Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Calling To Say....
Hello Friends !!
Serena has just recorded a brand new Christmas song with Jon Levine ..... "Calling to Say" is now available on iTunes in Canada and has been added to CHUM FM and EZ Rock !!
Serena will be playing the new tune around town in December ...
Dec 13 - Canada AM
Dec 14 - CHUM FM Christmas Wish Breakfast Show
Dec 16 - CBC News Sunday
Dec 20 - EZ Rock Christmas Event @ the CN Tower 7:00am -8:00am
Dec 20 - MUSIC FOR CHRISTMAS EVENT with MAGIC 106.1 and the GUELPH YOUTH MUSIC CENTER
Dec 21 - CBC - Q
Serena has just recorded a brand new Christmas song with Jon Levine ..... "Calling to Say" is now available on iTunes in Canada and has been added to CHUM FM and EZ Rock !!
Serena will be playing the new tune around town in December ...
Dec 13 - Canada AM
Dec 14 - CHUM FM Christmas Wish Breakfast Show
Dec 16 - CBC News Sunday
Dec 20 - EZ Rock Christmas Event @ the CN Tower 7:00am -8:00am
Dec 20 - MUSIC FOR CHRISTMAS EVENT with MAGIC 106.1 and the GUELPH YOUTH MUSIC CENTER
Dec 21 - CBC - Q
Friday, August 31, 2007
Serena in Guelph
Serena is playing at the War Memorial Hall in Guelph, Ontario on September 23.....
Tickets available at www.ticketpro.ca
toll free number to call for tickets is 1-866-908-9090
Tickets available at www.ticketpro.ca
toll free number to call for tickets is 1-866-908-9090
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Hugh's Room show on the CBC !
hey guys
Serena's concert at Hugh's Room was taped by the CBC and will air tonight on Canada Live - With Matt Galloway :CBC Radio Two
http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/radio/
Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 8:00 p.m.
From Toronto, Sarah Harmer (nominated for the Juno for Songwriter of the Year; her album ”I’m a Mountain” is also nominated in the Adult Alternative Album of the Year category) teams up with Winnipeg’s Weakerthans, purveyors of thoughtful, well-crafted, introspective songs. Later, concerts by Serena Ryder, and she of the incredible, unforgettable voice - Treasa Lavasseur, whose debut CD “Not a Straight Line” has been getting hot reviews all over North America.
Serena's concert at Hugh's Room was taped by the CBC and will air tonight on Canada Live - With Matt Galloway :CBC Radio Two
http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/radio/
Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 8:00 p.m.
From Toronto, Sarah Harmer (nominated for the Juno for Songwriter of the Year; her album ”I’m a Mountain” is also nominated in the Adult Alternative Album of the Year category) teams up with Winnipeg’s Weakerthans, purveyors of thoughtful, well-crafted, introspective songs. Later, concerts by Serena Ryder, and she of the incredible, unforgettable voice - Treasa Lavasseur, whose debut CD “Not a Straight Line” has been getting hot reviews all over North America.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Serena on RocKwiz !
RocKwiz is a music trivia quiz show that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s an entertaining mix of music, quiz, chat, celebrity guests, and contestants drawn from the live audience, who play off for nothing more than the honour of winning! Recorded in the fabulous Gershwin Room at Melbourne’s legendary rock headquarters, the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda, RocKwiz is hosted by Australia’s Brainiest TV Star Julia Zemiro and resident rock brain, Brian Nankervis. The RocKwiz Orkestra (Peter Luscombe, James Black, Mark Ferrie) provides the musical clues and backs the special musical guests in performance.
Check out Serena's on RocKwiz on March 31st at 9:20pm ...
http://www20.sbs.com.au/rockwiz/index.php
http://www20.sbs.com.au/rockwiz/index.php
cheers!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Quotes
Serena Ryder - “Sisters of Mercy”
In an era afflicted by the ham-fisted use of AutoTune, this artist’s quietly confident phrasing and purity of tone remind us just how much illumination an honest, gifted singer can cast over her material.
John Sakamoto – The Toronto Star ‘Anti-Hit List’
This career's on fire
‘Ryder storms the roots music scene’
Ontario artist Serena Ryder is set to become one of the brightest lights on the Canadian music scene with the official release of If Your Memory Serves You Well.
Edmonton Journal.
When Serena Ryder sings about love, the most jaded world-weariness dissolves.
ELLE Magazine
Tonight offers a rare opportunity to see a singer (Serena Ryder) on the cusp of stardom. Brisbane Mail Courier
(She) has an impressive fearlessness. Given the right breaks, she could become a major force.
The Boston Globe
Both delightful and slightly spiteful, Ryder’s soulful voice is as full-bodied as a bottle of cabernet sauvignon but as unpretentious as a can of beer. Although an enduring and original individual, she’s (vocally) somewhere between…….. Janis Joplin and a …. Joss Stone.
Derrick Lang (Associated Press)
At 22, Serena Ryder is blessed with a powerhouse, multi-octave voice and enough confidence or cockiness to close this album with a completely a cappella, blow-down-the-doors cover of Etta James' classic ‘At Last.
Kevin O’Hare (Springfield Republican)
If you're keen on hearing a voice of the future you have to check out Serena Ryder...her pure vocals have been making impressions with club owners everywhere and the name won't be unknown for long.
The Ottawa Sun
Like listening to the teenaged Aretha Franklin, it's impossible not to be physically shaken when this 20-year-old…sings.
Elle Magazine
Warm and familiar…often compared to Tracy Chapman and Aretha Franklin, the young songstress channels the sincerity of the former and the feistiness of the latter though her three-octave range and powerful songwriting. –
Eye, Toronto
Her powerful pipes, evoking Tracy Chapman and Janis Joplin in equal measure, have impressed the likes of Steve Earle, who invited her to tour with him Down Under.
Now Magazine, Toronto
…by show's end, Ryder had won over every person in the room with her vivacious personality, lovely voice and great songs. Her performance left you confident you'd just witnessed an artist who, for once, not only deserves the hype - she transcends it.
Now Magazine, Toronto
In an era afflicted by the ham-fisted use of AutoTune, this artist’s quietly confident phrasing and purity of tone remind us just how much illumination an honest, gifted singer can cast over her material.
John Sakamoto – The Toronto Star ‘Anti-Hit List’
This career's on fire
‘Ryder storms the roots music scene’
Ontario artist Serena Ryder is set to become one of the brightest lights on the Canadian music scene with the official release of If Your Memory Serves You Well.
Edmonton Journal.
When Serena Ryder sings about love, the most jaded world-weariness dissolves.
ELLE Magazine
Tonight offers a rare opportunity to see a singer (Serena Ryder) on the cusp of stardom. Brisbane Mail Courier
(She) has an impressive fearlessness. Given the right breaks, she could become a major force.
The Boston Globe
Both delightful and slightly spiteful, Ryder’s soulful voice is as full-bodied as a bottle of cabernet sauvignon but as unpretentious as a can of beer. Although an enduring and original individual, she’s (vocally) somewhere between…….. Janis Joplin and a …. Joss Stone.
Derrick Lang (Associated Press)
At 22, Serena Ryder is blessed with a powerhouse, multi-octave voice and enough confidence or cockiness to close this album with a completely a cappella, blow-down-the-doors cover of Etta James' classic ‘At Last.
Kevin O’Hare (Springfield Republican)
If you're keen on hearing a voice of the future you have to check out Serena Ryder...her pure vocals have been making impressions with club owners everywhere and the name won't be unknown for long.
The Ottawa Sun
Like listening to the teenaged Aretha Franklin, it's impossible not to be physically shaken when this 20-year-old…sings.
Elle Magazine
Warm and familiar…often compared to Tracy Chapman and Aretha Franklin, the young songstress channels the sincerity of the former and the feistiness of the latter though her three-octave range and powerful songwriting. –
Eye, Toronto
Her powerful pipes, evoking Tracy Chapman and Janis Joplin in equal measure, have impressed the likes of Steve Earle, who invited her to tour with him Down Under.
Now Magazine, Toronto
…by show's end, Ryder had won over every person in the room with her vivacious personality, lovely voice and great songs. Her performance left you confident you'd just witnessed an artist who, for once, not only deserves the hype - she transcends it.
Now Magazine, Toronto
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Live Music Report
Serena Ryder
presented by Richard Flohil
March 9, 2007 • Hugh's Room • Toronto
A Memory That Will Serve Me Wellby Sebastian Cook with photos by Roger Humbert
It takes ten seconds for a boxer to be counted out in the ring. It took less than that for Serena Ryder to completely stun this reporter at the start of her a cappella rendition of “Melancholy Blue”; and about three minutes, or the length of a round, to announce herself as a once-in-a-generation, Dylanesque visionary who quite literally has no ceiling. This 24-year old native of Millbrook, Ontario is truly The Matrix as it relates to singer-songwriters: a jaw-dropping three-octave voice; gorgeously rhythmic and percussive guitar chops; a remarkably mature and open-minded stylistic aesthetic and range that metaphorically melds past, present and future; and above all one of the most utterly joyous, captivating and free troubadour’s personalities one could ever hope to witness grace a stage.
On this night at Hugh’s Room, a ‘standing room only’ crowd of about 270 was treated to a perfectly flowing mix of music from: Ryder’s newest album If Your Memory Serves You Well, an exhaustively selected 15-song tribute covering four generations of essential Canadian songs; 2004’s Unlikely Emergency; and unreleased material.
The aforementioned “Melancholy Blue” (Harlan Howard) was the opening salvo with which Ryder revealed the soul of a gospel queen, the resoluteness of a road-wary country twanger, and the vibration and pitch control of a jazz or opera singer.
Serena the storyteller introduced herself in the segue to “Music Soup”, strumming gently on her guitar while invoking the story of an inspirational Australian friend and hostess stricken with Cushing’s disease. Her guitar work was simple, slappy and authoritatively yet gently rhythmic, melodically harkening Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” (no kidding) and a bit of the Traffic classic “Dear Mr. Fantasy”. Soothing harmonica lines bridged poignant verse and chorus. At the risk of musical blasphemy it was like seeing a young and of course female hybrid of Bob Dylan and Neil Young, with a much more brilliantly refined voice and more nuanced, musical guitar work. Next was her first original, “Somebody Too”, an acidly funny blast at “a man named George Dubya Bush” who “Only loved his mother, never loved another”, she crooned.
Back to the storyteller’s tip, several songs later with “Sisters of Mercy” she paid homage to Leonard Cohen with a grace, humour and personal resonance that no 24-year old has any business being able to pull off. It started with an improvised call through song to the sound engineer to “please turn up my monitor”. Midway through the song, her band began to layer itself into the concert, starting with a gorgeously floating electric guitar.
The classic, 18th century French melody inspired and oft-adapted “My Heart Cries For You” was touchingly dedicated to her band. Once again, Ryder displayed her innate gift for the shift, between gospel-soul and country-blues tempo and voice. Her knack for the crescendo, which is hair-raising when done properly but grating when misused, truly stood out here. As gifted as she is, Ryder also knows not to get in her own way or steal the song.
Next, Ryder turned “Some of These Days” (the Shelton Brooks version) into a booty-shaking cabaret joint, with a nod to Santana’s “Black Magic Woman”. She captured that historical metaphor right down to her silky-black attire and dancing with a glass of red wine.
Two tunes later, we heard an original from Unlikely Emergency called “Skin Crawl” that made my skin tingle. Announcing it as one of her original love songs and holding her guitar to her head at the beginning, she sang “You’ve made my skin crawl further than ever before / only know you’re not passed out on my floor”. Has it really been 13 years since Alanis Morissette dropped “Jagged Little Pill”? All of a sudden, I feel a bit dated but it’s nice to hear that singularly emotive and raw spirit come to life again in the next generation.
The singular moment of human beauty from this night so full of it was her story of playing the next tune, “Good Morning Starshine” from the musical Hair, for a class of Grade 1 students in Winnipeg; this on the heels of Ryder having missed her flight and then being moved to join the class after receiving a box of drawings from them at her hotel room. The song itself moved to an infectious Latin swing beat, ending with a “cha-cha-cha” flourish.
Just as quickly, the spirit of The Who visited the stage in the form of Ryder’s own “Just Another Day”; with its simple, pounding drumbeats and bass line, the heavy buzz of classic and progressive rock guitar, and lyrics that still managed to flow effortlessly with such a hard-driving song.
The final song before the encore was her magnificent and hugely popular original ballad “Weak in the Knees”. With an achingly visceral voice she sang its poignant and brilliantly-constructed verse such as “Would you mind if I pretended we’re somewhere else … would you mind if I pretended you were someone else … I’m weak in the knees for you … But I’ll stand for you if you want me too.” She ended it with a toast of her wine glass, and one wondered if there had been water in the chalice at the start of the show. Weak in the knees? Yes, that’s one way to describe the effect of Serena Ryder and perhaps that would have been the way to close the show.
For an encore after leaving the stage to the most rapturous applause I’ve heard in Hugh’s Room, she offered an acid-rock take on “Morning Dew”, a personal top-five amongst Grateful Dead songs that I have now learned has its roots right here in Toronto courtesy of folk singer Bonnie Dobson. The song is indeed very much alive and well.
Perhaps what is most inspiring about Serena Ryder is that it seems clear we need not worry about her being worn down or corrupted by the vagaries of the music business itself, life on the road, or acclaim. She is acutely aware of the impact she has on wide-eyed children and equally wide-eyed if considerably more jaded adults; and relishes it for the blessing and joy that it is to have the platform, without one iota of superficial pretense or ego. As Andrew Craig of CBC Radio Two’s Canada Live relayed during his introduction, Serena Ryder is indeed an old soul, who it seems “has been aged in oak barrels.” After the show, pianist Kris Craig said that after time on the road she feels like a sister. If you see her coming to your town, drink her in and savour every last cathartic, magnificently envisioned and delivered drop. And yeah, bring the family.
March 9, 2007 • Hugh's Room • Toronto
A Memory That Will Serve Me Wellby Sebastian Cook with photos by Roger Humbert
It takes ten seconds for a boxer to be counted out in the ring. It took less than that for Serena Ryder to completely stun this reporter at the start of her a cappella rendition of “Melancholy Blue”; and about three minutes, or the length of a round, to announce herself as a once-in-a-generation, Dylanesque visionary who quite literally has no ceiling. This 24-year old native of Millbrook, Ontario is truly The Matrix as it relates to singer-songwriters: a jaw-dropping three-octave voice; gorgeously rhythmic and percussive guitar chops; a remarkably mature and open-minded stylistic aesthetic and range that metaphorically melds past, present and future; and above all one of the most utterly joyous, captivating and free troubadour’s personalities one could ever hope to witness grace a stage.
On this night at Hugh’s Room, a ‘standing room only’ crowd of about 270 was treated to a perfectly flowing mix of music from: Ryder’s newest album If Your Memory Serves You Well, an exhaustively selected 15-song tribute covering four generations of essential Canadian songs; 2004’s Unlikely Emergency; and unreleased material.
The aforementioned “Melancholy Blue” (Harlan Howard) was the opening salvo with which Ryder revealed the soul of a gospel queen, the resoluteness of a road-wary country twanger, and the vibration and pitch control of a jazz or opera singer.
Serena the storyteller introduced herself in the segue to “Music Soup”, strumming gently on her guitar while invoking the story of an inspirational Australian friend and hostess stricken with Cushing’s disease. Her guitar work was simple, slappy and authoritatively yet gently rhythmic, melodically harkening Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” (no kidding) and a bit of the Traffic classic “Dear Mr. Fantasy”. Soothing harmonica lines bridged poignant verse and chorus. At the risk of musical blasphemy it was like seeing a young and of course female hybrid of Bob Dylan and Neil Young, with a much more brilliantly refined voice and more nuanced, musical guitar work. Next was her first original, “Somebody Too”, an acidly funny blast at “a man named George Dubya Bush” who “Only loved his mother, never loved another”, she crooned.
Back to the storyteller’s tip, several songs later with “Sisters of Mercy” she paid homage to Leonard Cohen with a grace, humour and personal resonance that no 24-year old has any business being able to pull off. It started with an improvised call through song to the sound engineer to “please turn up my monitor”. Midway through the song, her band began to layer itself into the concert, starting with a gorgeously floating electric guitar.
The classic, 18th century French melody inspired and oft-adapted “My Heart Cries For You” was touchingly dedicated to her band. Once again, Ryder displayed her innate gift for the shift, between gospel-soul and country-blues tempo and voice. Her knack for the crescendo, which is hair-raising when done properly but grating when misused, truly stood out here. As gifted as she is, Ryder also knows not to get in her own way or steal the song.
Next, Ryder turned “Some of These Days” (the Shelton Brooks version) into a booty-shaking cabaret joint, with a nod to Santana’s “Black Magic Woman”. She captured that historical metaphor right down to her silky-black attire and dancing with a glass of red wine.
Two tunes later, we heard an original from Unlikely Emergency called “Skin Crawl” that made my skin tingle. Announcing it as one of her original love songs and holding her guitar to her head at the beginning, she sang “You’ve made my skin crawl further than ever before / only know you’re not passed out on my floor”. Has it really been 13 years since Alanis Morissette dropped “Jagged Little Pill”? All of a sudden, I feel a bit dated but it’s nice to hear that singularly emotive and raw spirit come to life again in the next generation.
The singular moment of human beauty from this night so full of it was her story of playing the next tune, “Good Morning Starshine” from the musical Hair, for a class of Grade 1 students in Winnipeg; this on the heels of Ryder having missed her flight and then being moved to join the class after receiving a box of drawings from them at her hotel room. The song itself moved to an infectious Latin swing beat, ending with a “cha-cha-cha” flourish.
Just as quickly, the spirit of The Who visited the stage in the form of Ryder’s own “Just Another Day”; with its simple, pounding drumbeats and bass line, the heavy buzz of classic and progressive rock guitar, and lyrics that still managed to flow effortlessly with such a hard-driving song.
The final song before the encore was her magnificent and hugely popular original ballad “Weak in the Knees”. With an achingly visceral voice she sang its poignant and brilliantly-constructed verse such as “Would you mind if I pretended we’re somewhere else … would you mind if I pretended you were someone else … I’m weak in the knees for you … But I’ll stand for you if you want me too.” She ended it with a toast of her wine glass, and one wondered if there had been water in the chalice at the start of the show. Weak in the knees? Yes, that’s one way to describe the effect of Serena Ryder and perhaps that would have been the way to close the show.
For an encore after leaving the stage to the most rapturous applause I’ve heard in Hugh’s Room, she offered an acid-rock take on “Morning Dew”, a personal top-five amongst Grateful Dead songs that I have now learned has its roots right here in Toronto courtesy of folk singer Bonnie Dobson. The song is indeed very much alive and well.
Perhaps what is most inspiring about Serena Ryder is that it seems clear we need not worry about her being worn down or corrupted by the vagaries of the music business itself, life on the road, or acclaim. She is acutely aware of the impact she has on wide-eyed children and equally wide-eyed if considerably more jaded adults; and relishes it for the blessing and joy that it is to have the platform, without one iota of superficial pretense or ego. As Andrew Craig of CBC Radio Two’s Canada Live relayed during his introduction, Serena Ryder is indeed an old soul, who it seems “has been aged in oak barrels.” After the show, pianist Kris Craig said that after time on the road she feels like a sister. If you see her coming to your town, drink her in and savour every last cathartic, magnificently envisioned and delivered drop. And yeah, bring the family.
The band
Serena Ryder – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
Dan Siljer – lead guitar
Kris Craig – keys, guitar
Depen Pandya – bass
Michael Thompson – drums
Weak in the Knees - video shoot ! + SXSW
Hey guys,
here are a few updates from Serena's camp !!
CMW was great ... Serena played a Sold Out show at Hugh's Room on Friday night, and was a part of a killer singer songwriters showcase at the MOD Club on Saturday eveing featuring Jim Cuddy, the Trews, Bedouin Soundclash and Theory of a Deadman ...
Serena will be shooting a video for her second single "Weak in the Knees" tomorrow ......with Blink Pictures director Kevin De Freitas!!! The video should hit the airwaves at the beginning of April !!
On Thursday Serena will be heading down to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas to perform:
Thursday March 15th
2pm - SixShooter Records / Mint Party
Headhunters
720 Red River
Friday March 16
Noon - Austin Music Magazine
Jovita's
1619 South 1st Street
6pm - NXNE BBQ
The Caswell House
1404 West Ave
9pm - Backporch Records Showcase
Cedar St. Cpurtyard
208 West 4th St.
cheers
here are a few updates from Serena's camp !!
CMW was great ... Serena played a Sold Out show at Hugh's Room on Friday night, and was a part of a killer singer songwriters showcase at the MOD Club on Saturday eveing featuring Jim Cuddy, the Trews, Bedouin Soundclash and Theory of a Deadman ...
Serena will be shooting a video for her second single "Weak in the Knees" tomorrow ......with Blink Pictures director Kevin De Freitas!!! The video should hit the airwaves at the beginning of April !!
On Thursday Serena will be heading down to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas to perform:
Thursday March 15th
2pm - SixShooter Records / Mint Party
Headhunters
720 Red River
Friday March 16
Noon - Austin Music Magazine
Jovita's
1619 South 1st Street
6pm - NXNE BBQ
The Caswell House
1404 West Ave
9pm - Backporch Records Showcase
Cedar St. Cpurtyard
208 West 4th St.
cheers
Friday, March 2, 2007
Ryder mixes covers & new songs
By ALLAN WIGNEY -- Sun Media
Last year, Serena Ryder's infectious original songs, championed by fan Hawksley Workman and praised by critics nationwide, earned Serena Ryder a deal with EMI Music Canada.
So, naturally, Ryder the celebrated songwriter last November delivered to her label ... a collection of covers.
Canadian covers, to be precise -- everything from a suitably sprightly Good Morning Starshine to a reverent You Were On My Mind, complete with guitar work from its composer Sylvia Tyson.
Plus, it should be said, a handful of originals to round out the proceedings.
"It was important to include a few of my own songs," Ryder says, "just to assure people that I am a songwriter myself, and to give an idea of what is coming next."
She says, in fact, the process of selecting and arranging the songs on If Your Memory Serves You Well proved beneficial in ways that went beyond paying homage to influences.
"Since doing this album I've been writing a lot more," Ryder says. "I gained a lot from putting myself in other writers' shoes."
So, naturally, Ryder the celebrated songwriter last November delivered to her label ... a collection of covers.
Canadian covers, to be precise -- everything from a suitably sprightly Good Morning Starshine to a reverent You Were On My Mind, complete with guitar work from its composer Sylvia Tyson.
Plus, it should be said, a handful of originals to round out the proceedings.
"It was important to include a few of my own songs," Ryder says, "just to assure people that I am a songwriter myself, and to give an idea of what is coming next."
She says, in fact, the process of selecting and arranging the songs on If Your Memory Serves You Well proved beneficial in ways that went beyond paying homage to influences.
"Since doing this album I've been writing a lot more," Ryder says. "I gained a lot from putting myself in other writers' shoes."
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Montreal Gazette - She puts a new spin on the old songs
For her big-label debut, Serena Ryder dips into a Canadian song bag and pulls out some real plums - including tunes you never associated with eh-sayers from the north.
BERNARD PERUSSE, The GazettePublished: Thursday, March 01, 2007
Enough about the Great American Songbook, already. There's a Great Canadian Songbook, too - and singer-songwriter Serena Ryder is clearly among its biggest fans.
She has taken the unusual step of devoting most of her major-label debut on EMI, If Your Memory Serves You Well, to celebrating classics from this side of the border.
The selection will surprise those who didn't know of the Canuck connection to some of these evergreens.
Bob Dylan's This Wheel's on Fire, the song that gives the album its title, was co-written with Green's Corners, Ont., native Rick Danko of the Band.
The Lovin Spoonful's Coconut Grove was written by the group's masterful melodist, John Sebastian, with the Spoonful's late guitarist, Toronto-born Zal Yanovsky.
You Were on My Mind was a big hit for the San Francisco quintet We Five, but it was penned by Chatham, Ont.'s own Sylvia Tyson - who makes a cameo appearance on Ryder's irresistible reggae-inflected version of the pop perennial.
It Doesn't Matter Anymore, the Buddy Holly classic written by Ottawa boy Paul Anka, gets a barrelhouse gospel makeover from Ryder.
The disc also contains a primitive recording of Ryder, now 24, singing the bespectacled legend's That'll Be the Day at the age of 7, before an appreciative audience at the Lions Club in Millbrook, Ont., her hometown.
"I was obsessed with Buddy Holly when I was younger," she said in a recent interview at a Montreal hotel. "I had a vinyl record of his - and I loved Linda Ronstadt." Ronstadt had covered the Holly song, too.
Coincidentally, the precocious child also performed Ronstadt's first big hit with the Stone Poneys - Michael Nesmith's Different Drum - for the Lions Club.
Such strange links still echo on the new disc, Ryder said.
"That's the thing about this record," she said. "Musicians are all tied together. The tie is so old, and it's beautiful. You can see how those lines are blurred between where one style of music started, or where a song started and finished. Nobody owns a song. You can't own art."
Ryder's genes might have foretold her eclectic taste in covers. Her mother, Barbara, is a former go-go dancer and backup singer, and her biological father, Glen Sorzano, was a member of the popular Caribbean combo the Tradewinds, she said.
Yet most of her previous discs, which she began releasing independently at the age of 15, seemed to predict a different musical path.
"My earlier stuff was diary music, very female singer-songwriter, talking about how it's really hard to exist and live, and woe is me, and no one understands," she said.
"I've been slowly realizing that lots of people understand and lots of people are in the same boat. Now my music's more about connection."
It's unusual for a maiden effort on a big label to consist mostly of non-originals, but the project seemed fated.
Frank Davies, founder of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, met Sandy Pandya, Ryder's manager, at a CSHF showcase. Davies had been planning a project celebrating Canadian songwriters and Ryder, Pandya told him, was keen on covering some favourites.
Davies, Ryder and producer Steve Mackinnon whittled their selections down to 45 songs. Each made a short list of 12 and there was substantial agreement.
Once the album was recorded, Fraser Hill, EMI Canada's A&R director, caught Ryder on stage and told her, fairy-tale like, to come in and talk. A contract was signed and the 12 cover songs were later augmented by three Ryder originals, including a co-write with Randy Bachman.
On one of the covers, Raymond Levesque's Quand les hommes vivront d'amour, Ryder sings in creditable Quebecois French. She was coached by Liane de Lotbiniere, she said.
"There were certain vowels I couldn't really pull off as being Quebecois," Ryder said. "At school, I was taught Parisian French, not Quebecois French. (De Lotbiniere) marked down all the different sounds and we sat, and she'd be like 'euuu,' so I went back and fixed certain vowels."
Levesque's plea for peace is among the tracks that give the disc another unifying concept. "There's a huge theme that ties all these things together," Ryder said. "War and peace and true love. Morning Dew is about the apocalypse, which people are thinking about more and more today. A lot of the subject matter is absolutely timeless. And a lot of the songwriters on this record were pretty much my age when they wrote these songs."
Yet the subject matter isn't all serious. Ryder brings wide-eyed acceptance to Good Morning Starshine, from the hippie musical Hair, and goes vampy on the 1936 big-band toe-tapper Boo Hoo, which she said she'd like to see in a Quentin Tarantino fight scene. "It just really brought me back to being a little kid and starting to sing, back to musicals and fun," she said of the song. "That really helped balance out the intensity of a lot of the other songs."
It takes both subtlety and power to tackle a range of songs from Leonard Cohen's Sisters of Mercy to the torcher My Heart Cries for You on the same album, and Ryder delivers the vocal goods.
She has had no training. "I realize that I am blessed to be able to express my truth with my voice," she said. "And I'm very lucky to have known that since I was very young. I know a lot of people who are all grown up and still don't know what they want to be. I've become aware at certain points that there's a power behind what I do that's greater than me. And I respect that and I try and honour that as much as possible."
Serena Ryder plays Cafe Campus March 8 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $12.50. Call 514-790-1245 or go to www.admission.com.
BERNARD PERUSSE, The GazettePublished: Thursday, March 01, 2007
Enough about the Great American Songbook, already. There's a Great Canadian Songbook, too - and singer-songwriter Serena Ryder is clearly among its biggest fans.
She has taken the unusual step of devoting most of her major-label debut on EMI, If Your Memory Serves You Well, to celebrating classics from this side of the border.
The selection will surprise those who didn't know of the Canuck connection to some of these evergreens.
Bob Dylan's This Wheel's on Fire, the song that gives the album its title, was co-written with Green's Corners, Ont., native Rick Danko of the Band.
The Lovin Spoonful's Coconut Grove was written by the group's masterful melodist, John Sebastian, with the Spoonful's late guitarist, Toronto-born Zal Yanovsky.
You Were on My Mind was a big hit for the San Francisco quintet We Five, but it was penned by Chatham, Ont.'s own Sylvia Tyson - who makes a cameo appearance on Ryder's irresistible reggae-inflected version of the pop perennial.
It Doesn't Matter Anymore, the Buddy Holly classic written by Ottawa boy Paul Anka, gets a barrelhouse gospel makeover from Ryder.
The disc also contains a primitive recording of Ryder, now 24, singing the bespectacled legend's That'll Be the Day at the age of 7, before an appreciative audience at the Lions Club in Millbrook, Ont., her hometown.
"I was obsessed with Buddy Holly when I was younger," she said in a recent interview at a Montreal hotel. "I had a vinyl record of his - and I loved Linda Ronstadt." Ronstadt had covered the Holly song, too.
Coincidentally, the precocious child also performed Ronstadt's first big hit with the Stone Poneys - Michael Nesmith's Different Drum - for the Lions Club.
Such strange links still echo on the new disc, Ryder said.
"That's the thing about this record," she said. "Musicians are all tied together. The tie is so old, and it's beautiful. You can see how those lines are blurred between where one style of music started, or where a song started and finished. Nobody owns a song. You can't own art."
Ryder's genes might have foretold her eclectic taste in covers. Her mother, Barbara, is a former go-go dancer and backup singer, and her biological father, Glen Sorzano, was a member of the popular Caribbean combo the Tradewinds, she said.
Yet most of her previous discs, which she began releasing independently at the age of 15, seemed to predict a different musical path.
"My earlier stuff was diary music, very female singer-songwriter, talking about how it's really hard to exist and live, and woe is me, and no one understands," she said.
"I've been slowly realizing that lots of people understand and lots of people are in the same boat. Now my music's more about connection."
It's unusual for a maiden effort on a big label to consist mostly of non-originals, but the project seemed fated.
Frank Davies, founder of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, met Sandy Pandya, Ryder's manager, at a CSHF showcase. Davies had been planning a project celebrating Canadian songwriters and Ryder, Pandya told him, was keen on covering some favourites.
Davies, Ryder and producer Steve Mackinnon whittled their selections down to 45 songs. Each made a short list of 12 and there was substantial agreement.
Once the album was recorded, Fraser Hill, EMI Canada's A&R director, caught Ryder on stage and told her, fairy-tale like, to come in and talk. A contract was signed and the 12 cover songs were later augmented by three Ryder originals, including a co-write with Randy Bachman.
On one of the covers, Raymond Levesque's Quand les hommes vivront d'amour, Ryder sings in creditable Quebecois French. She was coached by Liane de Lotbiniere, she said.
"There were certain vowels I couldn't really pull off as being Quebecois," Ryder said. "At school, I was taught Parisian French, not Quebecois French. (De Lotbiniere) marked down all the different sounds and we sat, and she'd be like 'euuu,' so I went back and fixed certain vowels."
Levesque's plea for peace is among the tracks that give the disc another unifying concept. "There's a huge theme that ties all these things together," Ryder said. "War and peace and true love. Morning Dew is about the apocalypse, which people are thinking about more and more today. A lot of the subject matter is absolutely timeless. And a lot of the songwriters on this record were pretty much my age when they wrote these songs."
Yet the subject matter isn't all serious. Ryder brings wide-eyed acceptance to Good Morning Starshine, from the hippie musical Hair, and goes vampy on the 1936 big-band toe-tapper Boo Hoo, which she said she'd like to see in a Quentin Tarantino fight scene. "It just really brought me back to being a little kid and starting to sing, back to musicals and fun," she said of the song. "That really helped balance out the intensity of a lot of the other songs."
It takes both subtlety and power to tackle a range of songs from Leonard Cohen's Sisters of Mercy to the torcher My Heart Cries for You on the same album, and Ryder delivers the vocal goods.
She has had no training. "I realize that I am blessed to be able to express my truth with my voice," she said. "And I'm very lucky to have known that since I was very young. I know a lot of people who are all grown up and still don't know what they want to be. I've become aware at certain points that there's a power behind what I do that's greater than me. And I respect that and I try and honour that as much as possible."
Serena Ryder plays Cafe Campus March 8 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $12.50. Call 514-790-1245 or go to www.admission.com.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
NOW Magazine - Local player - Serena Ryder
HOME GAMES Plays a sold-out show at the Mod Club Saturday (February 24). $18.50. 416-588-4663.
NICKNAME Beans ("My dad used to say I'm full of 'em").
NICKNAME Beans ("My dad used to say I'm full of 'em").
TEAM MEMBERS Kris Craig, Mike Thompson, Deepen Pandya and Dan Siljer.
ROOKIE YEAR Started playing guitar at age 13; claims she first performed in front of an audience at the ripe old age of two (there's photographic evidence). Released her first CD at age 16 after burning up Peterborough's coffee house circuit.
LEAGUE Richly belted jazz-inflected roots.
STATS Serena Ryder Live (independent) 2002, Unlikely Emergency (Isadora) 2004, Live In Oz (Isadora) 2005, If Your Memory Serves You Well (EMI) 2006.
SPECIAL TALENTS Used to pole bend and barrel race as a kid. Won a trophy for most improved player in her dart league. Has phenomenal three-octave vocal range.
NOW Magazine, Toronto
Serena Ryder Serenades Waterloo
CORDWEEKLY.COM
Wilfred Laurier Univeristy's Offical Student Newspaper Online
APRIL ROBINSON
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Serena Ryder strolls onstage with confidence as her short, playful skirt sways along with her. She sips wine and sets down the glass. A small, attentive audience murmurs by candlelight.
And then she sings.
It’s a sound that’s bigger than her 24-year-old presence; bigger than the room. It has depth and breadth. The fullness of her voice sends a hush over the crowd as she sings a soulful opener without instrumental accompaniment. It raises the hairs on the back of my neck.
With these opening notes, she sets the tone for the evening at Starlight Lounge in Uptown Waterloo.
Ryder continued her Canadian tour last week on February 21, following the November 2006 release of her major-label debut, If Your Memory Serves You Well. The album follows Unlikely Emergency (2004) and a live EP from 2002.
She has a powerful, expressive voice that sounds like a cross between Janis Joplin, Patsy Cline and Fiona Apple.
Her vocal stylings are reminiscent of a sexy singer in a smoky jazz bar: deep and husky but beautiful – capable of three octaves. It’s soulful and mature.
It was a perfect canvas for her new album, a collection of vintage Canadian-made tunes from the past century, which, with her artistic touch, she makes her own.
The small-town girl from Millbrook, Ontario followed her fiery a capella opener with a handful of original pieces, playing acoustic guitar, and for one song, the harmonica.
Her four-piece band then joined her to break out songs from her new album including Leonard Cohen’s “Sisters of Mercy” and “This Wheel’s on Fire”, co-written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko of The Band. These tunes continued to capture the audience, picking up the tempo and the mood of the performance. But Ryder’s voice continued to outshine any instrument.
The momentum continued with her latest single, “Good Morning Starshine”, an uplifting tune celebrating the simple joys of song. The anthem was originally written by Galt MacDermott for the 1967 hippie musical Hair. The song is breaking through radio and television airwaves. And she recently filmed her first video for it, which, she confessed to the crowd, was a little embarrassing.
“They told me to dance with random people on the street,” she said with a laugh.
On a recent tour with Canadian greats Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman (formerly of The Guess Who), Ryder worked with Bachman to write “Out of the Blue”.
“It’s the first full-on pop song I’ve ever written,” she said, before playing the tune at the Starlight last week. But the bouncy and simplistic love song was a little too poppy and radio-friendly compared to her repertoire of folk-blues. It doesn’t exemplify the songstress’ full capabilities.
Following that, Serena dug deep into her blues roots for a charming performance of Zal Yanovsky’s “Coconut Grove” complete with xylophone keyboard sounds and an articulate guitar solo.
Ryder didn’t fail to impress with two more original songs, also found on If Your Memory Serves You Well.
“Just Another Day” was a powerful and inspirational tale of self-determination. And “Weak in the Knees” was convincingly heart-wrenching in both lyrics and music.
A percussive finish with “Sing, Sing” from her last album – a toe-stomping, hand-clapping a capella piece – was enough to bring Ryder out for two encores.
Kyle Riabko was the opening act of the evening.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Live to air !!
Today at 4:20pm Serena will perform an acoustic version of 'weak in the knees' live on Mix 99.9 FM, followed by an interview with host Steve Anthony.... www.mix999.com
and she will be on 104.5 CHUM FM with Cory Kim between 7:00pm and 9:00pm tonight ..... www.chumfm.com
tune in !!
cheers
and she will be on 104.5 CHUM FM with Cory Kim between 7:00pm and 9:00pm tonight ..... www.chumfm.com
tune in !!
cheers
Thursday, February 15, 2007
ECHO Weekly
Remembering Music and Magic
By Adam Grant
At the young age of 24, Serena Ryder has already managed to cover a lot of ground within the musical landscape. It all started during her formative years in Millbrook, Ontario when Ryder would sing songs by others as a child, which eventually led to being inspired to write her own. After honing her craft and compiling enough original material to record a live, 2002 EP, Ryder was seemingly on the right path. In fact, it would be this specific concert soundtrack that would lead her to one of Canada’s most intriguing musical minds, Hawksley Workman.Upon hearing some of her songs on CBC radio, Workman decided to drop Ryder a line in the form of contract that would link her up to his Isadora Records label. She would soon accept, and put together 2004’s Unlikely Emergency. Her strong folk and soulful vocal style would garner some attention and lead Ryder to touring opportunities throughout North America, as well as the land down under – Australia. However, it wouldn’t be until one chance encounter at the 2005 Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame press conference that Ryder would be offered a concept that would change her life forever.After meeting up with Canadian music publisher Frank Davies following her performance at the aforementioned conference, a deal was in place for Ryder to tackle a project that would feature her expanding vocal talents within classic songs that have been in this country’s heritage for about a century. From the outside looking in, this would seem like an unenviable task for a yet to be established artist, but for Ryder, she saw this as a way to engulf herself in songs that she could not only enjoy performing, but also learn something from.“For me it wasn’t about making these songs mine or making them consciously different than what they were – and I didn’t actually really think about that,” contends Ryder. “People have been asking me some questions like ‘what process were you going through when thinking about singing these kinds of songs?’ They’re amazing songs so I really just had a great time singing them.
At the young age of 24, Serena Ryder has already managed to cover a lot of ground within the musical landscape. It all started during her formative years in Millbrook, Ontario when Ryder would sing songs by others as a child, which eventually led to being inspired to write her own. After honing her craft and compiling enough original material to record a live, 2002 EP, Ryder was seemingly on the right path. In fact, it would be this specific concert soundtrack that would lead her to one of Canada’s most intriguing musical minds, Hawksley Workman.Upon hearing some of her songs on CBC radio, Workman decided to drop Ryder a line in the form of contract that would link her up to his Isadora Records label. She would soon accept, and put together 2004’s Unlikely Emergency. Her strong folk and soulful vocal style would garner some attention and lead Ryder to touring opportunities throughout North America, as well as the land down under – Australia. However, it wouldn’t be until one chance encounter at the 2005 Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame press conference that Ryder would be offered a concept that would change her life forever.After meeting up with Canadian music publisher Frank Davies following her performance at the aforementioned conference, a deal was in place for Ryder to tackle a project that would feature her expanding vocal talents within classic songs that have been in this country’s heritage for about a century. From the outside looking in, this would seem like an unenviable task for a yet to be established artist, but for Ryder, she saw this as a way to engulf herself in songs that she could not only enjoy performing, but also learn something from.“For me it wasn’t about making these songs mine or making them consciously different than what they were – and I didn’t actually really think about that,” contends Ryder. “People have been asking me some questions like ‘what process were you going through when thinking about singing these kinds of songs?’ They’re amazing songs so I really just had a great time singing them.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Ryder CD a love letter to Canada - Jam! Music
By Mark Daniel
TORONTO -
"Whoa," Serena Ryder exclaims, with the phone to her ear. The thin drumming of her tour van's engine whistling in the background, as her driver overtakes a truck somewhere between Winnipeg and Regina, "driving in the prairies is really quite interesting," she continues. "It's windy out here and we kind of lost control for a minute. Where were we?"
Two albums into her burgeoning folk-rock career, the 23-year-old singer-songwriter, is turning back the clock, uncovering a slate of Canadian musical gems for her recently released major-label debut, "If Your Memory Serves You Well."
Her soulful whisper broods through the Band's "This Wheel's On Fire" and her piano-led version of Paul Anka's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore." And her beautifully plaintive take on Bonnie Dobson's "(Take Me For A Walk In The) Morning Dew" builds on Lanois-like atmospherics that give way to a Wainwright-y blast of popera on her plucky rendering of "Boo Hoo," a campy 1937 number co-written by Guy Lombardo's brother Carmen.
Sounding like a less emotionally ground-down version of Fiona Apple, the Millbrook, Ont., native also glides through Leonard Cohen's "Sisters Of Mercy," Percy Faith's "My Heart Cries For You" and Sylvia Tyson's "You Were On My Mind."
"I love Canada," says Ryder, on day two of a cross-country tour that continues throughout the month. "Since I was seven-years-old, I've been singing other people's songs, so it was an easy decision for me to embrace my influences and embrace where I come from.
"I thought it was a beautiful project to do, so I did it."
Recorded in Toronto and Vancouver the album got a bit of a kick-start from veteran music publisher Frank Davies, who founded the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, hot on the heels of Ryder's 2004 indie debut, "Unlikely Emergency," which was released with some help from Hawksley Workman.
"I really wanted to hear material that I'd never heard before, and Frank has that well of information where he's able to find all these rare Canadian songs," she says. "We started with over 500 songs, but how I chose which ones to cover was by listening to myself singing them.
"Seeing how the song fit vocally, seeing if I could put myself in those shoes and seeing if I could really believe in what I was singing? The songs I was able to do all those things with, popped out right away and ended up being the ones I picked."
But "If Your Memory Serves..." isn't strictly a spin through some classic Canadian covers; Ryder also drops three originals, one of which was co-written with Randy Bachman, at the end of the 15-song set.
"I've been writing a lot," she informs proudly, "but I'm not quite sure what the next record will sound like 'cause I'm constantly changing my mind about what my ideas of what I want to do or what I want to sound like is going to be.
"Usually when I record a record it's a snapshot of a certain time. It's a snapshot of a moment in my life."
The mostly all-covers album, usually reserved to fill an artist's schedule when they've stumbled into a case of late-career writer's block, clocking in early for the songstress, Ryder says she's happy to be interpreting a slate of other people's material to listeners across the country.
"I don't even think of my own songs as my own songs," she admits. "I think of music as belonging to everybody. That's what art is. It's a universal language that doesn't belong to any one person."
And the reason she chose to cover strictly Canadians?
"That's all I really know," she says. "That's where I come from. So I figured this was the best place to start."
TORONTO -
"Whoa," Serena Ryder exclaims, with the phone to her ear. The thin drumming of her tour van's engine whistling in the background, as her driver overtakes a truck somewhere between Winnipeg and Regina, "driving in the prairies is really quite interesting," she continues. "It's windy out here and we kind of lost control for a minute. Where were we?"
Two albums into her burgeoning folk-rock career, the 23-year-old singer-songwriter, is turning back the clock, uncovering a slate of Canadian musical gems for her recently released major-label debut, "If Your Memory Serves You Well."
Her soulful whisper broods through the Band's "This Wheel's On Fire" and her piano-led version of Paul Anka's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore." And her beautifully plaintive take on Bonnie Dobson's "(Take Me For A Walk In The) Morning Dew" builds on Lanois-like atmospherics that give way to a Wainwright-y blast of popera on her plucky rendering of "Boo Hoo," a campy 1937 number co-written by Guy Lombardo's brother Carmen.
Sounding like a less emotionally ground-down version of Fiona Apple, the Millbrook, Ont., native also glides through Leonard Cohen's "Sisters Of Mercy," Percy Faith's "My Heart Cries For You" and Sylvia Tyson's "You Were On My Mind."
"I love Canada," says Ryder, on day two of a cross-country tour that continues throughout the month. "Since I was seven-years-old, I've been singing other people's songs, so it was an easy decision for me to embrace my influences and embrace where I come from.
"I thought it was a beautiful project to do, so I did it."
Recorded in Toronto and Vancouver the album got a bit of a kick-start from veteran music publisher Frank Davies, who founded the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, hot on the heels of Ryder's 2004 indie debut, "Unlikely Emergency," which was released with some help from Hawksley Workman.
"I really wanted to hear material that I'd never heard before, and Frank has that well of information where he's able to find all these rare Canadian songs," she says. "We started with over 500 songs, but how I chose which ones to cover was by listening to myself singing them.
"Seeing how the song fit vocally, seeing if I could put myself in those shoes and seeing if I could really believe in what I was singing? The songs I was able to do all those things with, popped out right away and ended up being the ones I picked."
But "If Your Memory Serves..." isn't strictly a spin through some classic Canadian covers; Ryder also drops three originals, one of which was co-written with Randy Bachman, at the end of the 15-song set.
"I've been writing a lot," she informs proudly, "but I'm not quite sure what the next record will sound like 'cause I'm constantly changing my mind about what my ideas of what I want to do or what I want to sound like is going to be.
"Usually when I record a record it's a snapshot of a certain time. It's a snapshot of a moment in my life."
The mostly all-covers album, usually reserved to fill an artist's schedule when they've stumbled into a case of late-career writer's block, clocking in early for the songstress, Ryder says she's happy to be interpreting a slate of other people's material to listeners across the country.
"I don't even think of my own songs as my own songs," she admits. "I think of music as belonging to everybody. That's what art is. It's a universal language that doesn't belong to any one person."
And the reason she chose to cover strictly Canadians?
"That's all I really know," she says. "That's where I come from. So I figured this was the best place to start."
Social Intercourse - U of Alberta
Serena Ryder With Lindsay Ell
Friday, 9 February at 9pm
Sidetrack Cafe
Tickets Through Ticketmaster
With vocal cords that command a striking three-octave musical range, Toronto chanteuse Serena Ryder can simultaneously belt out bluesy folk medleys, make Josh Groban cry like a little girl and call her dolphin friends if she’s in danger. She’s touring to support her new record, If Your Memory Serves You Well, a collection of covers from Canada’s past during the years 1867–1967. Ryder covered classics by Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and the favourite Canuck crooner Leonard Cohen among several others, reviving these pieces while instilling in each her own distinct, youthful voice. If paying tribute to Canadian standards and signalling heroic aquatic mammals doesn’t convince you that Serena Ryder is hip, then consider this: judging by pictures on her MySpace page, Ryder has met George Stroumboulopoulos in person. This fact alone gives her additional, second-hand coolness.
Friday, 9 February at 9pm
Sidetrack Cafe
Tickets Through Ticketmaster
With vocal cords that command a striking three-octave musical range, Toronto chanteuse Serena Ryder can simultaneously belt out bluesy folk medleys, make Josh Groban cry like a little girl and call her dolphin friends if she’s in danger. She’s touring to support her new record, If Your Memory Serves You Well, a collection of covers from Canada’s past during the years 1867–1967. Ryder covered classics by Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and the favourite Canuck crooner Leonard Cohen among several others, reviving these pieces while instilling in each her own distinct, youthful voice. If paying tribute to Canadian standards and signalling heroic aquatic mammals doesn’t convince you that Serena Ryder is hip, then consider this: judging by pictures on her MySpace page, Ryder has met George Stroumboulopoulos in person. This fact alone gives her additional, second-hand coolness.
SERENA RYDER WEARS BAD CLOTHES AND TALKS SMART (WHEN SHE CAN) - Vue Weekly
SERENA RYDER WEARS BAD CLOTHES AND TALKS SMART (WHEN SHE CAN)
BRYAN BIRTLES / bryan@vueweekly.com
There’s no doubt that the life of a touring musician is a hard one, but when you’re seemingly plucked from indie obscurity and placed on a year-long international tour the way Serena Ryder has been, the challenges can start to affect you physically.“I lost my voice last night,” she tells me as she whispers into the phone from a ferry taking her from the Island to mainland British Columbia. “This is the first I’ve talked all day.”After relating a story about silently ordering coffee from a concession on the beach, Ryder takes a moment to reflect on her increased activity over the last year.“It’s about an 80 per cent increase in my busy-ness,” she says. “I’ve been touring a lot in the last five years, but nothing like this.”
Most of the increase can be attributed to Ryder’s decision to switch from Hawksley Workman’s independent label Isadora Records to the major EMI. While some musicians are leery of the majors—a fact Ryder is well aware of—she maintains that there hasn’t been a downside to her decision.“A lot of people ask me about working with a major record label, but they forget that people make choices,” she says. “It’s just sort of a bigger community, a bigger family. I don’t have to worry about a lot of things I used to have to worry about, plus I can connect with a lot more musicians.”Connecting with musicians is something Ryder is doing quite a bit of these days as this tour differs from many of her others in that she is bringing a band with her. The whole group was recently spotted in a restaurant by a rather astute server.“As we were paying the bill,” Ryder explains, “the guy asked, ‘Are you guys musicians?’ and we asked, ‘How did you know?’ and he said to us, ‘Well … you talk smart, but you don’t dress too good.” V
Fri, Feb 9 (9 pm)Serena RyderWith Lindsay EllSidetrack Café, $15
BRYAN BIRTLES / bryan@vueweekly.com
There’s no doubt that the life of a touring musician is a hard one, but when you’re seemingly plucked from indie obscurity and placed on a year-long international tour the way Serena Ryder has been, the challenges can start to affect you physically.“I lost my voice last night,” she tells me as she whispers into the phone from a ferry taking her from the Island to mainland British Columbia. “This is the first I’ve talked all day.”After relating a story about silently ordering coffee from a concession on the beach, Ryder takes a moment to reflect on her increased activity over the last year.“It’s about an 80 per cent increase in my busy-ness,” she says. “I’ve been touring a lot in the last five years, but nothing like this.”
Most of the increase can be attributed to Ryder’s decision to switch from Hawksley Workman’s independent label Isadora Records to the major EMI. While some musicians are leery of the majors—a fact Ryder is well aware of—she maintains that there hasn’t been a downside to her decision.“A lot of people ask me about working with a major record label, but they forget that people make choices,” she says. “It’s just sort of a bigger community, a bigger family. I don’t have to worry about a lot of things I used to have to worry about, plus I can connect with a lot more musicians.”Connecting with musicians is something Ryder is doing quite a bit of these days as this tour differs from many of her others in that she is bringing a band with her. The whole group was recently spotted in a restaurant by a rather astute server.“As we were paying the bill,” Ryder explains, “the guy asked, ‘Are you guys musicians?’ and we asked, ‘How did you know?’ and he said to us, ‘Well … you talk smart, but you don’t dress too good.” V
Fri, Feb 9 (9 pm)Serena RyderWith Lindsay EllSidetrack Café, $15
Serena Ryder Delivers a Lesson in Canadian Music History
andPOP -
Serves You Well," reads like a history in Canadian songwriting.There's "Sisters of Mercy," written by Leonard Cohen, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," written by Paul Anka and performed by Buddy Holly, and "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," performed by everyone from Johnny Cash to Bruce Springsteen.It won't be long before a new artist covers one of her songs.Ryder spoke to andPOP recently about the album, growing up in Millbrook, Ontario, her ultimate tour horror story and much more. Watch the interview to learn more about her.
http://www.andpop.com/player/index.php?bcpid=464021234&bclid=464024873&bctid=474425097
Serves You Well," reads like a history in Canadian songwriting.There's "Sisters of Mercy," written by Leonard Cohen, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," written by Paul Anka and performed by Buddy Holly, and "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," performed by everyone from Johnny Cash to Bruce Springsteen.It won't be long before a new artist covers one of her songs.Ryder spoke to andPOP recently about the album, growing up in Millbrook, Ontario, her ultimate tour horror story and much more. Watch the interview to learn more about her.
http://www.andpop.com/player/index.php?bcpid=464021234&bclid=464024873&bctid=474425097
Serena Ryder covers Canadian classics - Winnipeg Sun
Serena Ryder covers Canadian classics
By DAVID SCHMEICHEL -- Winnipeg Sun
She's only two albums into a wildly promising career but on her latest folk-rocker Serena Ryder is already taking things back to the beginning.
The result -- the recently released If Your Memory Serves You Well -- is a (mostly) all-covers disc that sees the 23-year-old Ryder tackling such Canadian-penned classics as The Band's This Wheel's on Fire, Leonard Cohen's Sisters of Mercy, and Paul Anka's It Doesn't Matter Anymore.
"It's where a lot of my beginnings came from -- my influences and why I write the way I do is because of these songwriters," says Ryder. "So this is about embracing those influences, instead of doing what a lot of people try to do, which is reinvent themselves into something they're not."
Often, when artists release albums comprised entirely of covers, critics wonder whether they're resting on their laurels or, worse, fresh out of ideas. That's not the case with Ryder, who says she used the exercise as an opportunity to kickstart her own creative process.
"Luckily, I haven't had anyone say that to me," she says. "For me, I think this record was to influence my songwriting and to embrace what came before us ... And, as a result, I've been writing more than ever. A lot of these songs spoke to me in a way that even my own songs don't, so I've been really influenced by listening to them."
Of course, If Your Memory Serves also includes three Ryder tunes, plus a recording of her first performance ever, at the ripe old age of seven. She's been writing songs ever since, but her career really took off in 2004, when eclectic cabaret-rocker Hawksley Workman heard her singing on CBC radio and then offered to produce her debut album Unlikely Emergency.
"That was a huge honour and a huge blessing, to have been taken under his wing like that," she says of Workman. "He's so inspiring."
Over the summer, Ryder joined local boys Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings for their cross-Canada tour together, wowing audiences with her bluesy pipes and picking up a new songwriting partner in the process.
"I'd watch their banter on stage, where they'd talk about how one of them would write half a song, then send it off to the other one, and they were always joking about being really good at writing half-songs," she explains. "I finally got up the nerve to tell (Bachman) that I had half a song, and he was like, 'Get in here, let's finish it off together.' "
Cummings, too, assumed a mentor-like role with Ryder, treating her to the spoils of his decades-spanning music collection.
"He travels with three or four 80-gig iPODs," she laughs. "He says he has to, because he needs all his music with him wherever he goes!"
By DAVID SCHMEICHEL -- Winnipeg Sun
She's only two albums into a wildly promising career but on her latest folk-rocker Serena Ryder is already taking things back to the beginning.
The result -- the recently released If Your Memory Serves You Well -- is a (mostly) all-covers disc that sees the 23-year-old Ryder tackling such Canadian-penned classics as The Band's This Wheel's on Fire, Leonard Cohen's Sisters of Mercy, and Paul Anka's It Doesn't Matter Anymore.
"It's where a lot of my beginnings came from -- my influences and why I write the way I do is because of these songwriters," says Ryder. "So this is about embracing those influences, instead of doing what a lot of people try to do, which is reinvent themselves into something they're not."
Often, when artists release albums comprised entirely of covers, critics wonder whether they're resting on their laurels or, worse, fresh out of ideas. That's not the case with Ryder, who says she used the exercise as an opportunity to kickstart her own creative process.
"Luckily, I haven't had anyone say that to me," she says. "For me, I think this record was to influence my songwriting and to embrace what came before us ... And, as a result, I've been writing more than ever. A lot of these songs spoke to me in a way that even my own songs don't, so I've been really influenced by listening to them."
Of course, If Your Memory Serves also includes three Ryder tunes, plus a recording of her first performance ever, at the ripe old age of seven. She's been writing songs ever since, but her career really took off in 2004, when eclectic cabaret-rocker Hawksley Workman heard her singing on CBC radio and then offered to produce her debut album Unlikely Emergency.
"That was a huge honour and a huge blessing, to have been taken under his wing like that," she says of Workman. "He's so inspiring."
Over the summer, Ryder joined local boys Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings for their cross-Canada tour together, wowing audiences with her bluesy pipes and picking up a new songwriting partner in the process.
"I'd watch their banter on stage, where they'd talk about how one of them would write half a song, then send it off to the other one, and they were always joking about being really good at writing half-songs," she explains. "I finally got up the nerve to tell (Bachman) that I had half a song, and he was like, 'Get in here, let's finish it off together.' "
Cummings, too, assumed a mentor-like role with Ryder, treating her to the spoils of his decades-spanning music collection.
"He travels with three or four 80-gig iPODs," she laughs. "He says he has to, because he needs all his music with him wherever he goes!"
Serena Ryder Takes Off On Another Musical JourneyMonday January 29, 2007- Chartattack
Peterborough, Ontario's Serena Ryder surrenders to nostalgia with her If Your Memory Serves You Well debut full-length album, which pays homage to Canada's rich landscape of musicians with a collection of covers compiled to form her own tower of song.
Ryder's three-octave throaty powerhouse voice revamps Leonard Cohen's "Sisters Of Mercy," Percy Faith's "My Heart Cries For You" and Paul Anka's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," among many other seasoned Canuck classics.
"The album's title references how we have 100 years of Canadian songwriters on my album," says Ryder, calling from her home in Toronto. "It's a lyric I lifted from a Bob Dylan song I cover called 'This Wheel's On Fire.'"
As a teenager, Ryder kicked around Peterborough — a bohemian city of nearly 70,000 an hour-and-a-half north of Toronto — lending her multi-dimensional talents to the likes of The Silver Hearts and Fire Flower Revue. In the midst of her early twenties, Hawksley Workman snatched up the petite, doe-eyed brunette and her larger-than-life voice to re-release her independent Unlikely Emergency debut.
"It's been very natural working with Hawksley," she says. "The moment I met him, we were very friendly. He's kind of like a big little brother at times."
The last time Ryder trekked across this vast country of ours, she was opening for Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings. Just a few days before her current tour began, she gently reminded herself mid-interview to pack her yoga mat and a packet of sage.
"I'm really looking forward to getting back on the road," she says. "When I'm not on the road, I don't know what to do with myself. People say it's like getting off schedule to go on tour, but for me it's getting on schedule."
Ryder combines a fresh, dream-like perspective of the world with a voice that melds Southern gospel choirs and belt-heavy blues performers. The daughter of a former go-go dancer/back-up singer, Ryder embodies the fairy-like, carefree spirit of Janis Joplin and the qualified, skilled talents of Etta James.
"Inspiration is just something that is out there," offers Ryder. "I don't have a formula for writing, I just get started.
"It's usually gibberish to begin with. I make music because it's what I'm meant to be doing. It's really to share a truth with people, break down the barriers."
Check out Ryder in the following cities:
Jan. 30-31 Duncan, BC @ Duncan Garage
Feb. 1 Victoria, BC @ The Central
Feb. 3 Tofino, BC @ Tofino Legion
Feb. 4 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
Feb. 6 Kimberley, BC @ Bean Tree Cafe
Feb. 7 Lethbridge, AB @ Tongue 'n' Groove
Feb. 8 Red Deer, AB @ Elks Hall
Feb. 9 Edmonton, AB @ Sidetrack Cafe
Feb. 10 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo's Cafe
Feb. 18 Guelph, ON @ Albion
Feb. 21 Waterloo, ON @ Starlight Room
Feb. 22 Hamilton, ON @ Casbah
Feb. 24 Toronto, ON @ Mod Club
Feb. 26 Ottawa, ON @ Barrymore's
Feb. 28 Whitehorse, YK @ Acto Place
March 7 London, ON @ London Music Club
March 8 Montreal QC @ Petite Campus
—Shannon Webb-Campbell
Ryder's three-octave throaty powerhouse voice revamps Leonard Cohen's "Sisters Of Mercy," Percy Faith's "My Heart Cries For You" and Paul Anka's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," among many other seasoned Canuck classics.
"The album's title references how we have 100 years of Canadian songwriters on my album," says Ryder, calling from her home in Toronto. "It's a lyric I lifted from a Bob Dylan song I cover called 'This Wheel's On Fire.'"
As a teenager, Ryder kicked around Peterborough — a bohemian city of nearly 70,000 an hour-and-a-half north of Toronto — lending her multi-dimensional talents to the likes of The Silver Hearts and Fire Flower Revue. In the midst of her early twenties, Hawksley Workman snatched up the petite, doe-eyed brunette and her larger-than-life voice to re-release her independent Unlikely Emergency debut.
"It's been very natural working with Hawksley," she says. "The moment I met him, we were very friendly. He's kind of like a big little brother at times."
The last time Ryder trekked across this vast country of ours, she was opening for Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings. Just a few days before her current tour began, she gently reminded herself mid-interview to pack her yoga mat and a packet of sage.
"I'm really looking forward to getting back on the road," she says. "When I'm not on the road, I don't know what to do with myself. People say it's like getting off schedule to go on tour, but for me it's getting on schedule."
Ryder combines a fresh, dream-like perspective of the world with a voice that melds Southern gospel choirs and belt-heavy blues performers. The daughter of a former go-go dancer/back-up singer, Ryder embodies the fairy-like, carefree spirit of Janis Joplin and the qualified, skilled talents of Etta James.
"Inspiration is just something that is out there," offers Ryder. "I don't have a formula for writing, I just get started.
"It's usually gibberish to begin with. I make music because it's what I'm meant to be doing. It's really to share a truth with people, break down the barriers."
Check out Ryder in the following cities:
Jan. 30-31 Duncan, BC @ Duncan Garage
Feb. 1 Victoria, BC @ The Central
Feb. 3 Tofino, BC @ Tofino Legion
Feb. 4 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
Feb. 6 Kimberley, BC @ Bean Tree Cafe
Feb. 7 Lethbridge, AB @ Tongue 'n' Groove
Feb. 8 Red Deer, AB @ Elks Hall
Feb. 9 Edmonton, AB @ Sidetrack Cafe
Feb. 10 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo's Cafe
Feb. 18 Guelph, ON @ Albion
Feb. 21 Waterloo, ON @ Starlight Room
Feb. 22 Hamilton, ON @ Casbah
Feb. 24 Toronto, ON @ Mod Club
Feb. 26 Ottawa, ON @ Barrymore's
Feb. 28 Whitehorse, YK @ Acto Place
March 7 London, ON @ London Music Club
March 8 Montreal QC @ Petite Campus
—Shannon Webb-Campbell
Serena Ryder's strong point is being out of step -- Vancouver -Georgia Straight
Serena Ryder’s strong point is being out-of-step
By Mike Usinger
Publish Date: February 1, 2007
Serena Ryder doesn’t mind confessing that she was something of an oddball during her early teens. For a good idea of what she listened to during those years, you need only consult the 23-year-old singer’s major-label debut, If Your Memory Serves You Well . The album art—right down to the ’70s-style graphic announcing that the recording is in “Stereo—The Modern Sound”—is a throwback to a time when vinyl was king, Simon and Garfunkel were almost hip, and Carly Simon was still kind of sexy. As for the tracks, 12 of the 15 are covers, with Ryder delving into the songbooks of Leonard Cohen, the Band, Paul Anka, and even Billie Holiday. That’s led more than one critic to suggest that the Ontario-based singer is a little out of step with others her age, something she doesn’t deny.
“In public school, for sure I felt like a black sheep,” Ryder says, on the line from her home base of Toronto. “Everyone was listening to New Kids on the Block, and I was listening to Roger Miller. But then I was lucky in that I got into a fantastic arts school in Peterborough. There were a lot of eclectic souls there who really liked all kinds of art.”
One listen to If Your Memory Serves You Well and it’s obvious why Ryder didn’t fit in. Offering more than a poor man’s Jewel with an acoustic guitar, the disc finds the smoky-voiced singer aiming for something well beyond a Wednesday-night slot at the Café Deux Soleils of the world. Shot through with delicate mandolin, Ryder’s rendition of “Sisters of Mercy” will make you wonder what you ever saw in Leonard Cohen. “Good Morning Starshine” sounds like an artifact from the Age of Aquarius, “Some of These Days” does Depression-era blues with a panache that would impress Lady Day herself, and “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream” is a Wilco-style art-rocker that’s powerful enough to raise the questions of what the hell the western world is doing in the Middle East.
“I never consciously think about music as a style unless it’s 100-percent obvious—like old country stuff like Hank Williams,” Ryder says. “People will sometimes say to me, ‘You haven’t really found your one style yet,’ but I don’t ever really see that happening because I like all kinds of music.”
The singer’s three MOR–oriented originals on If Your Memory Serves You Well suggest that Ryder’s days of performing songs written before she was born will soon be coming to an end. For now, though, she’s happy being a modern-pop oddity: a songwriter who’ll happily admit that she’s more than a little indebted to the artists she grew up listening to.
“I first started playing shows when I was seven, eight, nine, and 10—before I was writing,” Ryder says. “The songs on this album are the kind of songs that inspired me to do my own writing. A lot of people spend so much of their time trying to be absolutely original, like ‘My voice is my voice, and I can’t be compared to anybody else.’ Everybody has their own influences, and I’ve embraced mine. What you hear on my record is where I’ve come from.”
Serena Ryder plays the Media Club on Sunday (February 4).
By Mike Usinger
Publish Date: February 1, 2007
Serena Ryder doesn’t mind confessing that she was something of an oddball during her early teens. For a good idea of what she listened to during those years, you need only consult the 23-year-old singer’s major-label debut, If Your Memory Serves You Well . The album art—right down to the ’70s-style graphic announcing that the recording is in “Stereo—The Modern Sound”—is a throwback to a time when vinyl was king, Simon and Garfunkel were almost hip, and Carly Simon was still kind of sexy. As for the tracks, 12 of the 15 are covers, with Ryder delving into the songbooks of Leonard Cohen, the Band, Paul Anka, and even Billie Holiday. That’s led more than one critic to suggest that the Ontario-based singer is a little out of step with others her age, something she doesn’t deny.
“In public school, for sure I felt like a black sheep,” Ryder says, on the line from her home base of Toronto. “Everyone was listening to New Kids on the Block, and I was listening to Roger Miller. But then I was lucky in that I got into a fantastic arts school in Peterborough. There were a lot of eclectic souls there who really liked all kinds of art.”
One listen to If Your Memory Serves You Well and it’s obvious why Ryder didn’t fit in. Offering more than a poor man’s Jewel with an acoustic guitar, the disc finds the smoky-voiced singer aiming for something well beyond a Wednesday-night slot at the Café Deux Soleils of the world. Shot through with delicate mandolin, Ryder’s rendition of “Sisters of Mercy” will make you wonder what you ever saw in Leonard Cohen. “Good Morning Starshine” sounds like an artifact from the Age of Aquarius, “Some of These Days” does Depression-era blues with a panache that would impress Lady Day herself, and “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream” is a Wilco-style art-rocker that’s powerful enough to raise the questions of what the hell the western world is doing in the Middle East.
“I never consciously think about music as a style unless it’s 100-percent obvious—like old country stuff like Hank Williams,” Ryder says. “People will sometimes say to me, ‘You haven’t really found your one style yet,’ but I don’t ever really see that happening because I like all kinds of music.”
The singer’s three MOR–oriented originals on If Your Memory Serves You Well suggest that Ryder’s days of performing songs written before she was born will soon be coming to an end. For now, though, she’s happy being a modern-pop oddity: a songwriter who’ll happily admit that she’s more than a little indebted to the artists she grew up listening to.
“I first started playing shows when I was seven, eight, nine, and 10—before I was writing,” Ryder says. “The songs on this album are the kind of songs that inspired me to do my own writing. A lot of people spend so much of their time trying to be absolutely original, like ‘My voice is my voice, and I can’t be compared to anybody else.’ Everybody has their own influences, and I’ve embraced mine. What you hear on my record is where I’ve come from.”
Serena Ryder plays the Media Club on Sunday (February 4).
Ryder's memory serves her well - Edmonton Journal - Feb 9th, 2007
Ryder's memory serves her well
Mari Sasano
The Edmonton Journal
Friday, February 09, 2007
SERENA RYDER,
Sidetrack Cafe, 10238 104th St.
tonight at 9,
tix/info: 451-8000
- - -
Not only is Serena Ryder preparing herself for another tour, she's also moving apartments. She answered some questions by phone from her old apartment, while in various stages of packing.
What's in your record collection?
SR: I have a lot of CDs. Pretty much everything I could tell you is on my iPod: Aerosmith, Arcade Fire, Bat for Lashes is a band from the U.K., Beck, Bill Monroe, the Byrds, Etta James, Fats Domino ... .
Did you always have a love of older music?
SR: When I first started performing, I was seven years old. I have a lot of old stuff; old, old country songs. When I started listening to jazz, it was Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. It was really natural; I've always performed other people's songs. Not always understanding them when I was so young, but trying to figure out where my voice sits in them.
You write your own songs too, right? How are they different for you to perform?
SR: (If Your Memory Serves You Well) is the first record I've done that isn't my own songs. It's different. When I first write them, I feel too close to them. There's some stuff from five years ago I'm more comfortable with because they feel like they belong to me less.
How did you make the songs on your album modern?
SR: I think when I was picking them, I couldn't listen to the originals too much. I didn't want to copy them. It wasn't a conscious decision to make them more modern. I'm from this time, so they're going to be modern!
Is there a song that you wish you had had a chance to cover?
SR: I love everything! The one genre I didn't explore as much was country, which was a pretty big influence on me. Hank Williams, Conway Twitty, Dolly Parton -- Jolene! That's one of my favourites.
Interview with Serena Ryder.
© The Edmonton Journal 2007
Mari Sasano
The Edmonton Journal
Friday, February 09, 2007
SERENA RYDER,
Sidetrack Cafe, 10238 104th St.
tonight at 9,
tix/info: 451-8000
- - -
Not only is Serena Ryder preparing herself for another tour, she's also moving apartments. She answered some questions by phone from her old apartment, while in various stages of packing.
What's in your record collection?
SR: I have a lot of CDs. Pretty much everything I could tell you is on my iPod: Aerosmith, Arcade Fire, Bat for Lashes is a band from the U.K., Beck, Bill Monroe, the Byrds, Etta James, Fats Domino ... .
Did you always have a love of older music?
SR: When I first started performing, I was seven years old. I have a lot of old stuff; old, old country songs. When I started listening to jazz, it was Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. It was really natural; I've always performed other people's songs. Not always understanding them when I was so young, but trying to figure out where my voice sits in them.
You write your own songs too, right? How are they different for you to perform?
SR: (If Your Memory Serves You Well) is the first record I've done that isn't my own songs. It's different. When I first write them, I feel too close to them. There's some stuff from five years ago I'm more comfortable with because they feel like they belong to me less.
How did you make the songs on your album modern?
SR: I think when I was picking them, I couldn't listen to the originals too much. I didn't want to copy them. It wasn't a conscious decision to make them more modern. I'm from this time, so they're going to be modern!
Is there a song that you wish you had had a chance to cover?
SR: I love everything! The one genre I didn't explore as much was country, which was a pretty big influence on me. Hank Williams, Conway Twitty, Dolly Parton -- Jolene! That's one of my favourites.
Interview with Serena Ryder.
© The Edmonton Journal 2007
Ryder Rides To Fame - Red Deer Advocate Jan 26, 2007
By PENNY CASTER
Advocate staff
Jan 26 2007
Canadian singer Serena Ryder believes she’s better known in Australia than her own country.
But the tour she’s about to embark on, which brings her to Red Deer’s Elks Lodge on Feb. 8, may change all that, along with her new album, If Your Memory Serves You Well.
“I just got back from Australia,” she said during an interview from her Toronto home.
“It was great. That’s kind of my main marketplace.”
It turns out they like Ryder so much in Oz that she’s been there nine times during the past three years. In 2004, she opened for Steve Earle in Australia.
All the same, her voice, described as deep and bluesy, has been acclaimed in her native land and comparisons to Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and others have been made.
Her new album, her first with a major label, is an eclectic collection of Canadian-penned songs and the result of an idea by Canadian music publisher Frank Davies, who founded the Canadian songwriters Hall of Fame.
About 500 songs were considered for the album before it was narrowed down to the 12 “oldies” that are on it now, plus three written by Ryder. Of those, one shares writing credits with Randy Bachman.
The album includes Good Morning Starshine, by Galt MacDermott, written for the 1967 hippie musical Hair; Ed McCurdy’s 1949 anti-war song Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream; Sylvia Tyson’s You Were on My Mind; Sisters of Mercy by Leonard Cohen; and Morning Dew, made famous by Rod Stewart and The Grateful Dead but written by a Toronto folksinger Bonnie Dobson.
“Somehow my voice found its home with older music,” said Ryder, 24.
She puts her own stamp on the songs.
“I didn’t listen to the original versions too much before singing them live in the studio with the band.”
Ryder grew up in the Peterborough, Ont., area.
Her family was very supportive of her musical endeavours and her dad bought her a guitar when she was 13.
Ryder gave her first public performance at the age of seven, she said at a Halloween gathering.
Ryder began writing her own music after she got that first guitar. She was influenced by a slew of musicians including John Prine, Linda Ronstadt, Supertramp and Leonard Cohen.
She always knew she would be a performer when she grew up.
“My family has really been there and been really supportive of that.”
Ryder’s show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets, from Ticketmaster, are $26.50 plus service charges.
Canadian singer Serena Ryder believes she’s better known in Australia than her own country.
But the tour she’s about to embark on, which brings her to Red Deer’s Elks Lodge on Feb. 8, may change all that, along with her new album, If Your Memory Serves You Well.
“I just got back from Australia,” she said during an interview from her Toronto home.
“It was great. That’s kind of my main marketplace.”
It turns out they like Ryder so much in Oz that she’s been there nine times during the past three years. In 2004, she opened for Steve Earle in Australia.
All the same, her voice, described as deep and bluesy, has been acclaimed in her native land and comparisons to Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and others have been made.
Her new album, her first with a major label, is an eclectic collection of Canadian-penned songs and the result of an idea by Canadian music publisher Frank Davies, who founded the Canadian songwriters Hall of Fame.
About 500 songs were considered for the album before it was narrowed down to the 12 “oldies” that are on it now, plus three written by Ryder. Of those, one shares writing credits with Randy Bachman.
The album includes Good Morning Starshine, by Galt MacDermott, written for the 1967 hippie musical Hair; Ed McCurdy’s 1949 anti-war song Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream; Sylvia Tyson’s You Were on My Mind; Sisters of Mercy by Leonard Cohen; and Morning Dew, made famous by Rod Stewart and The Grateful Dead but written by a Toronto folksinger Bonnie Dobson.
“Somehow my voice found its home with older music,” said Ryder, 24.
She puts her own stamp on the songs.
“I didn’t listen to the original versions too much before singing them live in the studio with the band.”
Ryder grew up in the Peterborough, Ont., area.
Her family was very supportive of her musical endeavours and her dad bought her a guitar when she was 13.
Ryder gave her first public performance at the age of seven, she said at a Halloween gathering.
Ryder began writing her own music after she got that first guitar. She was influenced by a slew of musicians including John Prine, Linda Ronstadt, Supertramp and Leonard Cohen.
She always knew she would be a performer when she grew up.
“My family has really been there and been really supportive of that.”
Ryder’s show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets, from Ticketmaster, are $26.50 plus service charges.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Winnipeg Sun (December 1, 2006)
When you've got a voice like Serena Ryder, you can sing pretty much anything and everything. So that's exactly what the Toronto singer-songwriter does on her second album If Your Memory Serves You Well.
OK, maybe not everything -- but with the help of a crackerjack band featuring guitarists Kevin Breit and Kurt Swinghammer, the 22-year-old phenom does give her soulful pipes a workout on an impressively eclectic slate of covers. Leonard Cohen's Sisters of Mercy becomes a fittingly downbeat ballad; Hair's Good Morning Starshine is a shimmery slice of folk-pop; The Band's This Wheel's on Fire is given a bluesy setting; the jazz classic Some of These Days is updated with the dusty production, gypsy accordion and twangy guitars of Tom Waits; Paul Anka's It Doesn't Matter Anymore becomes a piano-and-organ gospel ballad; and Sylvia Tyson's You Were on My Mind becomes a lilting reggae groover. Ryder closes with a trio of Alanis-like originals just to remind you she can do a pretty mean job on her own songs too.
Either way, this is a disc guaranteed to stick in your memory for a long time.
By DARRYL STERDAN
OK, maybe not everything -- but with the help of a crackerjack band featuring guitarists Kevin Breit and Kurt Swinghammer, the 22-year-old phenom does give her soulful pipes a workout on an impressively eclectic slate of covers. Leonard Cohen's Sisters of Mercy becomes a fittingly downbeat ballad; Hair's Good Morning Starshine is a shimmery slice of folk-pop; The Band's This Wheel's on Fire is given a bluesy setting; the jazz classic Some of These Days is updated with the dusty production, gypsy accordion and twangy guitars of Tom Waits; Paul Anka's It Doesn't Matter Anymore becomes a piano-and-organ gospel ballad; and Sylvia Tyson's You Were on My Mind becomes a lilting reggae groover. Ryder closes with a trio of Alanis-like originals just to remind you she can do a pretty mean job on her own songs too.
Either way, this is a disc guaranteed to stick in your memory for a long time.
By DARRYL STERDAN
WATERLOO RECORD (Nov 30, 2006)
Anyone who's seen Peterborough singer Serena Ryder on stage knows that she has a whopper of a voice, rich with Southern gospel influences and on par with the best blues belters.
M.B.
M.B.
APPLAUD! (Nov 25, 2006) SIGNED, SEALED AND TO BE DELIVERED SOON
She's been hailed as an upcoming star for almost four years, and now 23-year-old Serena Ryder's first major label project has been earmarked for international release this month.
IF YOUR MEMORY SERVES YOU WELL is a collection of a dozen classic Canadian pop songs going back more than 100 years, plus three of her own tunes. It's being released this month by EMI, first in Australia, and a week later in Canada.This first single from the project is "Good Morning Starshine", one of the hits from the Galt MacDermot/Gerome Ragni/James Rado musical Hair, while other tracks include Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy", the Rick Danko/Bob Dylan song "This Wheel's On Fire", and Bonnie Dobson's classic "Morning Dew", made famous by The Grateful Dead.
The album will be released in the US in April on the Manhattan Label.
IF YOUR MEMORY SERVES YOU WELL is a collection of a dozen classic Canadian pop songs going back more than 100 years, plus three of her own tunes. It's being released this month by EMI, first in Australia, and a week later in Canada.This first single from the project is "Good Morning Starshine", one of the hits from the Galt MacDermot/Gerome Ragni/James Rado musical Hair, while other tracks include Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy", the Rick Danko/Bob Dylan song "This Wheel's On Fire", and Bonnie Dobson's classic "Morning Dew", made famous by The Grateful Dead.
The album will be released in the US in April on the Manhattan Label.
SUGARCAIN ENTERTAINMENT-Toronto/Vancouver (November 23rd, 2006)
Serena Ryder, the 23 year old native of Millbrook, Ontario released her debut album If Your Memory Serves You Well with EMI Music Canada this month. (Novemeber 14)Blessed with a 3 octave range that has been described as both bluesy and soulful, Serena’s powerhouse of a voice has been compared to Janis Joplin, Jewel and Aretha Franklin. Accompanying Ryder on the album are some of Canada’s finest musicians including Kevin Breit, Kurt Swinghammer, Steve Mackinnon and Doug Riley.
If Your Memory Serves You Well is a tribute to Canadian songwriters and the songs included span nearly 100 years. The concept for the album came about when Serena was invited to perform at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame press conference in 2005. Frank Davies, founder of the CSHF, was so impressed by Serena that he suggested she record a collection of Canadian songs. Steve Mackinnon joined Ryder and Davies as producer and the song selection process began. Starting with a list 500 songs they soon narrowed it down to 45 before deciding on the final 12. Some of the songs featured on the album are Leonard Cohen’s ‘Sisters of Mercy’, Bonnie Dobson’s ‘Take Me For A Walk In The Morning Dew’ and Raymond Levesque’s ‘Quand Les Hommes Vivront D’Amour.’
The albums first single is Galt MacDermott’s feel-good tune ‘Good Morning Starshine’ from the 1967 hippie musical Hair. Ryder is also an accomplished songwriter. If Your Memory Serves You Well features three of her originals; ‘Weak in the Knees,’ ‘Just Another Day’ and the Randy Bachman co written song ‘Out of the Blue.’
Her 2004 release Unlikely Emergency, produced by Hawksley Workman, garnered rave reviews while she toured as the opening act for Bachman-Cummings and with Missy Higgins during one of her many visits to Australia.Ryder is currently on a 20 date tour of Australia, her ninth visit down-under, in support of the November 18th Australian release of If Your Memory Serves You Well. The tour will include stops in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
If Your Memory Serves You Well will be made available at traditional record retail on November 14th as well as digitally from iTunes, Puretracks, Yahoo! Music Engine, Napster and Archambault. ‘Good Morning Starshine’ is currently available digitally.
by Orlena Cain
If Your Memory Serves You Well is a tribute to Canadian songwriters and the songs included span nearly 100 years. The concept for the album came about when Serena was invited to perform at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame press conference in 2005. Frank Davies, founder of the CSHF, was so impressed by Serena that he suggested she record a collection of Canadian songs. Steve Mackinnon joined Ryder and Davies as producer and the song selection process began. Starting with a list 500 songs they soon narrowed it down to 45 before deciding on the final 12. Some of the songs featured on the album are Leonard Cohen’s ‘Sisters of Mercy’, Bonnie Dobson’s ‘Take Me For A Walk In The Morning Dew’ and Raymond Levesque’s ‘Quand Les Hommes Vivront D’Amour.’
The albums first single is Galt MacDermott’s feel-good tune ‘Good Morning Starshine’ from the 1967 hippie musical Hair. Ryder is also an accomplished songwriter. If Your Memory Serves You Well features three of her originals; ‘Weak in the Knees,’ ‘Just Another Day’ and the Randy Bachman co written song ‘Out of the Blue.’
Her 2004 release Unlikely Emergency, produced by Hawksley Workman, garnered rave reviews while she toured as the opening act for Bachman-Cummings and with Missy Higgins during one of her many visits to Australia.Ryder is currently on a 20 date tour of Australia, her ninth visit down-under, in support of the November 18th Australian release of If Your Memory Serves You Well. The tour will include stops in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
If Your Memory Serves You Well will be made available at traditional record retail on November 14th as well as digitally from iTunes, Puretracks, Yahoo! Music Engine, Napster and Archambault. ‘Good Morning Starshine’ is currently available digitally.
by Orlena Cain
eVent Magazine – November 22, 2006Canada’s
Serena Ryder has always been unpredictable, but never more so than with her latest recording. While most singer-songwriters wait until the twilight of their careers to cover other writers’ songs, Ryder decided to do so with her major label debut.
If Your Memory Serves You Well covers vintage Canadian songs, some written more than 70 years before the 23-year-old musician was born. It’s a daring move, but she pulls it off, putting her own stamp on all 12 covers. In the process, she shows old hacks like Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow that covers don’t have to be uninspired knock-offs of the originals.The choices here bounce all over the place, from Leonard Cohen’s Sisters of Mercy to old nuggets like Ed McCurdy’s 1949 anti-war anthem, I Had the Strangest Dream, the latter sounding as relevant today as the day it was written.
The album only offers glimpses of Ryder’s three-octave range. However, the power of her voice soars through many of these songs. Blues and jazz standards are revisited as well — Bonnie Dobson’s (Take Me For a Walk In the) Morning Dew and Shelton Brooks’ Some of These Days, for example, are injected with Ryder passion and conviction.The best here, perhaps, is her rendition of Percy Faith’s My Heart Cries for You, previously recorded by Ray Charles and Ben E. King.
The 15-song album closes with three of Ryder’s own tunes: Just Another Day, a declaration of self-determination, Weak at the Knees, a heart-wrenching confessional number, and Out of the Blue, an infectious love song Ryder co-wrote with Randy Bachman.There’s also a hidden track, a recording Ryder made of Buddy Holly’s That’ll Be the Day when she was only seven. A few lucky people caught this dynamic performer in an intimate setting at the now-defunct Costello’s on Abbott in Kelowna a few years ago. Many more saw her opening for Bachman and Cummings at Prospera Place last summer.
Have no doubt, the next time she comes to Kelowna she’ll headline her own show.
By Andre Wetjen
If Your Memory Serves You Well covers vintage Canadian songs, some written more than 70 years before the 23-year-old musician was born. It’s a daring move, but she pulls it off, putting her own stamp on all 12 covers. In the process, she shows old hacks like Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow that covers don’t have to be uninspired knock-offs of the originals.The choices here bounce all over the place, from Leonard Cohen’s Sisters of Mercy to old nuggets like Ed McCurdy’s 1949 anti-war anthem, I Had the Strangest Dream, the latter sounding as relevant today as the day it was written.
The album only offers glimpses of Ryder’s three-octave range. However, the power of her voice soars through many of these songs. Blues and jazz standards are revisited as well — Bonnie Dobson’s (Take Me For a Walk In the) Morning Dew and Shelton Brooks’ Some of These Days, for example, are injected with Ryder passion and conviction.The best here, perhaps, is her rendition of Percy Faith’s My Heart Cries for You, previously recorded by Ray Charles and Ben E. King.
The 15-song album closes with three of Ryder’s own tunes: Just Another Day, a declaration of self-determination, Weak at the Knees, a heart-wrenching confessional number, and Out of the Blue, an infectious love song Ryder co-wrote with Randy Bachman.There’s also a hidden track, a recording Ryder made of Buddy Holly’s That’ll Be the Day when she was only seven. A few lucky people caught this dynamic performer in an intimate setting at the now-defunct Costello’s on Abbott in Kelowna a few years ago. Many more saw her opening for Bachman and Cummings at Prospera Place last summer.
Have no doubt, the next time she comes to Kelowna she’ll headline her own show.
By Andre Wetjen
HELLO! (Nov 20, 2006)
Not many singer-songwriters making their major-label debut would dare issue an album featuring mostly songs by other composers - one written almost a century ago. Few would think it a wise way to make one's mark on the contemporary world stage. But Serena Ryder has done just that with the extraordinary IF YOUR MEMORY SERVES YOU WELL, a collection of Canadiana a old as Shelton Brooks' 1910 classic "Some of These Days" and as recent as Leonard Cohen's 1967 gem "Sisters of Mercy".
The 23-year-old Ryder, a native of tiny Millbrook, Ont., delivers these vintage songs with a raw, three-octave voice that's been compared to Janis Joplin's. She gives a spooky performance of Bonnie Dobson's apocalyptic folk ballad "Morning Dew" and a giddy rendition of Carmen Lombardo's vaudeville nugget "Boo Hoo". Two of the strongest cuts are among the album's most unexpected covers: a wildly passionate version of Percy Faith's "My Heart Cries For You" and an infectious update of Galt MacDermot's "Good Morning Starshine", from the hippie musical Hair.Ryder also serves up several astonishingly good originals. Her "Just Another Day" is a forceful declaration of self-determination, while her confessional "Weak in the Knees" is deeply heart-wrenching.
Mature well beyond her years, Ryder has an abundance of talent that seems certain to make her a major star. By showcasing her own compositions among songs by Raymond Lévesque, Paul Anka and others, she proves herself both a powerful vocalist and a formidable composer in her own right.
NICHOLAS JENNINGS
The 23-year-old Ryder, a native of tiny Millbrook, Ont., delivers these vintage songs with a raw, three-octave voice that's been compared to Janis Joplin's. She gives a spooky performance of Bonnie Dobson's apocalyptic folk ballad "Morning Dew" and a giddy rendition of Carmen Lombardo's vaudeville nugget "Boo Hoo". Two of the strongest cuts are among the album's most unexpected covers: a wildly passionate version of Percy Faith's "My Heart Cries For You" and an infectious update of Galt MacDermot's "Good Morning Starshine", from the hippie musical Hair.Ryder also serves up several astonishingly good originals. Her "Just Another Day" is a forceful declaration of self-determination, while her confessional "Weak in the Knees" is deeply heart-wrenching.
Mature well beyond her years, Ryder has an abundance of talent that seems certain to make her a major star. By showcasing her own compositions among songs by Raymond Lévesque, Paul Anka and others, she proves herself both a powerful vocalist and a formidable composer in her own right.
NICHOLAS JENNINGS
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