Category: Uncategorized
Ladies in the Blues tour is a wrap
THATS A WRAP!
If you’re wondering why things have been a little quiet on the Clara Rose front these days it’s because I’ve been on a nationwide tour with these gifted women: Grainne Hunt, Jhil Quinn and Emma Nicolai. AKA: “Ladies in the Blues”
We had a successful run of shows in some of Ireland’s beautiful theatre spaces including, ‘Theatre Royal’ (Waterford), ‘Firkin Crane’ (Cork Jazz Festival), Watergate (Kilkenny) and Glor (Ennis). It was so much fun singing with my sistas of blues! Between an appearance on RTE news.. a few ladders in a few tights… James Delaney on a grand piano (in Glor) and singing our heart out at a late night trad session in Ennis.
It was not without it’s dramas and tales but the highlight is always being on stage with these fine musicians, paying tribute to the ladies of the blues in the best way we know how. X
New Single ‘ Tight Rope Walkers
Baker Rose – New Album NOW AVAILABLE!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Proud to announce the release of my new collaborative album with Don Baker called ‘Baker Rose’. We are so proud of this album and hope that you all love it as much as we do!
You can buy the album by clicking this link:
<a href=”http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bakerrose2″ target=”cdbaby” style=”display:inline-block;background:url(http://CDBaby.name/b/a/bakerrose2.jpg) 18px 2px no-repeat, url(http://content.cdbaby.com/img/links/link-artwork-cart-dark-buy-now.png) 0px 0px no-repeat;background-size:175px, 211px;height:233px;width:211px;” title=”Baker Rose: Baker Rose” alt=”Baker Rose: Baker Rose” ></a>
Don’t forget to join us on our nationwide Irish tour at a venue near you this year!
Clara Rose – Ciao Italia!
I have just returned from a successful mini-tour of Udine & surrounding area in beautiful Northern Italy.
I played at the ‘St. Patrick’s Festival’ with gigs in Gorizia and Remanzacco. I was joined by Franco Giordani – a wonderful songwriter and performer from the area. Franco’s daughter drew this gorgeous image of our soundcheck!
There were some lovely people at the gig including this group of English Language Students who enjoyed their night – don’t you think this look works for me?!
On Monday night we played in Auditorium de Cesare in Remanzacco.
Franco had his full band and we were joined by the wonderful Massimo Gati on Mandolin for the finale – what fun we had! The audience even sang along to “The Fields of Athenry” with the lyrics provided!
My song “Broken Woman Blues” was even played on national Italian radio (RAI) to promote the festival. The show on Monday 14th was well reviewed in INSTART magazine: Italian concert review INSTART Magazine
The reviewer said of my voice, “Clara has the voice of music . Warm , heady , sweet and powerful…A voice that does not fear anything, that shines its light and perfectly in tune.”
I loved every moment of these gigs and my time in Northern Italy – fingers crossed it is not too long until I return once more!
Ciao Italia xxx
Blues on the Summer Breeze… Part 1…
Summer 2015 has come and gone: and what a summer it was!
May and June saw the Baker/Rose tour in full flight with shows in some of Ireland’s most beautiful arts centres. We traveled the length and breadth of Ireland in Don’s trusty Volkswagen Estate and discussed life… love… metaphysics… and MUSIC. The venues that hosted us were: Wexford Arts Centre, Balor Arts Centre, Sirius Arts Centre, Wesport Arts Centre. We were treated so well by all the venue managers, staff, sound engineers in these venues and they are truly wonderful supporters of the arts in Ireland. Support your local arts centre!
I ticked off a few boxes of ‘dreams’ this summer also with performances in London and in the famous ‘Music Triangle’ in the U.S.A…’The Blues Kitchen, Camden run a weekly Blues Jam on Sunday evenings – you sign up and then get to perform with their sizzling house band! I got up and jammed with them and had a ball – we churned out standards ‘Honky Tonk Woman’ and ‘Johnny B. Goode’ and had the whole bar rockin’ – such fun!
With London under my belt it was time to tackle the Everest of Blues: New Orleans – Memphis – Nashville. This was my pilgrimage! In New Orleans I met the The Danny Alexander Blues Band and ended up jamming with them at their weekly Blues Jam. I was honoured to play with these people – I got to sing some of my favourites with this cookin’ band, “I’d Rather Go Blind’, ‘Hard to Handle’ and ‘Love Me Like a Man’. I know it’s a cliche but it was actually a dream come true… and here’s proof… check out my Cheshire Cat grin in this pic! :
We trundled up through the state of Mississipi, whizzing by the iconic cotton fields, the never-ending churches… you could touch the moisture in the air and you could hear the music of the past… The Mississipi Blues Trail… Highway 51… I was home! We stopped off in the famous Clarksdale – did Robert Johnson REALLY sell his soul to the devil? Here? Well, it’s as good a place as any… we got caught in a rainstorm while trying to leave Morgan Freeman’s Blues Club so I made my mark on those walls (they gave me a pen!):
I danced my way through Memphis and the only singing done was as I stood in the queues of tourists visiting hallowed sites such as Elvis’ ‘Graceland’ and sang into THAT famous microphone at ‘Sun Studios’…