Janis Haves - Biography

Janis Haves –New Album - The Garden (ANGCD005)

‘The Garden’ is Janis Haves second solo album and is due for release in October 2008 (Angelic Music/Proper). What started off as a series of acoustic demos ended up as an album stark in it’s simplicity but accomplished, direct and compelling in its execution. Many of the tracks were recorded live, performed with just one microphone, some only hours after they were written, as for any writer that’s the moment when the song speaks loudest, to capture that moment become the pearl around which the album was created.
The title track ‘The Garden’ talks about how we try and control everything in our lives but how every now and then something wilder and uncontrollable breaks through from the deeper part of our natures. Recording the songs in this way was part of that, not trying to control everything but letting the songs stand alone and speak for themselves. The idea of ‘The Garden’ was also a great anaology for the process of songwriting, you put all the difficult stuff back into the soil and when it’s all broken down the songs slowly grow through, usually what you plant is what grows, but sometimes what comes up is a bit of a surprise – and that’s the best part!
Welcome to ‘The Garden!

Additional Info

But where did it all start for Janis personally? In the beginning, a publishing deal as a staff writer with the legendary Rockfield Studios in Monmouth seemed like a dream come true. ‘It was a privilege to work and write with such a great team of people' said Janis 'but ultimately it was both a blessing and a curse. Writing the pop hits the studio was looking for did not exactly work out as planned. The more I wrote, the clearer it became that my instincts were elsewhere. Frustrating and disappointing as that was at the time, I just wasn’t happy with the work I was producing and knew I needed to get back to basics and take some time off completely’. So walking away from the studio deal, Janis decided to move away from the West and go back to London.

A lifelong love affair with lyrics and songwriting had begun earlier, like many others before, by exploring and discovering artists at the singer/songwriter source such as Paul Simon and Kris Kristofferson, So it was here, at this source Janis found that new inspiration.

With Janis providing the songwriting and the lead vocals and husband/producer Geoff, producing and adding his guitar expertise, two years later, the album ‘Haves and Haves’ was born. The album brought the offer of a release from London’s ‘Way Out West Records’ in 2003 and began the start of the journey that has seen Janis has appearing on Sky TV’s ‘Where it’s at’ programme, appearing as a featured artist on Radio 4a, performing at clubs and festivals across the UK, She and Geoff opened for Albert Lee on the UK legs of two consecutive tours and Janis also performed in the US including a solo performance at the wonderful Bluebird Café in Nashville.

In Sept/Oct 2005 Janis released her first a solo album ‘Big Front Door which featured a guest appearance by the legendary Pete Wingfield and appeared alongside respected UK songwriter/guitarist Michael Chapman and singer/songwriter Peter Bruntnell as part of a 10 date arts centre tour called ‘Songwriters in the Round’.

2008 – see a the new album – ‘The Garden’

A COUPLE OF REVIEW SAMPLES

On ‘Haves and Haves’; - 'Together they have recorded an enjoyable, subtle album that given the exposure would have no difficulty cutting it against the likes of Beth Neilson Chapman or Mary Chapin Carpenter' - CMP Magazine.

On ‘Big Front Door’ - 'As well as a mighty fine songwriter, Janis is a pretty exceptional singer (a bit in the Emmylou Harris mould perhaps, with shades here and there of Maura Kennedy), possessing both delicacy and a great range, and an innate ability to get right inside the idiom. A superb solo début all told, which has been difficult to prise away from the CD player!' - David Kidman - Netrhythmns.co.uk

On ‘Big Front Door’ - Haves displays a strength of purpose. As with Joni Mitchell or Joan Baez, there is nothing twee or condescending about either Janis Haves or Big Front Door, Waiting For Jesus for one is sombre and direct. But whether it's the touching Gwendoline or the well of emotion that is In My Chair, a song written and performed through her grandfather's eyes, or even the straight, pacy narrative of Mary and Me it is impossible to escape the magnetism of these stories. For the space of an album her personal is your personal. She is so engaging a performer that you can't help but become inextricably entwined in songs like Blind Leading The Blind, but more important than that you can't help but care about them. Big Front Door is the musical equivalent of having a masterpiece painted before your eyes. Each song adds another shade until the picture is complete. – Michael Mee – ‘Folkspots’




		Biography
	Janis Haves –New Album - The Garden (ANGCD005) ‘The Garden’ is Janis Haves second solo album and is due for release in October 2008 (Angelic Music/Proper). What started off as a series of acoustic demos ended up as an album stark in it’s simplicity but accomplished, direct and compelling in its execution. Many of the tracks were recorded live, performed with just one microphone, some only hours after they were written, as for any writer that’s the moment when the song speaks loudest, to capture that moment become the pearl around which the album was created. The title track ‘The Garden’ talks about how we try and control everything in our lives but how every now and then something wilder and uncontrollable breaks through from the deeper part of our natures. Recording the songs in this way was part of that, not trying to control everything but letting the songs stand alone and speak for themselves. The idea of ‘The Garden’ was also a great anaology for the process of songwriting, you put all the difficult stuff back into the soil and when it’s all broken down the songs slowly grow through, usually what you plant is what grows, but sometimes what comes up is a bit of a surprise – and that’s the best part! Welcome to ‘The Garden! Additional Info But where did it all start for Janis personally? In the beginning, a publishing deal as a staff writer with the legendary Rockfield Studios in Monmouth seemed like a dream come true. ‘It was a privilege to work and write with such a great team of people' said Janis 'but ultimately it was both a blessing and a curse. Writing the pop hits the studio was looking for did not exactly work out as planned. The more I wrote, the clearer it became that my instincts were elsewhere. Frustrating and disappointing as that was at the time, I just wasn’t happy with the work I was producing and knew I needed to get back to basics and take some time off completely’. So walking away from the studio deal, Janis decided to move away from the West and go back to London. A lifelong love affair with lyrics and songwriting had begun earlier, like many others before, by exploring and discovering artists at the singer/songwriter source such as Paul Simon and Kris Kristofferson, So it was here, at this source Janis found that new inspiration. With Janis providing the songwriting and the lead vocals and husband/producer Geoff, producing and adding his guitar expertise, two years later, the album ‘Haves and Haves’ was born. The album brought the offer of a release from London’s ‘Way Out West Records’ in 2003 and began the start of the journey that has seen Janis has appearing on Sky TV’s ‘Where it’s at’ programme, appearing as a featured artist on Radio 4a, performing at clubs and festivals across the UK, She and Geoff opened for Albert Lee on the UK legs of two consecutive tours and Janis also performed in the US including a solo performance at the wonderful Bluebird Café in Nashville. In Sept/Oct 2005 Janis released her first a solo album ‘Big Front Door which featured a guest appearance by the legendary Pete Wingfield and appeared alongside respected UK songwriter/guitarist Michael Chapman and singer/songwriter Peter Bruntnell as part of a 10 date arts centre tour called ‘Songwriters in the Round’. 2008 – see a the new album – ‘The Garden’ A COUPLE OF REVIEW SAMPLES On ‘Haves and Haves’; - 'Together they have recorded an enjoyable, subtle album that given the exposure would have no difficulty cutting it against the likes of Beth Neilson Chapman or Mary Chapin Carpenter' - CMP Magazine. On ‘Big Front Door’ - 'As well as a mighty fine songwriter, Janis is a pretty exceptional singer (a bit in the Emmylou Harris mould perhaps, with shades here and there of Maura Kennedy), possessing both delicacy and a great range, and an innate ability to get right inside the idiom. A superb solo début all told, which has been difficult to prise away from the CD player!' - David Kidman - Netrhythmns.co.uk On ‘Big Front Door’ - Haves displays a strength of purpose. As with Joni Mitchell or Joan Baez, there is nothing twee or condescending about either Janis Haves or Big Front Door, Waiting For Jesus for one is sombre and direct. But whether it's the touching Gwendoline or the well of emotion that is In My Chair, a song written and performed through her grandfather's eyes, or even the straight, pacy narrative of Mary and Me it is impossible to escape the magnetism of these stories. For the space of an album her personal is your personal. She is so engaging a performer that you can't help but become inextricably entwined in songs like Blind Leading The Blind, but more important than that you can't help but care about them. Big Front Door is the musical equivalent of having a masterpiece painted before your eyes. Each song adds another shade until the picture is complete. – Michael Mee – ‘Folkspots’