January 6, 2000 - About halfway through listening to "Wide Open Heart," the first solo effort by Jeannie Gagné, you start to pick up the threads of a theme. The songs range widely in topic, from a shooting in the city to overcoming anger and loss to the joys of motherhood, but each is a slice of life recounted by a keen observer with a tender heart wide open to whatever life has to offer.
Like her songs, Ms. Gagné's voice is full, detailed and inviting, and she can handle almost any style of music, it seems from listening to this CD. Folk, blues, rock and pop all tumble infectiously off the tracks. She's been compared to Sarah McLachlan, Suzanne Vega and Amy Grant, but if you hear hints of Bonnie Raitt's bluesy strength in Ms. Gagn√©'s full throttle approach, you shouldn't be surprised.
"She is definitely one of my influences," Ms. Gagné said.
Ms. Gagné will be celebrating the release of her self-produced CD with a party and concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the First Unitarian Universalist Society, 25 S. Main Street, in Middleboro. With her will be West African drummer, composer and Broadway musician ("The Lion King") Robert Levin, as well as her husband Charles Wolff, Steve Bolton, Dylan Wolff, Ed Priest, Andrea Priest and Lorna Sleeper-Brunelle. Tickets are $8, and are available at Mack's Music, Maria's Hallmark Card Shop, at the Unitarian Universalist Society and at the door the night of the concert. Seating is limited, however, so advance purchase is recommended.
The CD is also available at the previously mentioned sites, on amazon.com, or through Ms. Gagné's web site, www.jeanniegagne.com.
An experienced singer/songwriter with decades of professional credits and accolades on her resume, Ms. Gagné settled in Middleborough five years ago, migrating from the hustle and bustle of New York City with her physician/musician husband.
"I miss the vibrancy of New York," she said. "It's still my hometown."
She has most definitely settled into her adopted hometown, however. The culmination of a decade of work, the songs on "Wide Open Heart" seem to reflect the journey Ms. Gagné took from the professional to the personal, and on the final song on the CD, "Keeps Me Smiling," you can hear the voice of experience laying claim to some peace of mind.
She has been the musical director of the Unitarian Universalist Society in Middleborough since 1998, and is now the mother of two children. Her current life seems a far cry from her previous one as a busy performer and writer.
"I could sing before I could talk, right along with the sound track of West Side Story," she said. She began singing professionally at the age of five, with the children's choir of the Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton, New York. After studying to be a lyrical soprano and receiving her BA in music from Wesleyan University, she began to make her mark on the New York City music scene.
She has sung with modern composer Philip Glass, magician/comedians Penn and Teller on NBC and reggae artist Frankie Paul. She was featured in People Magazine, on All Things Considered for PBS and the CBS Evening News.
She hasn't found the slower pace of life in Southeastern Massachusetts to have slowed her creative abilities, though, and "Wide Open Heart" reflects that.
"My music lives inside of me," she said. "There is rich support for music in this part of the country. What I have found here is just wonderful. We make music because it's a beautiful thing."
And, as she says on "Wide Open Heart," "I count my blessings every day."