MY DAD WORKED ON THE RAILROAD I’m a Seattle area singer-songwriter and my first studio album is a bittersweet accomplishment. The album, Sometimes A Sinner, is dedicated to my late father, Elwood S. Hamick, who I wish had lived long enough to hear my original songs. My dad knew I loved music, but I’m really a late bloomer. What dad didn’t know is that I tried for years to write songs, but couldn’t. Then one day, the words to a song just popped into my head like they were falling from the sky. Now I’ve recorded my first album and I have notebooks filled with more songs. I only wish my dad had lived long enough for this. I would have loved to see his face when I handed him my first CD! I HAVE A ROOTSY, BLUESY SOUND WITH HINTS OF ALT COUNTRY, ROCKABILLY AND SALSA! My music stems from many influences, but I especially appreciate that I had a country-music-loving father who was a railroad engineer and a grandfather who was a coal miner. These are great influences when it comes to composing Americana music! I love the diversity of American music and the freedom to mix musical genres. I enjoy so many different kinds and styles of music, and that eclecticism is reflected in this album. I love to perform and hear what people have to say about my songs. Some people say I have a western sound, some say I sing jazzy blues, others say I’m a folk singer, while many focus on my songs' Latin vibes. It's all true! YOU HELP PRESERVE STARRY NIGHTS WHEN YOU BUY MY ALBUM I love the American West, and I think that many of my songs reflect my experience and understanding of the West. Something that is near and dear to my heart is the ability to see the stars at night, which can still be done in many regions of the West. But every day it seems we add more and more artificial lights to our world, and every time we do, we lose more stars. Across our planet, star-filled nights are vanishing because of human-produced light pollution. Listen to the first track on Sometimes A Sinner. It’s called “Dark, Dark, Dark,” and it's an ode to darkness. I wrote this song and made it the first one on the album because I care about preserving our ability to continue to enjoy starry nights from different locations throughout the world. A portion of my album’s sales goes to the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) and that group’s efforts to preserve the night sky. What I like about the IDA is that they are practical. They realize that we need artificial lights, especially in cities. Their efforts are focused on educating people about the right kinds of lighting (hooded lights that point down) and in preserving the dark, pristine areas that are still relatively free of light pollution. I thank you for buying my album so that I can support this outstanding organization. You can learn more by visiting www.darksky.org. If you grew up in a city and have never been out in the middle of nowhere, then you may not know what I’m talking about. Here’s what you need to do: Go out and get as far away as you can from the artificial lights of towns and cities. We’re talking hundreds of miles. Then on a clear night, stay up way past your bedtime, go outside and look up. You’ll never be the same. MY PRODUCER IS A WIZARD Being a singer-songwriter is hard because it’s like being an orchestra conductor who doesn't have an orchestra. I walk around with songs in my head and I can hear what I want a song to sound like, but I’m not a multi-instrumentalist so I can’t produce the sound I want without quite a few other musicians. Then I met Michael Thomas Connolly, musician, music producer and founder of Seattle’s Empty Sea Studios and the Roots Channel. I would play and sing a song for Michael and explain what I wanted it to sound like. Michael would pick up one of his many instruments (he plays more than 10 different instruments on Sometimes A Sinner) and say, “you mean like this?” Gasp. Yes! I can’t say enough good things about working with someone as talented as Michael. The authenticity of the sound of Sometimes A Sinner is because of Michael. What I most appreciate about working with him is that he possesses the perfect balance between geeky technical recording skills and creative, soulful musician. The brain of a geek and the soul of a musician! I AM A WORK-IN-PROGRESS -- JUST ASK MY VOICE TEACHER For the past two years, I have been treating myself to weekly voice lessons from a wonderful voice teacher. Jana Szabo fearlessly combines classic and unconventional voice instruction techniques. She understands the role of emotion when it comes to singing and lovingly embraces her students as the complex and flawed human beings that we are. I am a better singer today than I was two years ago, thanks to Jana’s instruction and my own hard work. Two years from now, I expect to be an even better singer. Jana is not only a voice teacher, but has an outstanding voice herself. Listen to my song “Red Hot Planet.” Those marvelous call-and-response and harmony vocals are Jana. ABOUT SOMETIMES A SINNER ALBUM All compositions ©2015, Joann Hamick Quintana, BMI Produced by Michael Thomas Connolly Recorded, mixed and mastered by Michael Thomas Connolly at Empty Sea Studios, Seattle, WA. Additional engineering by Jordan Cunningham. Joann Hamick Quintana: vocals, guitar Michael Thomas Connolly: vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, violin, accordion, mandolin, dobro, clarinet, upright bass, percussion Colin Isler: cello Eric Padget: trumpet Jana Szabo: harmony vocals Album photograph of Joann by Helene Chandler Album cover graphic design by Michael Thomas Connolly reverbnation.com/joannhamickquintana