Music
Press
This band has no press
Discography
In July 2009 I released my first CD - Dreams and Photo Albums. It's a collection of original songs that I have written during the past seventeen years. The album is getting lots of airplay on local radio stations: CBC and VOCM.
You can hear a few samples by checking out my Myspace page:
www.myspace.com.jodyhaleofficial
I also have three samples here on Sonicbids.
Photos
Bio
My name is Jody Hale and I was born in the wee hours of a warm June morning in 1972, in a tiny fishing village on Newfoundland's northeast coast - Too Good Arm. My maternal great-grandfather was a "stowaway" from France and he played the fiddle (though I never met the man) and my maternal grandfather was a button accordion player. I don't remember hearing my grandfather play as I was very young when he passed away.
At age four I bugged my older brother to teach me a few chords on an old electri guitar and my love of music was conceived. From that point on I became enthralled by music.
During my elementary schooling years I sang in a "glee club" and performed regulary in regional music festivals. I enjoyed singing very much as a kid and often sang along with my dad's old 8-tracks that he kept aboard his truck. I still love "L.A. International Airport" and "Crystal Chandelier".
While surviving the high school years I would often fall asleep and awaken to "Jigs and Reels", a local show that aired on OZ FM out of St. John's, NL. The show highlighted the best of Irish/Newfoundland music. While I continued to enjoy top forty hits there was something about the traditional forms of music that I really liked.
Towards the end of my high school experience I fell in love with a local group, Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers. These three guys performed a mix of Irish, Newfoundland and original songs and melodies and I began to learn their music, often singing their songs around my parent's kitchen during family gatherings.
However, it wasn't until my university years that I began to find my niche in the plethora of musical genres. During a dorm party one night a friend introduced me to the music of Stan Rogers and I was hooked. his voice, his stories and songs all spoke to me at different levels and I began to steep myself in folk music from around the world. The more I lstened to it the more I began to appreciate the music of my native province.
Then, in 1992 the cod fishery closed, my dad was forced to retire from the fishing industry, I was living in St. John's (feeling very homesick) and I began to write songs about my dad, the fishery and my home town. It was a time of great turmoil for me but from that came several songs and melodies.
In 1994 I started a traditional band with my university roommate called Shoal Ground. We performed in the central Newfoundland region for a couple of years before going our separate ways. While we never recorded any commercial product we enjoyed working on a few demos.
Since then I have taught myself to play a dozen instruments and I have performed with a number of bands in and around the central Newfoundland region.
Today I perform acousitc, solo gigs around the province and I continue to play in a couple of folky type bands, The Killicks and Boom Landing. I also hire myself out to studios for session work. I recently joined the American Federation of Musicians (Local 820) here in Newfoundland and Labrador and am a registered member of SOCAN and the ECMA.
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