Clickety-click...clickety-click...those are the first sounds you hear
when you put Jennifer Roland's new CD "Wings" in the CD
player. Already you can tell this is going to be a fast-paced, energetic
CD.
Alder Point, Cape Breton's Jennifer Roland puts all her talents up
front on her latest CD - from fiddle playing to step-dancing to piano
playing. This young dynamo has so much energy and she's able to keep the
pace going from start to finish. Almost an hour in length, with 13
tracks, this is a delightful piece of work. Each tune shows the progress
of Jennifer's' talents since her last album.
The
packaging of this CD is equally as beautiful as the playing inside of
it. The cover art has Jennifer with a butterfly outfit on reaching out
to cradle a butterfly and on the back she's dressed in a cocoon-like
dress. A very important factor these days is how you package your
product. This product is beautifully packaged capturing the essence of
the theme throughout.
The CD booklet contains the following quote..."What the
caterpillar thinks is the end of the world, the butterfly knows is only
the beginning." A beautiful quote to describe the CD...just the
beginning of Jennifer's career, nowhere near the end!
Like a lot of Cape Breton fiddlers, Jennifer also composes. Some of
her tunes appear on this CD along with compositions by Jerry Holland,
Dan R. MacDonald and Brenda Stubbert, just to name a few. Jennifer is
also accompanied by some of the finest Cape Breton musicians: Tracey
Dares-MacNeil, Matthew Foulds, Al Bennett, Fred Lavery, Howie MacDonald,
Gordie Sampson, just to name a few. No shortage of talent or energy
here! Cape Breton musicians love to support each other and you'll often
see them appear on each other's albums.
Jennifer honours some of her inspirations in the tune titles such as
"Jerry Rocks" for Jerry Holland and "Thank You
Winston" for Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald. Vocalist
Stephanie Hardy appears on the song "Back to Your Shores", a
tune she also wrote. This tune is dedicated to Cape Bretoners who long
to be "back to your shores."
Come and list to Jennifer take flight on "Wings"...you'll
be glad you did! She can work all your emotions...from the smiles from
the reels, strathspeys and jigs to the tears from the beautiful
waltzes...the sign of a talented fiddler.
I look forward to hearing where Jennifer's talents will take her
next. And with her drive and determination, I have no doubt that she'll
go where she wants to. Drive er' Jennifer!