
During the heyday of alternative rock women in the 1990's, Canadian Holly McNarland struck it big with a sprinkling of hits from solid records. Now a mother of two, she's returned with a new album, Run Body Run , that was five years in the making. McNarland was never one of those touchy feelie piano-plicking singer/songwriters. Instead she picked up her guitar and rocked hard. The layoff hasn't changed that at all on songs like "Only Money" which not only rock, but feature some sharp-tongued lyrics. The softer side is definitely [...]

Holly McNarland: Coward [ Purchase ] One of my favorite songs of all time (or at least within the top 20 or so, which I think is darn good) is by a Canadian, Ms. Holly McNarland, a native of Manitoba. The song, "Coward", is from her full-length 1997 debut "Stuff" which earned her a Juno award for best new solo act the following year. The song, an introspective look at insecurities, is powerful to me because it's about something that generally makes one feel vulnerable, and yet it [...]
In celebration of CMJ week, I have created some Mp3s from the CD that came in The College Music Journal issue no. 51 (Nov. '97). Before the word "blog" was a glimmer in any of our eyes, the CMJ CD was how a very large percentage of people discovered music. And so, in the spirit of brief descriptions and rhetorical questions, I will now share my thoughts in one sentence or more for each song selected. Portishead - "All Mine" This song has some ill-tyme break beats and the horns drop in [...]
Canadian songstress, Holly McNarland, is scheduled to release a new album this year. Alas, as seems oft to happen, it has been put off til early 2007 now. According to her official site though, she will be releasing an EP called 'The Komrade Sessions", which will include songs she recently recorded without a band to tide over her fans until the release of her new album "Chin Up, Buttercup" comes out next year. For those of you unfamiliar with Holly and her work, she is a fairly popular Canadian musician who's [...]