trombone; Nicolas Bearde: vocals; Deszon Clairborne: drums; Danny Grewen: trombone; Annie Stocking: vocals; Steve Malerbi: chromatic harmonica.

Roberta Donnay is a Jazz Age preservationist, guardian of Depression-era sounds, and extender of traditions, but her music isn't covered with cobwebs or dated in any way. On Bathtub Gin, this singer-composer puts a new coat of paint on the songs of the '20s and '30s, contributes originals sympathetic to the sounds of those times, and conjures thoughts of life during prohibition.

Across fifteen tracks, Donnay and her group—the aptly-titled Prohibition Mob Band—deliver snappy statements, sly songs, roaring numbers, and relatively subdued sounds. Everything listeners have come to expect from this music is present: a swinging rhythm section, pithy solos, muted brass exhibitionism, tom breaks, vocals with a dose of sass and humor, the spirit of the blues, gutbucket horn asides, and intelligent songcraft are all here for the taking. This group plays with a sense of verve, regardless of whether it's covering timeless gems ("Bye Bye Blackbird"), period classics ("Kitchen Man"), or original music ("Horizontal Mambo"), but it also knows how to work with emotional weight ("If You Want The Rainbow (You Must Have The Rain)" and "Smile"). Donnay proves to be a compelling front woman, capable of working a coy line, a ribald number ("Kitchen Man"), or an entrancing, country-laced beauty ("Shake Sugaree") with equal success; pianist John R. Burr shows himself to be a strong soloist; the blustery brass men—trumpeter Rich Armstrong and trombonist Wayne Wallace—turn up the heat; multi-reedist Sheldon Brown adds color with his clarinet and zest with his saxophone work; and the rhythm team of bassist Sam Bevan and drummer Michael Barsimanto serve as the power unit for the band. Several guests drop in—most notably, vocalist Nicolas Bearde ("Just What The Doctor Ordered") and chromatic harmonica player Steve Malerbi ("Smile")—but it's the core band that captivates.

Exploring the music and spirit of this bygone era is clearly a labor of love for Roberta Donnay. She injects enthusiasm into her chosen material, shows respect for her musical primogenitors, and conjures thoughts of a different time with Bathtub Gin. ~Dan Bilawsky

Bathtub Gin

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Roberta Donnay & The Prohibition Mob Band - Bathtub Gin

Size: 146,2 MB
Time: 62:29
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Jazz/Blues Vocals
Art: Front

01. Bathtub Gin (3:49)
02. Why Don't You Do Right (4:49)
03. If You Want The Rainbow (You Must Have The Rain) (3:25)
04. Wake Up And Live (3:49)
05. Just What The Doctor Ordered (2:43)
06. When I Take My Sugar To Tea (4:09)
07. Shake Sugaree (5:58)
08. Throw Your Heart (Over The Fence) (4:27)
09. (We've Got To) Put The Sun Back In The Sky (3:49)
10. Happy Feet (3:36)
11. Bye Bye Blackbird (3:36)
12. Kitchen Man (3:18)
13. Smile (4:56)
14. Horizontal Mambo (3:34)
15. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues (6:25)

Roberta Donnay and her Prohibition Mob Band swing mightily on this exquisitely arranged, authentic collection of vintage jazz, blues and swing. Bathtub Gin features rare gems from the 1920's and '30s, plus four party-rousing shout-chorus originals that evoke and revive the open spirit where jazz was born.

No matter what type of music Roberta Donnay is performing, she sings with the spontaneity, honesty and the individuality of the best jazz vocalists. A colorful and passionate performer, she is a joy to see in concert and to hear on records.

In her multi-faceted musical career, Donnay has won numerous awards for her work as a singer/songwriter. However, her first musical love has always been jazz. After the critical success of her 2008 album of jazz standards, “What’s Your Story”, produced by NEA Jazz Master Orrin Keepnews, she is now focusing her attention on the music of the Prohibition Era, with her beguiling and entertaining new recording, Bathtub Gin.

Bathtub Gin

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Roberta Donnay - Soul Reverse

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 44:10

Size: 101.1 MB

Styles: Jazz/Blues/Alt-pop vocals

Year: 2006

Art: Front

[3:58] 1. Walkin' The Line

[4:01] 2. Keywest Boogie

[3:13] 3. Where Did The World Go

[3:50] 4. Chinese Samba

[3:14] 5. Catch A Falling Angel

[3:50] 6. Love Is Knockin'

[3:54] 7. Night Flight

[4:53] 8. Wishing On The Moon

[4:22] 9. Desperate Soul

[4:32] 10. Trees

[4:18] 11. 3,000 Choices

Fun, gutsy, original, and a powerful performer, Roberta Donnay is an award winning songwriter and vocalist. Her new release, "soul reverse" features bluesy, alternative pop songs. Heartfelt lyrics make songs such as "Walkin' the Line" and "Catch a Falling Angel" come alive while her passion for the environment resonates in "Trees". New songs "Jody", "This Train", and "I Will Not Be Blind" exemplify this artist's statements on social injustice and relationships, inspiring listeners to shatter illusions about the world we live in with a very 90's edge.

Donnay was born in Washington D.C. and knew from the start what she wanted to do with her life. "I knew I was a singer when I was five," she said. "I must have done it in a past life, 'cause I knew how to do it when I was born." She would seek out music at every opportunity and taught herself to sing by singing along with the radio. "I thought musicians were gods," she said.

"Whatever you visualize in your life ... it can happen," said Donnay. Her positive attitude and unpretentious demeanor are immediately obvious when speaking with her. This electric redhead gives her all at a performance and, amidst the catchy rhythms and bluesy riffs, tries to send a message as weIl.

Donnay uses her platform as a performer to promote world peace, preservation of the environment and the fair treatment of indigenous people. She said we should "honor the people who were originally here," and calls for "respect for all human beings. It's a real waste to get attention for your art and do nothing with it. People need to have a voice. All people need that. I'm fortunate 'cause I have a singing voice."

Soul Reverse

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