Tara Holloway

She lives in Ottawa, Ontario Canada. She grew up listening to her father's vinyl collection and was drawn to soul and blues like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. While in a local music store she found a bootleg demo CD of songs by Andy Sturmer of the band Jellyfish. She tracked down an email contact for him and sent him an MP3 of her singing one of the songs called "Sweet Wingless Angel" When he got it, he played it for his friend, producer/mixer Dave Way. Both were floored by her voice and approached her about cutting an album. When Sturmer got too busy with composing music for television he told Tara and Way they should work together. So, in between dates touring Canada, Tara made 4 or 5 trips to Los Angeles over the course of 2 years, writing and recording about 15 songs with Way in his studio. They started as rough sketches with just the two of them playing and then after Holloway would leave town, Way would ask some of his favorite L.A. musicians ( Lyle Workman from Beck, Brian MacLeod and Dan Schwartz from Sheryl Crow, Val McCallum from Shelby Lynne) to overdub more parts. As Holloway started playing in the US, she quickly formed musical relationships with musicians and writers in Nashville (Jon and Sally Tiven) and Austin ( Billy Harvey and Dony Wynn), getting them to contribute on recordings. Way played the recordings for his friend and music supervisor Bob Thiele Jr. who quickly placed a few on the FX TV series Sons of Anarchy. With more than enough songs now for a release, Holloway and Way chose 8 songs that best told her story - one of a gypsy like existence where, through music, you make immediate bonds with strangers in bars, only to leave the next day to form another one, in another city. Though she does use Facebook and now has a cell phone, she's not a big social networker. She prefers the one on one, sharing a drink (and her bellowing, infectious laugh), bumming cigarettes and nights on a sofa. Each day another chance for a real human experience. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.