 From the minute she begins to sing, Debra Cowan grabs her audience and
doesn’t let go. Her ability to
communicate the story within the song is
rare. Her rich voice
conjures images of stony grey Celtic castles, green
and rolling English landscapes, and humorous American urban scenes. Just
as the audience is
left spellbound after Debra presents a woeful
traditional ballad of love gone wrong, she
immediately brings laughter with an
outrageous comic song.
Her love of songs from the
British Isles has led
her to search out the connections with their North American
ancestors and her desire
to be true to the song brought her to
Edinburgh, Scotland in 1997.
While
there, Debra studied the performances of that country's finest singers.
She was chosen to be a resident musician at Edinburgh's premier folk
music pub, Sandy
Bell’s Bar,
following in the footsteps of Scottish musicians such as Dick Gaughan, Aly Bain, the late
Tony Cuffe and the Wrigley Sisters. Almost ten years
later and based near Worcester, Massachusetts, Debra tours extensively
in the USA and United Kingdom.
Debra's
release of her recording "Dad's Dinner Pail and Other Songs From the
Helen Hartness Flanders Collection", on the Falling Mountain
Music recording label has brought her praise from both the USA and
United Kingdom. In thier Spring 2006 issue, Sing Out! Magazine published Debra's
version of the "Walloping Window Blind", a song from "Dad's
Dinner Pail". Also in 2006, Debra was included
in the Free-Reed Records box
set, "RT-The
Life and Times of Richard Thompson" with her version of
Thompson's "Has He Got a Friend For Me". She was selected
as a 2002 Formal Showcase Artist at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) delighting an
audience of industry professionals. This showcase earned her a
performance on WFMT Radio's "Folkstage", an internationally
syndicated live concert radio show hosted by Rich Warren. In 2001, she
released her first solo CD, “The Long Grey Line” which enjoyed
world-wide airplay on folk music radio and has been praised throughout
the folk music community. Also that year, she was selected as a
Showcase Artist in the Falcon
Ridge Folk Festival. She has appeared at numerous concert venues
and on radio programs throughout the United States and the United
Kingdom where her clear vocals and beautifully rendered songs have been
described as “stunning”. Her festival appearances include the Greater
New Bedford Summerfest (MA), Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival (CT),
Champlain Valley Folk Festival, Lancaster Maritime Festival (UK),
Edinburgh Festival (UK) and the Chico World Music Festival (CA).
“What
makes Debra good is not her superb voice, nor her skillful guitar
playing, nor her varied repertoire, nor her extensive knowledge of
her music, it is, plain and simple, the fact that she loves singing,
and her passion for her music is there in every note she
utters.”
-Nigel Schofield, Producer, Free Reed
Records, UK
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