ABOUT LAURA BIRD A chronological history... (note from Laura: "grab a drink, it's long..".)
Laura Bird grew up along the St. Lawrence River, in the town of Gananoque, Ontario. She was born into a musical family - her grandfather Dr. Godfrey Bird played viola and piano, instilling his family with an appreciation of 'the arts' that flourished through the subsequent generations. With her parents both being choral vocalists, music is clearly in her DNA.
From the moment Laura saw a CBC documentary featuring a late 1960's Mariposa Folk Festival, she knew she was destined to play. Getting her first guitar at 10 years old and discovering gems in her parents' record collection - Ian & Sylvia, Joan Baez, 1940's jazz standards - this self-taught guitarist was performing by her eleventh birthday. She began attending the Mariposa Festival in the early '70's, drinking in the music that was to shape her adult life. Soon her own record collection included Doc Watson, Emmy Lou Harris, John Hartford, John Prine, Steve Goodman, James Taylor, Carole King and Joni Mitchell; she hung out at the Kingston coffeehouses and followed the rising stars of Canadian artists Colleen Peterson, Willie P. Bennett and Stan Rogers among others. As her musical interests and influences continued to expand, so did her awareness of the 'songwriting craft' itself. She began to explore songwriters like Johnny Mercer, George & Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin and Hoagy Carmichael, ultimately opening the door for a more in-depth approach to her guitar playing and vocal phrasing.
By her mid-teens, Laura was playing in her first acoustic folk-roots/bluegrass band, making appearances at local fall fairs and The Wintario Show, as well as performing for institutionalized children at the Brockville Psychiatric Unit. While completing studies in fine arts and graphic design in Kingston, Ontario during the '70's, Laura made her first foray into songwriting and performing at the St. Lawrence College and Queen's University pubs, the Scarecrow Coffee House and even the infamous Prison For Women. Leaving Kingston for Ottawa and eventually settling in Toronto in 1981, she would lead the life of a full-time exhibit and display designer; continuing to hone her skills as a songwriter and guitar player appearing at open stages such as the Free Times Cafe as well as busking at the downtown St. Lawrence Market. She became well known on the Ontario Bluegrass 'circuit' making appearances as guest vocalist with the award-winning bluegrass band Blue Mule.
In 1990 Laura married husband Javier Santamaria and moved to Orangeville, Ontario. In 1998 Laura and Javier, teamed up with Artistic Director Carl Borgstrom, and blues songstress Heather Katz among other local music enthusiasts, to form the Headwaters Acoustic Music Society (HAMS). Together they began presenting the "Live! At the Opera House" concert series which enjoyed a good 10 year run presenting the creme d' la creme of Canadian acoustic roots performers.
Laura marks the pivotal moment of March 12, 1999 when she performed an opening set during a HAMS presentation for singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing. During that time, a serendipitous meeting with owner/engineer Brian Hewson of Escarpment Sound Recording Studio, inspired Laura to record and co-produce her first full-length studio recording, DREAMWALKER (Laura Bird & The Fly By Night Orchestra ~ released August 2000). Collaborators were vital to the process; they included engineer/co-producer Karen Kane, Doug Walker with his entire vintage microphone collection, players from her quartet (Robert Reid-guitar, Jack Walker-resophonic guitar, John Merchant-bass), and old bluegrass cohorts including violinist Marion Linton, Blue Mule mandolin player Geoff Somers and award-winning harmonica player Mike Stevens, as well as contributions by eventual three-time JUNO award winner David Francey.
Leaving the Toronto commute behind, Laura became a freelance artist/designer which allowed the flexibility to pursue her music more seriously. In 2003, she self-produced a live EP recording of new material along with long-time partner Jack Walker. During the summer of 2004, Laura teamed up with four other female songwriters that culminated in a March 2005 tour in celebration of International Women's Day. She, Tannis Slimmon, Katherine Wheatley, Marianne Girard and blues vocalist Heather Katz formed what was to become 'The Pomelos', (including alternates Eve Goldberg, Chris MacLean) touring annually for the next five years during International Women's Week.
Recording a new EP in 2005, Laura began working with bluegrass/jazz multi-instrumentalist and award-winning musician Emory Lester. In 2006 her song 'Heavy Load' was included on the first North To Ontario bluegrass compilation project, which went on to win Recording of The Year at the Central Bluegrass Awards. Her song 'Rosalita' featuring Lester and Mike Stevens on harmonica was subsequently featured on the NTO 2008 compilation project.
Laura and North To Ontario producer Gene Gouthro teamed up to produce her sophomore release THE WATER IN BETWEEN in November 2008. Assembling a stellar core of musicians and musical guests, representing the new Fly By Night Orchestra, fourteen of her compositions feature the likes of Emory Lester on mandolin, Dave Clarke on guitar, Allison Lupton on flute, Alyssa Wright on cello and many original FBNO members including Mike Stevens on harmonica, Jack Walker on resophonic guitar, Geoff Somers on violin and vocal harmonies by her Pomelo 'song-sister' Tannis Slimmon.
Musical simpatico among many of the female performers Laura has shared the recording studio and concert stages which continues to this day. She has performed in a variety of configurations such as TLC (Laura, Tannis Slimmon & Chris MacLean), and with *Bird Sisters, Tannis and Jude Vadala and Celtic songstress Allison Lupton, to name just a few. *A popular misconception is that Laura BIRD was one of the famous Bird Sisters. She regrets to inform that she was in fact NOT a member of the trio, as much as she would like to have been! And speaking of collectives... During the spring of 2012 Laura joined an incredible 25 member female collective called the Essentia Vocal Ensemble established by songstress Rosemary Phelan. The ensemble gave one beautiful performance in December of that year before Rosemary was diagnosed with cancer again. (Thankfully her loving community was treated to one final recording entitled The Lucky Sisters featuring Rosemary, Tannis Slimmon and Allison Lupton before we lost her a few years later.)
Since the release of Dreamwalker and The Water In Between, Laura has enjoyed performing folk clubs, house concerts, private engagements and festival stages. She has firmly established her roots in the folk community, appearing at Ontario and Nova Scotia festivals including the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival, Owen Sound Summerfolk Festival, Red Roof Women's Festival, Quinte Spirit and Clarendon Blue Skies Festival, as well as realizing her childhood dream shortly after her first release, of performing at the Mariposa Folk Festival during its 40th Anniversary. Her performances and songwriting have garnered both critical praise and recognition following the release of her projects and she consistently strives to improve her skills as a musician, a songwriter, a vocalist and a performer.
Community
Laura wholeheartedly believes in helping others realize their dreams. In addition to her work presenting the HAMS concert series from 1998-2008, she is also co-founder of the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award, created to help support and promote the work of emerging Ontario songwriters. In 2002, she and Colleen's sister Shirley Richardson, organized events celebrating the artistry of Colleen raising over $20,000 to establish this annual $1,000 award. The administration of the award is shared by the Folk Music Ontario (formerly OCFF) and held in trust with the Ontario Arts Council now celebrating it's 17th year!
Laura served on the Folk Music Ontario (at that time Ontario Council of Folk Festivals) board of directors from 2004 until 2007 and served eight years with The ArtsCan Circle Board of Directors retiring from this position in April 2008. ArtsCan Circle is a non-profit organization connecting creative artists with First Nations children at risk in remote regions of Canada. In addition to donating her graphic design skills, she managed the instrument donations program for ArtsCan Circle, helping to set up music lending libraries within isolated Northern communities. In June 2005, Laura took her first trip to teach guitar and perform her songs for the Labrador communities of Sheshatshui and Natuashish returning each spring in 2006 and 2007. During that time she also led a team of musicians visiting the Aboriginal community of Mishkeegogamang in Northern Ontario. Inspired by these experiences, Laura furthered her studies by attending the Mississauga and Toronto based Royal Conservatory Learning Through The Arts program. She has since conducted her own songwriting workshops "Birdsongs" in a variety of inner city Toronto schools as well as for the Orangeville community based Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization. In 2010 Laura helped to co-found the Liner Notes 'songwriter-in-the-round' concert presentation alongside Kingston based musician Jenica Rayne and presenter/promoter Vanessa Burnett. This presentation format has now become a main feature of Gananoque's annual Jammin' In The Islands Festival.
In 2015 Laura and her husband Javier made a leap, moving from Orangeville and purchasing a home in the burgeoning music mecca of Guelph Ontario. After spending the better part of two years gutting and renovating their home, Laura is now fulling engaged in her new community. Performing opportunities, facilitating songwriting workshops, teaching young guitar students, composing new work and painting in her new art studio fill her days.
From the moment Laura saw a CBC documentary featuring a late 1960's Mariposa Folk Festival, she knew she was destined to play. Getting her first guitar at 10 years old and discovering gems in her parents' record collection - Ian & Sylvia, Joan Baez, 1940's jazz standards - this self-taught guitarist was performing by her eleventh birthday. She began attending the Mariposa Festival in the early '70's, drinking in the music that was to shape her adult life. Soon her own record collection included Doc Watson, Emmy Lou Harris, John Hartford, John Prine, Steve Goodman, James Taylor, Carole King and Joni Mitchell; she hung out at the Kingston coffeehouses and followed the rising stars of Canadian artists Colleen Peterson, Willie P. Bennett and Stan Rogers among others. As her musical interests and influences continued to expand, so did her awareness of the 'songwriting craft' itself. She began to explore songwriters like Johnny Mercer, George & Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin and Hoagy Carmichael, ultimately opening the door for a more in-depth approach to her guitar playing and vocal phrasing.
By her mid-teens, Laura was playing in her first acoustic folk-roots/bluegrass band, making appearances at local fall fairs and The Wintario Show, as well as performing for institutionalized children at the Brockville Psychiatric Unit. While completing studies in fine arts and graphic design in Kingston, Ontario during the '70's, Laura made her first foray into songwriting and performing at the St. Lawrence College and Queen's University pubs, the Scarecrow Coffee House and even the infamous Prison For Women. Leaving Kingston for Ottawa and eventually settling in Toronto in 1981, she would lead the life of a full-time exhibit and display designer; continuing to hone her skills as a songwriter and guitar player appearing at open stages such as the Free Times Cafe as well as busking at the downtown St. Lawrence Market. She became well known on the Ontario Bluegrass 'circuit' making appearances as guest vocalist with the award-winning bluegrass band Blue Mule.
In 1990 Laura married husband Javier Santamaria and moved to Orangeville, Ontario. In 1998 Laura and Javier, teamed up with Artistic Director Carl Borgstrom, and blues songstress Heather Katz among other local music enthusiasts, to form the Headwaters Acoustic Music Society (HAMS). Together they began presenting the "Live! At the Opera House" concert series which enjoyed a good 10 year run presenting the creme d' la creme of Canadian acoustic roots performers.
Laura marks the pivotal moment of March 12, 1999 when she performed an opening set during a HAMS presentation for singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing. During that time, a serendipitous meeting with owner/engineer Brian Hewson of Escarpment Sound Recording Studio, inspired Laura to record and co-produce her first full-length studio recording, DREAMWALKER (Laura Bird & The Fly By Night Orchestra ~ released August 2000). Collaborators were vital to the process; they included engineer/co-producer Karen Kane, Doug Walker with his entire vintage microphone collection, players from her quartet (Robert Reid-guitar, Jack Walker-resophonic guitar, John Merchant-bass), and old bluegrass cohorts including violinist Marion Linton, Blue Mule mandolin player Geoff Somers and award-winning harmonica player Mike Stevens, as well as contributions by eventual three-time JUNO award winner David Francey.
Leaving the Toronto commute behind, Laura became a freelance artist/designer which allowed the flexibility to pursue her music more seriously. In 2003, she self-produced a live EP recording of new material along with long-time partner Jack Walker. During the summer of 2004, Laura teamed up with four other female songwriters that culminated in a March 2005 tour in celebration of International Women's Day. She, Tannis Slimmon, Katherine Wheatley, Marianne Girard and blues vocalist Heather Katz formed what was to become 'The Pomelos', (including alternates Eve Goldberg, Chris MacLean) touring annually for the next five years during International Women's Week.
Recording a new EP in 2005, Laura began working with bluegrass/jazz multi-instrumentalist and award-winning musician Emory Lester. In 2006 her song 'Heavy Load' was included on the first North To Ontario bluegrass compilation project, which went on to win Recording of The Year at the Central Bluegrass Awards. Her song 'Rosalita' featuring Lester and Mike Stevens on harmonica was subsequently featured on the NTO 2008 compilation project.
Laura and North To Ontario producer Gene Gouthro teamed up to produce her sophomore release THE WATER IN BETWEEN in November 2008. Assembling a stellar core of musicians and musical guests, representing the new Fly By Night Orchestra, fourteen of her compositions feature the likes of Emory Lester on mandolin, Dave Clarke on guitar, Allison Lupton on flute, Alyssa Wright on cello and many original FBNO members including Mike Stevens on harmonica, Jack Walker on resophonic guitar, Geoff Somers on violin and vocal harmonies by her Pomelo 'song-sister' Tannis Slimmon.
Musical simpatico among many of the female performers Laura has shared the recording studio and concert stages which continues to this day. She has performed in a variety of configurations such as TLC (Laura, Tannis Slimmon & Chris MacLean), and with *Bird Sisters, Tannis and Jude Vadala and Celtic songstress Allison Lupton, to name just a few. *A popular misconception is that Laura BIRD was one of the famous Bird Sisters. She regrets to inform that she was in fact NOT a member of the trio, as much as she would like to have been! And speaking of collectives... During the spring of 2012 Laura joined an incredible 25 member female collective called the Essentia Vocal Ensemble established by songstress Rosemary Phelan. The ensemble gave one beautiful performance in December of that year before Rosemary was diagnosed with cancer again. (Thankfully her loving community was treated to one final recording entitled The Lucky Sisters featuring Rosemary, Tannis Slimmon and Allison Lupton before we lost her a few years later.)
Since the release of Dreamwalker and The Water In Between, Laura has enjoyed performing folk clubs, house concerts, private engagements and festival stages. She has firmly established her roots in the folk community, appearing at Ontario and Nova Scotia festivals including the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival, Owen Sound Summerfolk Festival, Red Roof Women's Festival, Quinte Spirit and Clarendon Blue Skies Festival, as well as realizing her childhood dream shortly after her first release, of performing at the Mariposa Folk Festival during its 40th Anniversary. Her performances and songwriting have garnered both critical praise and recognition following the release of her projects and she consistently strives to improve her skills as a musician, a songwriter, a vocalist and a performer.
Community
Laura wholeheartedly believes in helping others realize their dreams. In addition to her work presenting the HAMS concert series from 1998-2008, she is also co-founder of the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award, created to help support and promote the work of emerging Ontario songwriters. In 2002, she and Colleen's sister Shirley Richardson, organized events celebrating the artistry of Colleen raising over $20,000 to establish this annual $1,000 award. The administration of the award is shared by the Folk Music Ontario (formerly OCFF) and held in trust with the Ontario Arts Council now celebrating it's 17th year!
Laura served on the Folk Music Ontario (at that time Ontario Council of Folk Festivals) board of directors from 2004 until 2007 and served eight years with The ArtsCan Circle Board of Directors retiring from this position in April 2008. ArtsCan Circle is a non-profit organization connecting creative artists with First Nations children at risk in remote regions of Canada. In addition to donating her graphic design skills, she managed the instrument donations program for ArtsCan Circle, helping to set up music lending libraries within isolated Northern communities. In June 2005, Laura took her first trip to teach guitar and perform her songs for the Labrador communities of Sheshatshui and Natuashish returning each spring in 2006 and 2007. During that time she also led a team of musicians visiting the Aboriginal community of Mishkeegogamang in Northern Ontario. Inspired by these experiences, Laura furthered her studies by attending the Mississauga and Toronto based Royal Conservatory Learning Through The Arts program. She has since conducted her own songwriting workshops "Birdsongs" in a variety of inner city Toronto schools as well as for the Orangeville community based Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization. In 2010 Laura helped to co-found the Liner Notes 'songwriter-in-the-round' concert presentation alongside Kingston based musician Jenica Rayne and presenter/promoter Vanessa Burnett. This presentation format has now become a main feature of Gananoque's annual Jammin' In The Islands Festival.
In 2015 Laura and her husband Javier made a leap, moving from Orangeville and purchasing a home in the burgeoning music mecca of Guelph Ontario. After spending the better part of two years gutting and renovating their home, Laura is now fulling engaged in her new community. Performing opportunities, facilitating songwriting workshops, teaching young guitar students, composing new work and painting in her new art studio fill her days.
Copyright © 2012 Laura Bird