MP3 Jae C. Steele - Christmas in Iraq

Listening room artist, Jae C. Steele, serves up lyrics and style with serious intent, and an extra helping of "monster-right-hand" guitar work. Joni meets John Fahey with a dash of Ani and Nick Drake.

10 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Traditional Folk, FOLK: Folk Blues



Details:
There are very few things that turn Jae C. Steele on more than a good guitar strung with Elixir lights. Music has pretty much encompassed her entire life as the first-born of two musically-talented parents. From the moment she was able to crawl up and seat herself on the piano stool and play a few bars of âMoonlight Sonataâ (to the surprise of all at her parentsâ dinner party), Jae C. was encouraged to make music. Piano lessons began at a very early age. And stopped abruptly several months later at the advice of the instructor.

Turns out, Steele was listening and watching what the music teacher was playing, and duplicating what she saw and heard. All those pretty notes and swirly signs on the sheet music meant nothing to her at all. And that has never changed, despite Jae C.âs several attempts to learn to read music. Her concept of theory was given at birth, along with an incredible ear and the ability to translate the music she comprehends into her own renditions. Steele still recalls today how devastating the loss of piano lessons was to her, and perhaps that feeling has continued to drive her motivation to play well over the years. Two instructors in her adult years have told Jae C. that taking lessons would merely interfere with her unique fingerstyle techniques that define her sound and earned her a description as âthe woman with the monster right handâ. The only instructor that was willing to work with her for a few mentoring lessons was guitar genius, Paul Asbell, and Steele will always be grateful to him for training her mind to approach her own music from a different perspective--a lesson that has paid off big time for this artist.

Regardless of what she could do on her own, this lack of training kept Steele solely as a closet guiatarist that never had experience playing with other serious musicians--something she has both benefited and paid for as she developed her craft in an atmosphere void of rules, boundaries, or feedback. Although the thought had come to mind but was never admitted, Jae C., therefore, lacked the confidence to seek a professional career in music. But the professional career came to her just the same.

A friend walked in on Jae C. while she was playing a 12-string Epiphone back in the early 80âs, and this rather embarrassing interruption led to an offer to audition for a high-end restaurant that was opening in the ski town Steele was living in at the time. At first, she turned the offer down, but accepted the challenge a few days later when the offer was presented again, mainly just for curiosityâs sake. Her âauditionâ involved playing for the Saturday evening grand opening of The Needle in a Haystack. That night, Steele discovered that she was quite an actress--she didnât turn and run (despite her strong desire to do so) and hid her terror well, according to those that attended the event.

As Jae C. clicked off the mic for the evening, silently promising herself that never again would she ever do anything so hideously stupid (as she headed for the bar for a real stiff one!), the owner of the establishment came out of the kitchen holding two items: A substantial paycheck for Jae C.âs performance that evening, and a contract to play every Saturday night for the ski season. As she signed the contract, totally baffled and hiding it well, Steele quickly dismissed the earlier promise to herself, despite her silent question regarding her sanity to do so. All the way to the parking lot, she laughed, mostly in shock, that she had just become a professional musician. She may not be an overnight success story in the grand sense, but her life and the choices sheâs made have never been the same since that evening.

And since her professional music career was pretty much handed to her, she never really understood or appreciated what she eventually walked away from in the mid-90âs. Not until she re-emerged as a professional in 2005 did she realize the value of momentum, name recognition, and all that other swell stuff. Despite the new obstacles she faces in a much larger playing arena from where she began (she is now based in Central Vermont)as an artist viewed as a relative ânewcomerâ, Steele has played very succesfully at some of the best listening rooms and coffee houses in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts during her first two years back in the biz, and has earned a level of respect among her peers that surprised her.

Her new CD, âChristmas in Iraqâ caters to the listening room audiences that have encouraged Jae C. to release her work. Steeleâs debut work was produced on a shoe string budget and presents some of her more philosophical works. The title track has, in particular, created an unexpected response for Jae C.: âChristmas in Iraqâ (the song) was used in WCAX-TVâs (Vermontâs largest television station) âThe Year in Picturesâ in January, 2006. And songwriter KingDog Lewis produced a music video (DVD) of Steeleâs instrumental during the winter of â06, as well. This 10-song release is hardly a Christmas album, despite its title, and explores relationships gone wrong, pokes fun at the desire for money, and includes a melodically haunting anthem regarding nuclear war, among other topics. Steele intended her first CD to be an overall sketch of her 28 years of songwriting and guitar work. The lessons learned from self-doubt and the eventual birth of self-confidence and direction change resound repeatedly in her work. And her fans are giving her first release a solid nod of approval.