Paula Joy Welter
FADE-RESISTANT SONGS
Welter’s songs share a woman’s intimate secrets, lessons learned, and moments cherished both as a child and an adult. They are an artful meld of what songwriters call 'prosidy," telling stories that brim with nostalgia, longing, and occasional whimsy. Listeners often find themselves drawn closer together by a transcendent energy that enters the room once her texturally rich, deep voice and fingerstyle guitar work weave their spell.
Though a late-blooming songwriter, only writing songs since '93, she's won recognition at the Tucson Folk Festival, and California's Sierra Songwriters Festival, the Napa Valley Music Festival’s Emerging Songwriters Competitions. Her songs have won ‘Best Song’ several times at Northern California Songwriter Association open-mic competitions.
Raised in La Crescenta, CA, Welter sang the 60’s tunes of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and Peter, Paul & Mary. She sang around family campfires and the dorms of L.A.’s Occidental College. For the next 20 years, her guitar gathered dust while she raised a son, studied comparative literature, photography, court reporting -- surviving some twists and turns she’s open about during performances.
In her early 40's, Welter enrolled in a songwriting class with Steve Seskin and subsequently began further guitar studies with Nina Gerber -- which eventually led to a collaboration on her first CD, Morning Light(1995) with Gerber as producer.
Once Welter's songs started gaining notice amongst local songwriters, one thing led to another, and eventually, she began singing on stages, first locally, then regionally. Within a couple years of having taken up songwriting, she was booking tours to the Midwest and East Coast, as well as singing live on numerous folk radio stations while on the road.
Over the next several years, Welter continued writing and touring in between her freelance work as a deposition reporter. In December 2005, ten years out from releasing her first recording, Still Hidden Places was independently released -- co-produced by Welter and Greg Orton/Norcal Records. In between Welter's current full-time 'day job,' this new CD is finding its way into people's hearts as she finds time to share and distribute it.