Paula Joy Welter: Reviews

“I have recently felt that joy was always present in my life and even if I wasn’t experiencing it now, it was there waiting. When I heard your song, there was no more waiting.” (Dainuri Rott, California)

“The first time I listened to your songs, I was fortunate enough not to be the driver. As my husband drove me on a trip...I was able to follow along by reading the words as you sang them -- and I missed not one. It really was good I wasn’t in the driver’s seat, because your singing moved me to tears....you speak of life as it has happened and ecourage listeners to think about what is really important.” (D. Lucille Oberman, Pennsylvania)

"Paula's songs are the musical equivilant of literature which reaches out and grabs readers, connecting them with the soul of a character, the in-the-moment intensity of a setting and situation; they inspire back-to-the-memories travel, and into-the-Now joys, and hope-for-the-future comforts.

If you haven't heard this singer, I urge you to do so ASAP. I think she will speak to you like a beautiful merging of lullabye and laughter.” (Judy Lehne, award-winning children’s author, Wisconsin)

Excerpt from review written by Kevin McCarthy, 5/06 "Kevin's Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews"

"This is another contemplative offering, mixed of wistfulness, acceptance and even joy. Welter's chosen material and her presentation leads one to believe she has traveled life's high and low roads, not simply surviving, but experiencing elemental beauty and knowledge throughout the entire journey."

Welter, on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, is backed by Norton Buffalo on harmonica and bass harmonica; "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow on pedal steel; Ritt Henn on acoustic bass; Greg Orton on fretless bass; Dan Barker on cello; Gabe Witcher on fiddle; Michael Witcher on
dobro; Shawn Skylark on piano; Fred Faiella on accordion and Steve
Gillette and Cindy Mangsen on harmony vocals.

MUSICHOUND FOLK -- THE ESSENTIAL ALBUM GUIDE

Excerpt: "This is an incredible effort for a debut recording and will make you reach for the repeat button for another listen."

FULL REVIEW HERE

A Northern California songwriter who only began songwriting during the early ‘90s, Paula Joy Welter sounds as if she’s been writing all her life. The six-time winner of the “Best Song” competition at monthly Northern California Songwriters Association open-mike competitions writes lovely sentimental songs with straightforward rhymes on a diversity of subjects.

Some topics are introspective and extremely personal, but she is also capable of writing a song with universal appeal (“A Sky with No Blue”). Her lyrics are emotionally moving and it’s easy to simply close your eyes and let her paint a vivid picture in your mind.

Welter’s intriguing guitar finger-picking style is an excellent accompaniment to her resonant alto voice and adds to the appeal of her music.

What’s Available:
Morning Light     (Starry Sky Music, 1995) is Welter’s debut recording and consists exclusively of songs she has written. The 10 ballads include “Joanna’s Gift,” describing a stranger’s kindness; “No Matter If,” a parent’s encouragement to a child about to leave home; and “Calling You Home,” which describes the dreaded phone call about a loved one in an accident and how love can overcome the terror. “A Sky with no Blue” is a wishful love song that is expressively accompanied by piano (Barbara Higbie) and soprano saxophone (Jim Rothermal).

Nina Gerber produced the album and her touch is evident throughout. A cast of 13 talented musicians including Cary Black, Laurie Lewis, Sally Van Meter, and Gerber on guitar, weave superb support around Welter’s beautiful voice.

This is an incredible effort for a debut recording and will make you reach for the repeat button for another listen. (Heidi Cerrigione)

MusicHound Folk, The Essential Album Guide, Edited by Neal Walters. Published by Visible Ink Press; 1-57859-037-X; $24.95US; May ‘98

DIRTY LINEN MAGAZINE
Dec ‘96/Jan ‘97 #67 edition


Northern California singer-songwriter Paula Joy Welter writes lovely, unabashedly sentimental songs which she delivers with a rich, resonant alto. The best of her songs summon vivid images, notably ‘Long Ago,’ which celebrates the Children’s books that were a crucial part of Welter’s early years, and the sunny seaside scene painted in ‘A Promise on the Breeze.’

Morning Light represents another superb production job by guitarist Nina Gerber, aided by a large crew including pianist Barbara Higbie, vocalists Kim Scanlon and Ed Johnson, and bassist Cary Black. Welter’s bright, pastoral sound and memorable compositions make her a welcome addition to the crowded stable of contemporary singer-songwriters. (MP)

SINGOUT! MAGAZINE


Excerpt: "Producer Nina Gerber takes this jewel of a voice and places it in a spectacular setting...the songs are those of a woman who has lived and writes from experience. Most are personal, but many are universal."

FULL REVIEW HERE

(Feb/Mar/Ap ‘96 issue)
Morning Light - Starry Sky 81072

On this debut, Welter opens with the line “With a voice as smooth as a steel guitar.” It would take a mighty fine steel-guitar player to produce a voice as smooth and pleasing as her’s.

Producer Nina Gerber takes this jewel of a voice and places it in a spectacular setting. Each song benefits from distinctive production. Gerber surrounds Welter with 13 talented musicians including Barbara Higbie, Laurie Lewis, Cary Black, Sally Van Meter and the producer herself.

The production sparkles without eclipsing Welter’s voice. The gentle acoustic sound will please folk-oriented ears. The songs are those of a woman who has lived and writes from experience. Most are personal, but many are universal.

Welter foregoes complex poetry for straightforward rhymes and images that can be enjoyed on the first listening. “A Sky With No Blue” polishes well-worn images into an effective “me without you” song. Jim Rothermel’s seductive saxophone enters half-way through the song, further drawing in the listener. In “Joanna’s Gift,” Welter movingly sings of a random act of kindness in a supermarket check-out line.

If you have a child leaving home for the first time, “No Matter If...” is a great song to play for him/her before departure. “Blessed Be The Fool” is the best response I’ve heard to door-to-door religious proselytizers, confusing them with a lovingly unaccepting response rather than hostility, and concluding with Welter singing, “The god that I know has room for you both in the kingdom above.” Norton Buffalo wails a great harmonica on this track.
(R. Warren)

ACOUSTIC GUITAR MAGAZINE

Excerpt: "Welter's voice is able to go down deep, grab the low notes,and bring them back to the surface"..."Welter's writing style is lyrically evocative and crisp."

FULL REVIEW HERE:

May ‘98 ‘Hit List
Paula Joy Welter’s ‘Morning Light’ CD

Welter's voice is able to go down deep, grab the low notes, and bring them back to the surface. It's reminiscent of the late Kate Wolf's. Indeed, Welter's California folk style owes much to Wolf, so her selection of Wolf's former guitarist Nina Gerber to produce this CD and play guitar on most of the tracks makes a lot of sense. Welter's writing style is lyrically evocative and crisp, and it really shines when Gerber's guitar playing jumps out from between the lines.

-- Steve Givens

KUOP-FM live interview:

"Paula Joy Welter is like a two-for-one ticket. Her lullabye voice and heartfelt lyrics will have tears welling in your eyes. Her guitar will make you close them in sheer joy." (Jeff Abbas - Past host and producer of The Classics and Jazzmin,’ live interview, KUOP-FM 91.3/Stockton, CA)

FRED SMALL, Singer/Songwriter: "Paula Joy Welter brings a light to the stage and to us all. ‘Joanna’s Gift’ brought tears to my eyes. Her pure voice and songs of loving-kindness are generous gifts."

FOLK & ACOUSTIC MUSIC EXCHANGE
Morning Light CD-- Paula Joy Welter

Nestled in California's gold rush country is a nugget of songwriting treasure more precious than any mere metal dug from the ground. Paula Joy Welter started songwriting just three short years ago - go figure. Some people are just quick learners.

Morning Light is the debut CD for this talented performer. I have never heard such a mature and high quality effort right out of the shout. An album of this caliber does not occur by mistake.

Welter surrounded herself with the best in the business. The album's producer, Nina Gerber is known to the folk community for her phenomenal studio work, on both sides of the glass.
One of the busiest people around, Gerber knows exactly how to arrange each song; who to use and how to use them. Kim Scanlon is known as one of the finest vocalists on the west coast.

Whether coaching or singing backup Scanlon raises the vocal standard on every project in which she participates.
The backup performers read like the Who's Who of folk music: Cary Black, Norton Buffalo, Nina Gerber, Laurie Lewis, John Reischman, and Sally Van Meter and that's not half of the talent making appearances.

Is it coincidence that Kim Scanlon appears on two of my three favorite albums of the year, while Gerber and Black grace all three? (The other two are "Life and Art" by Tracy Spring and "The Heart of the Flower" by Bob Franke.) It just goes to show how important it is to surround yourself with the best musicians possible.

Welter's ballads paint pictures. Some of her pictures appear as needlepoint samplers, others as bright watercolors. Welter is at her best when chronicling the moments of our lives. Whether family or love, she sets her brush to the task of showing us our lives in rich and sympathetic textures.

"Calling You Home" explores the thin line between life and death, cheating the devil, and the power of love. Our childhood is a place of fantasy and imagination. "Long Ago" is a magic carpet ride back to those days of carefree flights into worlds of wonder we inhabited in our years of innocence.

Paula Joy colors with life and light, bringing familiar scenes back to mind. A realistic tone painter and storyteller whose palette is bright and brush strokes precise. No impressionist, she chooses small moments and fills in each picture with skill and care. The closing cut, "A Promise on the Breeze" has the peace and grace of a misty Sunday morning in Ocean City.

Morning Light is a touching album that works because everything fits together so well. Welter's themes were so familiar, the treatment sets so easily on my ears that before I knew it, the last cut was ending and I found myself pressing play again. You will probably find yourself doing the same. Go ahead, it’s cold and gray outside, treat yourself to another listen.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE:

"Rapt audience members seated at tables close their eyes to listen or tap their fingers lightly along with the music. The singer’s skilled guitar picking and clear, sweet voice cast a timeless spell on the room...at the Two Way Street Coffee House in Downers Grove, IL, featuring folk singer Paula Joy Welter."

(Chicago Tribune, quoted from review of 7/12/98 Two Way Street Coffee House live performance by Welter)

"Her stories of being raised in a large Catholic family, and the places, events and people that have inspired the songs she writes, makes one feel as if you're in her living room sharing a cup of tea by a warm cozy fire."

AMERICAN RIVER
FOLK SOCIETY’S FIRST BASH
A ROUSING SUCCESS

by Rebecca Murphy

Lotus, CA musician Paula Joy Welter awed an intimate group of nearly 30 people at the home of Bruce and Cindy Hayden in Garden Valley in the first of the American River Folk Society’s Divide House Concert Series.

The Valentine’s Day gathering listened intently to Welter’s anecdotes preceding each song, including a real-life impromptu where she stopped in the middle of one of her songs to apologize to a member of the audience for calling him by the wrong name.

While folklore is one of the endearing qualities of the folk music experience, the stories Welter told explained how each song came to be written. And with a relaxed, easy style, she was good-natured enough to laugh at herself as well.

“Most of my early songs look back on my childhood,” said the oldest of seven children. Raised in La Crescenta at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains near Los Angeles, Welter is adept at turning a phrase. Many of her original songs are tributes to family members, friends, and even strangers, with phrases like “Sister love can build a bridge” (Wisconsin Green), “He stands like an oak tree, she bends like a wild rose” (Where Two Rivers meet) and “Strangers have a way of hearing what we cannot say” (Joanna’s Gift). One of her songs, “You Can’t Hide The Truth in a Bowl Full of Gravy,” even prompted a class of Pennsylvania fourth-graders to write fan letters to her. The piece is about a childhood dislike of a particular vegetable.

Independently releasing her first CD, “Morning Light,” in 1995, Welter presents song-writing talent she discovered in 1992 while taking a songwriting class from Steve Seskin. Although she sang the songs of other folk artists often at family reunions and while attending Occidental College in the late 1960’s her guitar sat idle for two generations while she raised her son, Noah, 26. “He is soon-to-be a registered nurse and is one of my dreams come true,” said the professional freelance court reporter.

The afternoon of pleasing music was made even more delightful with the addition of tasty desserts, courtesy of Cindy Hayden, and a pound cake made by Paula Joy herself. The show was the first in a series of “house concerts” to be presented at the Haydens’ home, with memberships in the American River Folk Society to be available soon....

REVIEW OF LIVE HOUSE CONCERT
Posted on the Internet’s Folk_Music Digest, Oct. ‘96
Sender: "Judi Forman"


For weeks before my house concert yesterday with Paula Joy Welter, people were e-mailing me from all over the country telling me what a great person she is and how they wished they could be there, etc. They were right, indeed. It was a treat to have Paula Joy at my house and I'm only sorry there weren't more people there to hear her.

Paula Joy started writing songs at age 40 and now, 5 years later, has a fabulously produced CD and is out there performing her music. I have a special place place in my heart for people, especially women since I am one, who start new things at age 40. 40 is a magical age, I found, having started ice skating at 40, myself. However I will never get as far with my passion as Paula Joy has with hers, I'm afraid. She has a beautiful voice with a wide range and we were all shocked to learn from her that she had been rejected from the glee club in college. Her songs are about people she's known, things that have happenedto her - you know- "folk music". Her song "Joanna's Gift" is a lovely tale about a woman mourning her mother's death and helping herself heal through an act of giving and brings tears every time I listen. I also love her bluesy tune about Jehovah's Witnesses coming to her door and her efforts to give them a more loving message than they wanted to give her.

If Paula Joy is appearing in your area, go see her. And buy her CD. Produced by Nina Gerber and featuring a bunch of top notch musicians including Laurie Lewis and Norton Buffalo, it is a great example of how good production can enhance the music rather than overwhelm it.