SHARI ULRICH

I was a child of the 60's in the San Francisco Bay Area, which leaves a lot implied about the influences of my early years, and filled me with The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and a long list of the folks who still inspire generations. And yes, I still have a hippy heart hiding in there. I bolted to Canada when I was 18 when "Kent State" rocked the world of those protesting the war in Vietnam. After stints of backpacking and bicycling around Canada and the US, in search of my place and path in the world, which included performing with my sibs in the San Francisco Free Theatre, and finally surrendered that music was undeniably IT for me.

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I've been incredibly fortunate on this road. I've released lots of albums (21) and been in lots of trios (3) with remarkably talented, handsome and wonderful men - Rick Scott & Joe Mock of The Pied Pumkin, Bill Henderson & Roy Forbes in UHF, Barney Bentall & Tom Taylor in BTU, and of course a gaggle of them in The Hometown Band and now The High Bar Gang. Lucky, lucky girl. But my solo life, which began when the Hometown Band's tour support was suddenly cut off by A&M in 1977, the night before we won a Juno for Best New Group, has been my main course. And that's all about songwriting. I write about what I know and what I've lived. Some of it is stuff people don't like to talk about, but seem to be hungry to hear. I didn't intend to be that kind of writer - it just comes out that way.

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Inarguably, my shining prize is daughter Julia, who at 23, has grown into a superb human being and musician. The musician part was her call, though again, with the genes from both sides (her father is singer-songwriter and visual artist David Graff) and being on the road with me from when she was 6 weeks old certainly left its imprint. But the hard work of becoming so accomplished on violin, piano, guitar, accordion and mandolin, is all hers. (My secret? Try not to nag, bribe or otherwise badger them to practice! As a Psychology Major she told me it allowed her "intrinsic motivation" to develop. I would probably define that less as good parenting and more just a happy accident. Either way, it's fantastic to behold.) Now she’s engineered and produced my latest album. How cool is that?

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