MIDDLEBORO, December 26, 1999 --Singer and songwriter Jeannie Gagné, who recently released her first CD "Wide Open Heart," describes her life as a journey. She has certainly made sure that the journey has had a soundtrack.

Raised in a musical family, she was singing before she could talk, was writing her first songs by the age of three, and started performing professionally at the tender age of five in the chorus of the renowned Tri-Cities Opera in upstate New York along with her parents and brothers. After years of training as a lyrical soprano and receiving her bachelor's degree in music from Wesleyan University, Gagné headed back to new York City, where she has lived most of her life, to pursue her dream of a career in music.

But as is true of many journeys, her path was not without twists and turns. Though Gagné has been a highly acclaimed singer, performing with the likes of Philip Glass, comedians Penn and Teller and reggae legend Frankie Paul, getting that big break of signing with a major record label always seemed just around the corner. And then in 1992 she was suddenly hit with a neurological illness that caused chronic pain and fatigue. The noise and hubbub of New York City quickly became unbearable. On top of that her husband Charlie Wolff -- a local doctor whom she met in college and refers to as an "amazing electric guitarist" -was about to begin his medical residency at Brown University. So, the couple and their two young children packed up and moved to town in 1995.

It was not the life she had envisioned when she was fresh out of college, singing on the street corners and subways of New York, in jazz night clubs and cabarets and getting rave reviews comparing her to acts such as Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega and the Cowboy Junkies and predicting she would be the next pop-folk superstar, a "songbird" with a soaring voice. But Gagné says that over the years her definition of success has evolved and the life she has built here is one that she finds deeply satisfying.

Through a combination of exercise, meditation and medication, she regained her strength. And though Gagné says she still misses the creative energy and tempo of New York City, there are rewards to life in a small town as well. "I'd never lived in the country and I wanted a garden. There's a part of me that loves sitting under trees and meditating. You can't do that in Central Park." And all the turns in the road, her life-experiences that have been sometimes painful and sometimes joyous, have added depth and soulfulness to her music.

"As a person who's not right out of college anymore, I've had some hard things happen and some wonderful things happen. If you can put that in an expressive form, other people can be touched by that. Touching people through music is what's important to me," Gagné says.

Maybe that's why "Wide Open Heart" is such a milestone in Gagné's journey. She says it is the album she has always wanted to make. She has come into her own, she says, not just as a polished musician and expert crafter of songs, but she has found her voice. It is a distinctive style that allows her to speak directly to her audience about a whole range of human emotions -from love, to gritty determination to moving forward in the face of challenges, to the joys of motherhood and even, with a light-hearted touch of humor, the frustrations of being a frazzled mom at times.

And maybe that's also why her job as the new musical director at the Unitarian Universalist Society in town is not as different as it might at first glance appear from the time she has spent moving audiences in nightclubs and on recordings with her dynamic and passionate performances. In both cases, she is able to communicate through music, her prime objective, she says.

"Music is a very powerful medium. It can have all sorts of functions. It can soothe, inflame, reach deep recesses of your being where words won't go. Sometimes people have told me when I sing it moves them to tears. It moves in any number of directions. It might just move you to dance or make you feel loving towards someone. Sometimes, it's just beautiful," she says.

Patricia Tummino, minister at the Society, says the entire congregation is thrilled with Gagné's work, selecting music to complement the Sunday services and directing the choir, as well as planning other musical events, such as an upcoming afternoon of West African drumming. Gagné has also brought Hebrew and Japanese music to the church, as well as blues, dixieland and jazz, she says.

"Jeannie taught this church what a director of music can truly be... There are some days I feel people will walk out and what they'll remember is the music. And to me that's okay because it's consistent with the message of the sermon and I don’t care which way they get it," Tummino said.

"Wide Open Heart" has already been getting play on some local radio stations and Gagné says she is "very excited about how the CD came out." So what will the next stage in her journey bring? It might just be that big breakthrough that will make her a household name. Either way, Gagné says she will be satisfied.

As she sings in "Keeps Me Smiling," a cut from the CD, "Our house is filled with laughter/I count my blessings every day/But I can't sing of what I don't know/Like a song that's #1/Or stories from living on the road/Or a maid to clean the john/But I've got a man who loves me/A soulmate, and a friend/And every whisper in this house/Keeps me smiling."

"Wide Open Heart" is available nationally on amazon.com and locally at Maria's Hallmark, Mack's Music, the Burt Wood School and the Unitarian Universalist Society in Middleborough and at the Spinnaker in Falmouth.