Coney Island Folksinger Records In Nashville
12 January 2012 |
Posted by Jim Masson |
CONEY Island will never be the same again the next time I go for a quiet seaside walk along its potholed road enjoying the off-the-beaten track ambience. I called down to meet Jayne Trimble alternate folk singer and songwriter and was seriously taken back by her great musical talent.
Jayne grew up with the eclectic sounds of pop, country and folk in her early life and her more formal education in music began at Down High School and she later sang in the Down Choral Society as a teenager. She said, “As I got more involved in music, I found I had a natural affinity for singing and harmony and folk melodies."
But since those early days, she has followed her passion in country and western and folk music and has just recently returned from Nashville Tennessee, having produced her first EP.
Jayne Trimble from Coney Island has cut an EP in Nashville, Tennessee.
"I spent three months in Nashville. A fantastic mix of music is played there, not just the C&W you hear at the Grand Old Oprey. It was a brilliant experience. I recorded an EP and it was produced by REM’s John Keane and it is going well.
“Nashville was always somewhere I wanted to go to. Great things can happen to musicians there. Your career in music can just spark to life if you make the right contact.
“The people I admire in music are quite varied such as the Carter family, Alison Krauss Lucinda Williams, Emmy Lou Harris, Johnny cash, Joni Mitchell, Tom, Waitts, Patti Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Jackson Brown, Leonard Cohen… to name but a few.
“I enjoyed listening to the different styles of music such as bluegrass from the Appalachian and Smokey Mountains. The old Irish-Scottish music traditions are deeply embedded there. I did a walk about there and it was great to see how their music was such a way of life where families joined together is sessions. They would sit on their porches or in their living rooms and play instruments such as the guitar, banjo and fiddle.
Walking on Coney Island beach.
“I have been doing gigs back home in Co Down and I enjoy playing in living room sessions which are close up and fun. I do quite a few house shows. But ultimately I would like to tour America and Canada with a big name group or artist and build my career on this.
“At the moment I'm hoping to set up an American trip which should include gigs in Canada. There is a great music scene in Canada and there are many great bands such as Deep Dark Woods playing there now.”
Jayne was working in London in early 2011 when she decided to take the plunge and head for Nashville. Her determination to work flat out for three months to pay for her trip was well supported by her many fans. She arrived in Nashville with a suitcase of dreams and her world-class Lowden guitar... and Lady Luck was on her side!
“I had made contacts at the Belfast Nashville Festival in February and forged close links with producers, songwriters and people who were key in the music industry in Nashville. Eventually in September 2011 I arrived there and it was literally an experience I will never forget.
“I managed to record, mix and mastered four tracks in five days. It was very hard work and I even slept in the studio. The backing musicians were top class. I was a dream come true. I’d love to go back there sometime. It was like a home from home.
“But it would all never have happened had it not been for a chance meeting with a producer at the Americana awards who asked me to sing right in front of the hotel. So I did, and fortunately I had my backing vocalist Julia with me. He gave me a number and a week later he demoed my tracks, sent them over to John and a couple of weeks after that I was in the studio.”
Jayne Trimble jams with renowned guitar maker George Lowden at his showroom in Downpatrick.
Jayne is looking forward to the Canadian leg of her next trip and knows there is a strong folk based tradition waiting out there for her to tap in to.
"I suppose what is driving me is the need to get my music out there. Here in Northern Ireland there is a growth in the alternative folk scene with people such as Davy Michel and Gary Lightbody at the Oh Yeah Centre. The Arts Council is very supportive and the Fastforward scheme too is a positive step. But I would love to see the music scene here really a take off.”
Finger-picking one of her own compositions sitting on the sea wall over looking the beach at Coney Island, Jayne sounded at one with her Lowden guitar, a beautifully crafted instrument made of rosewood and spruce. “It is a bright sounding guitar with loads of bass and is a dream to play. I can remember meeting George Lowden when I was growing up but I never thought back then that I would be have been buying such an instrument from him from his showroom in Downpatrick. He now supplies to musicians all over the world."
I can still hear the sounds of Jayne's guitar and the exquisite voice that one day hopes to take Nashville and the folk scene by storm.
You can check Jayne out and buy her music at:
www.facebook/jaynetrimble (Nashville/singer/songwriter)
Twitter @ jaynetrimble.com
