JONI LAURENCE: Short Time

Joni Laurence

Short Time

© 1998 Joni Laurence (660654806320)

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original, contemporary, acoustic...not your mother's folk...folk

tracks

1 Courtyard Cafe
2 Another Moon
3 St. Lawrence
4 Short Time
5 Socrates
6 Browntown
7 Contentedly Ever After
8 I'm Okay
9 We Will Be
10 I've Been Thinking
11 How Could I Leave
12 Crushes
13 It's a Girl
14 I Want To Stay

notes

Joni Laurence sings, plays guitar and writes songs, not unlike lots of other white girls with guitars. So, what makes her stand out?

The truth is, Joni's music is everything you already love about acoustic music...strong vocals, meaningful lyrics and memorable melodies.Joni's writing style is a unique blend of irony, imagination and introspection. She writes of common occurrences in the human experience, and her songs of love and relationships are distinctively realistic.

Joni experiments with a variety of musical styles including a more traditional folk sound, a blues flare and a rock/pop beat. Her smooth alto voice communicates a continuum of emotion...one minute it's playful and sweet, the next brooding and reflective.

Reviews:
"Musically, Short Time's spare, sensitive arrangements reveal a light touch and a flair for beauty. Nowhere is this more apparent than the vocals. The harmonies are striking and rarely cliched, while Ms. Laurence's lead vocals are passionate and deft." The Scope, CD Review, April 1998

"Joni Laurence is not just an original singer and songwriter...there are thousands of them. Joni is an intelligent and honest singer and songwriter. I continue to be amazed at the depth of her CD...it's a 'keeper' in my revolving stack!" Al Campbell, Fan, Chicago, IL

"Such a warm, compelling voice that wraps around a melody. Her lyrics really draw you into the song. I am excited and looking forward to hearing more from Joni in the future." - Darcy Greder, Producer, Blue Moon Coffeehouse, Bloomington, IL

"Listeners frequently request Joni's music. Writing with straightforward lyrics fused with true emotions, Joni has the uncanny ability to tap into the common experience, to reach in and touch you, right where you live." - Tracey Rose, Host, Womyn Makin' Waves, WEFT 90.1, Champaign, IL

reviews

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  • I listen to this CD all the time
    author: Kim Brooks

    Wonderful voice and guitar playing, exceptional songwriting! Contentedly Ever After tells a great story about having passion in your life. Crushes is the kind of song you just have to sing along with. Another Moon has some viola in it that really sounds nice with Joni's voice. I listen to this CD all the time and never tire of it.

  • My favorite CD
    author: Tammera

    Short Time is my favorite CD. No matter what my mood may be, Short Time fits the bill. I'm from the Midwest, so of course I love Browntown. I also love Contentedly Ever After, and Courtyard Cafe is very funny and upbeat. Joni's lyrics and voice are beautiful and clever. Obviously I highly recommend this CD.

  • Brilliant writing
    author: Jan Kane

    Joni has a superb voice and she is an outstanding guitar player but I think her real genius is in her songwriting. These songs transport me; they make me laugh, cry, think, yearn. Who could ask for more from a CD. My 14 year old daughter and I both love this CD and we listen to it A LOT. And anyone who has ever lived in a smallish town with mediocre weather will LOVE Browntown.

  • author: joni_laurence

    The Muse's News August 1999 by Ben Ohmart Ever been to Epcot? Remember that song called 'Two Brothers' they play in The American Adventure? Well, I've just listened to a cd from a voice that reminds me SO much of that song, it's scary. 'Another Moon' is smooth, with a beautiful voice leading it into 'another time, another place, another moon, another space'. With elegant violin helping it on; not to mention the overdubbed backing vocals that...well...I used beautiful already. Fudge. But let's start at the beginning. Before 'Another Moon' there is 'Courtyard Cafe' which is a brilliant satire on the open mike night life of your typically frustrated cafe. She's coming on after terrible comedians, trying to perform amongst people reading and talking, hearing only her friends clapping for Joni, the first timer. The really is quality stuff. I like the way she does her lyrics - in paragraph style. Frankly, that's how some country or folk songs should be, since they're so story-oriented. 'Contentedly Ever After' has a simplicity that lends it more power. And the title says it all. Again promoting the power of this positive woman, 'I wanna live my life from one day to the next day', after soft, solo guitar, starts 'I've Been Thinking'. Deep cello drips in to underline moments of supreme wishing. I grew up with Capt. and Tenille and Helen Reddy. Yes, I did. Joni puts a soft 90s spin into that musical movement that, Thank God, is still intoned into the soul of certain gifted people. Joni is gifted.

  • author: Al Campbell

    Joni Laurence is not just an original singer and songwriter....there are thousands of them. Joni is an intelligent and honest singer and songwriter. She takes you to remarkable places. She lets you into herself to see both her physical and her emotional surroundings through her heart. "Contentedly Ever After" speaks more about the TRUE passion in relationships than any other song I've heard. It goes to the SOUL of any relationship. If her songs don't touch you at some level, then you've never loved someone....and perhaps, you never shall.

  • author: Lynn Lefevre

    "She has got a voice that will carry you home. Close your eyes and enjoy the journey!!" Lynn Lefevre

  • author: joni_laurence

    Laurence takes to the stage with a troubadour's heart by Josh Larsen The Regional News January 21, 1999 If you'd like to spend an hour of so with a modern-day troubadour, head over to Borders Books and Music, in Orland Park, and catch the free performance by singer-songwriter Joni Laurence tomorrow night. Armed with an observant eye, a sharp wit and the soft strumming of an acoustic guitar, Laurence travels to coffeehouses, libraries and college venues offering honest, matter-of-fact accounts of the loves and losses that make up everyday life. Take "Courtyard Cafe," for example, the first song on "Short Time," Laurence's debut disc. While cheerful chords spill from her guitar, the lyrics unveil Laurence's thoughts as she waits for her turn to take the stage at an open mic. "Next act another white guy and his guitar/He played songs that sound like this one/I guess I'd say he's my inspiration," she sings in a voice so delicate it's like a musical whisper. "Courtyard Cafe," flavored only by the bass guitar and harmony vocals of backup musicians Jim Layton and M.J. Walker, is about as sparse as Laurence gets. The album's few lively moments include the title track, where the addition of five other background singers is reminiscent of Ladysmith Black Mombazo's contributions to Paul Simon's "Graceland," and "Crushes," a bouncing number that could be described as rockabilly if its percussion had consisted of more than snapping fingers in the background. "Crushes" is a fairly straightforward love ditty, but the next song, "It's a Girl," returns to Laurence's strength as a storyteller. "A passion that brought me into this world drove them away from each other," she delicately sings, telling (from a baby's point of view) the tale of two young lovers who are separated by war, marry someone else and then rediscover each other later in life. You won't often find such engaging stories in the lyrics of music's biggest acts; coming across them in the work of a performer as low-profile as Laurence makes the discovery even more of a treat.

  • author: joni_laurence

    Singer Joni Laurence finding herself by Kirby Pringle News-Gazette Staff Writer January 21, 1999 When it's just you and your guitar on stage, there's no place to hide. And for a shy person, that can be unnerving. "I'd say I'm fairly comfortable on stage now, but it's taken a while," says Joni Laurence, a Champaign singer-songwriter who opens at 7:30 today for Canadian folk singer Lynn Miles. "It took me a while to get going as a soloist. It's very different when you don't have the support of other people on stage," she says. "When I was in Dear Connie, I was the most introverted of all the members. I've had to be much more confident and skilled in my playing" to overcome that shy streak. "I have to be well-rehearsed." Laurence has been performing solo for the past four years, but only recently has she kicked her career into a higher gear. She released her first solo album, "Short Time," last year and has been busy working on the business side of her career -- booking more gigs, and marketing and promoting herself. "You really need to let people know who you are and what you are about," Laurence says. So who is Joni Laurence? She grew up in Quincy, Illinois, and was raised in a single-parent household. But she wasn't a musical prodigy as a kid. After a false start trying to learn the guitar at age 12, she didn't learn the instrument in earnest until she was 20. "I knew some people who played and I learned a few easy songs from them," Laurence says. "When I moved to Champaign I found a lot more people to play with. My mother also played upright bass and guitar, and I think that motivated me. I loved those special times when she would get the guitar out and play it." The gathering of guitar playing friends evolved into an all-female group, the Girlfriends. "We all played and sang the same parts, it was really a lot of fun. We also spent a lot of time playing basketball and drinking beer. It was a very sweet and innocent thing -- but playing in the Girlfriends was also a great learning experience," Laurence adds. The Girlfriends evolved into Dear Connie, a band more focused on creating and performing. It was through the Girlfriends and Dear Connie, that Laurence met M.J. Walker. The two occasionally perform together on stage. "I edit myself constantly when I'm writing a song," Laurence says. "I have to ponder every line and ask myself the question, 'Is this the way I want this song to sound?'" She writes about love and relationships, about experiences and introspection. Her lyrics tell straightforward stories, without ponderous wordplay or abstract concepts. In that respect, Laurence follows in the footsteps of those singer-songwriters she most admires: Suzanne Vega, Nanci Griffith, Mary Chapin Carpenter. "As I've gotten older and life has gotten less dramatic, my songs are a little more thoughtful. They are better crafted. I take more care with each line and each word. Every part of a song is purposeful," Laurence says. She writes the lyrics and music together, starting with a theme or emotion, like having a crush or a nervous open stage performance. Her music is predominantly in the folk mode with shadings of pop/blues/rock. "I listen to a variety of music now," Laurence adds. "I want to be exposed to a wide range of sounds. ...When I'm in the audience, one of the things I pay attention to is how the artist carries on the show between songs. It's a delicate art and that's one of the things I struggle with. Each performer needs to figure out what he or she wants to be on stage. The more comfortable I am being myself on stage, the more I like it."

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