Robyn Harris

"Robyn Harris is one of the Philly acts that is
working for her career. With an outgoing stage
presence and a top-notch work ethic, she has
positioned herself for success." -Jesse Lundy
Talent Buyer, The Point, Bryn Mawr, PA 
- The Point - Jesse Lundy

"Robyn Harris' music is packed with sweet melodies, with warm and engaging vocals. Her lyrics are both introspectively and outwardly expressive." Julie Nakahara TAXI A&R, Los Angeles, CA. - TAXI

By Jennifer McBride

Robyn Harris thought she had a terrible voice. Fast-forward a few years, and Harris is a successful singer-songwriter who tours the country and has professional management. She is currently in town promoting the release of her upcoming CD Pocket My Pride at the Blue Rock Shoot on Aug. 20.
How did this transformation take place? With a lot of soul-searching.
Harris, 28, grew up in Saratoga, attending local schools. Music was something she loved, but she had always had a tenuous relationship with it. She started dabbling with the guitar at around age 18, but singing terrified her.
But while visiting Israel, Harris says some friends would often play music together and write silly songs. Harris recalls playing the only four chords she knew while her friend sang.
"After a while, I would try joining in on the chorus, but I was very scared," she says.
After some time, she mustered up enough courage to start writing songs on her own.
"The more I played, the more confident I got," she says. She and her friends continued to get together and play music, and Harris began singing out a little stronger each time.
"The more people started to listen and say, 'Hey, you're pretty good, you have a good voice,' the more confident I got," she says.
Harris went on to attend UC-San Diego and study human development.
Harris continued experimenting with music in her spare time. She says teaching herself how to sing and play guitar was "a way to find a natural balance between the rigors of academic life and the need for laughter and song." She found that music meant a lot more to her than she originally thought.
"I started writing because the music moved me from reflection to expression," she explains.
Harris graduated in 2000, but says she never thought of her degree with any sort of finality--she considered pursuing teaching or returning to school later.
"I really had this feeling that I didn't need to decide then," she says, looking back.
Harris decided to see the world. She and a friend traveled across New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia, South Africa and, of course, Israel. Then they went their separate ways and Harris found herself in Argentina. It was a place that changed her life.
"I had been traveling for about a year, and I felt it was time I settled down and did something," she says. Harris took a position volunteering at an education center. The language barrier proved to be a formidable challenge.
"I was there with the kids [at the education center], in a city where nobody speaks English. It forced me to pick up the language, to learn Spanish," she says.
So, armed with her guitar, Harris began making up songs to teach the children English. She revisited the studies she had completed for a college research project, that showed how children can improve their reading skills by learning songs. The task inspired her.
"I thought, this is what I could do--I could use my music to teach," she recalls. "That was probably my favorite experience."
After returning home to Saratoga, Harris began thinking a lot more about pursuing music. She played her first solo gig at the Bazaar Café in San Francisco in mid-2001.
"At that point, I had definitely become more of a songwriter," she says. While working at a nonprofit Jewish organization in Berkeley, Harris got a four-track recorder and began making demos at home. This prompted her to consider recording a real CD.
Harris remembered a man, Edan Cohen, who owned a studio in Philadelphia and had once offered to help her record a CD and make contacts in the business. So she took the plunge and set off for Philadelphia in September 2002.
"It took me about one day to realize, 'Oh, I'm not ready; if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right.' "
Harris hired both a guitar teacher and voice coach, and took a break from live performances. She didn't start showing her face at open mic nights in town until spring, and her first solo gig took place on Sept. 8, 2003, at a venue called Bar Noir.
"After that, I started playing as many gigs as I could get," Harris says.
To date, Harris has now toured seven states, as well as spots in Israel and England. Around 2004, she began playing with a band behind her--and what a band she had. When local Philadelphia star Amos Lee got signed to Blue Note Records and took off on a solo tour with Norah Jones, Harris adopted his back-up band.
In December, Harris decided she needed a better demo, so an acquaintance hooked her up with someone who helped her with a six-song recording, which she called Two Red Doors after the apartment she was living in. She carried it with her for her first 1 1/2 years of performing.
In October 2004, she started seriously looking around for someone to produce the all-out, professional, full-length CD she had always dreamed of, feeling she was finally ready.
Harris began recording her CD in February of this year at a studio in Florida. It was co-produced by Todd Barneson, who had recorded her previous six-song demo, and his friend Jeff Hiatt.
"That was the best decision that ever could have been made," she says, describing what amazing people and musicians the two are. "I feel so lucky I found these guys. They made my CD beyond what I ever could have imagined."
The CD, which she named Pocket My Pride after one of its songs, will be released later this month, and Harris is already racking up tour dates across the country to promote it. However, it will all start off in her hometown of Saratoga with her CD release show at the Blue Rock Shoot. Then she hits the road for Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Virginia. Her tour is moving along with the help of Desiree Raywood of Habit Artist Management, out of New York.
Harris says she hopes that her upcoming tour will help her figure out if she is meant for a professional career in music.
"If I could make a decent living doing what I love at the level of say, [independent singer-songwriter] Jonatha Brooke, playing every major city for maybe like 1,000 to 1,500 people, I think I would be very happy doing that," says Harris.
In the meantime, she is excited to release her best CD yet.
"If you take Pocket My Pride and compare it to the [four-track demo] I recorded in my apartment four years ago--it's just awesome," she says. "It's like, now this is a real album."
Robyn Harris' CD release is at the Blue Rock Shoot coffee shop, 14523 Big Basin Way in Saratoga, with shows at 6:30 and 8:15 p.m. "Pocket My Pride" will be available Aug. 20 at live shows, through CD Baby.com and at www.robynharris.com.


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- Saratoga News

4.5 of 5
Folk/pop with an uncanny resemblance to Allette Brooks, Pocket my Pride is the debut record from one of Philly's most promising young voices, Robyn Harris. If you haven't yet heard Ms. Harris, and are a fan of the chicksinger/songwriter genre, you owe it to yourself to get to one of her shows or buy her album. Very smart lyrics and sweet, meditative guitar parts provide a cohesive and slightly addictive background to the star of Pocket My Pride, Robyn's pretty, strong, this-is-what-I've-got-you-can-take-it-or-leave-it voice. The record's also
beautifully recorded and mixed, altogether an almost-too-pleasing album. Don't be fooled by the some of the more obvious-sounding lyrics - give it another listen - these songs are thoroughly planned, every syllable designed to produce a certain feeling in the listener. If something seems simple, it's meant to.


Anthony Caroto
editor/publisher
Origivation Magazing
- Origivation Magazine