Crafty, melodic rock arranged "California country" style. Fleetwood Lou Ronstadt anyone?

9 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Roots Rock, POP: Folky Pop



Details:



Winters in Buffalo, NY are notoriously long, grey, and
blizzardy...and growing up, Barbara Way spent her share of them inside,
listening to James Taylor, Carole King and Neil Young again and again. It's
no surprise then, that when she began writing songs rather out of the blue
at age 20, they were reminiscent of the simple soulful works of the early
70's artists. "I actually started writing because of insomnia", recalls
Way. "I was wound up over a really tough breakup (with a songwriter beau)
and one night I was messing around at the piano just to occupy myself, when
I started thinking, 'He thinks he's so deep...I could write songs...' so I
did. They were awful, but once I started I got sucked in, wanting to get
better, loving how time stopped while I was writing..."


Enter guitarist/producer Matt Pszonak, a high school friend of
Way's, who dug her voice if not her early songs, and suggested they try
performing together. Before long, the duo became a favorite of the Buffalo
folk scene, known for their effortless harmonies, novel song choices and
the comfortable, intimate feel of their shows. In the early 90's, they
left western NY to drive across the country, playing small clubs along the
way and searching for a new hometown with kinder winters. Unable to agree
on a mainland metropolis, Barbara & Matt moved to Honolulu to replace two
members of a popular country band. There for 18 months, they developed an
affection for country music and decided to check out Nashville.

Over the next few years, Way adopted the Nashville alt-country
crowd as family, and with their help & influence, developed her uniquely
flavored writing voice. Working with close friend and producer/session
musician Rick Plant, she recorded a distinctive catalogue of songs
resulting in two samplers, Ticket to Somewhere (1995), and "The Finger
Tape"(1996), as well as an unreleased full length album featuring Plant
and members of Wilco. During the summer, she and Pszonak would resurrect
their duo and entertain vacationers in Hilton Head,SC, gaining fans from
around the country and a small but loyal following in the southeast.

Now a Los Angeles resident, Barbara spent 2001 recording Mouthful of Rain.
Produced by Matt Pszonak and featuring folks who grace the bands of gentle-rock legends Jackson Browne,
Bonnie Raitt, and Sting, it promises to be an indie pleasure.