The Straight Update!
Hi music fans! Welcome to StraightUp! land.
January 2008
The new year starts out on a high note as Janet wins a LiveWire™ Award from Donnie Moorhouse, for her jazzy solo recording entitled "You Don't Know Me". Donnie Moorehouse's LiveWire Awards
December
Janet gets a mention in a Local Buzz™ article about living in Springfield
September
Janet appeared on Dan Kane's radio show, where she discussed her life in music.
August
Ah, summer! The band has gotten involved with an entertainment program run by the state that has them traveling all over Massachusetts giving live performances. It's very cool, and they are grateful for the opportunity. The band is also in the studio recording tunes for their next CD, Janet is teaching, and Ray is doing some sound reinforcement work for the band Unit 7, featuring members of the band Trailer Park.
It's a good summer!
June
Saturday, June 16th, Janet played the Jazz, Barbecue & Blues concert at King Philips Stockade in Forest Park, Springfield, MA. This show is a benefit for the Brianna Fund for Children with Disabilities, and features performances by Billy Arnold, Janet Ryan, Ethel Lee, The Down Five, A.J. Baymon, and more.
May
Ray Chaput is now the Blues DJ at radio station WTCC, Located in Springfield, MA. He is looking for new music to spin on his Thursday sfternoon show. You can reach Ray via
e-mail or snail mail at:
Peg Productions
Box 2631
Holyoke, MA 01041-2631
March 07
On Saturday, March 24, Janet played the NCAA Division 2 pregame show at the Mass Mutual Center, Main St, Springfield, MA. It was a fun gig, and she is looking forward to continued work with the City of Springfield.
November 06
Janet opened for blues great John Hammond at Theodores' in Springfield, MA, on November 3rd. It was a good night of the blues!
August
Janet got a nice mention in the Springfield newspaper in an article about women leading bands. Check it out here:
July
On Saturday the 22nd Janet and the band played the first annual Deerfield, MA Land Trust Festival. The Land Trust works to protect open space in the area.
Donnie Moorhouse gives Janet a nice review. Janet's new American Classics CD gets it's first review.
June
Eaglebrook School choral director Janet Ryan pictured working with her students for the Eaglebrook Talent Show.
Janet and the boys have a new home on myspace.com. Check it out
May
Ray gets a mention in the local newspaper in an article about audio recording.
Janet and the band are the featured band on Little Known Blues
Here are direct links to Itunes. Put Janet in your Ipod today!
Janet Ryan and Straight Up!: Wrapped Up In Blue http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=6079146
Janet Ryan and Straight Up!: Passion and Fire http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=30947828
Janet also has some of her music available for free downloading via radio station WRSI
More songs available through Masslive
April
Janet's new Jazz CD is here! This new disc has twelve jazz standards dedicated to the memory of her father. You can purchase it at any of her performances and via email until she can get it into CD Baby.com Email Janet!
January 2006
CD Baby Brings More Than 100,000 Albums of Independent Music to BestBuy.com
MINNEAPOLIS, Best Buy is launching an independent music catalog at BestBuy.com that will give shoppers access to the largest online library of independent music. Through an alliance
with CD Baby, Best Buy customers can access and purchase more than 100,000 hard-to-find albums sold direct from the artist.
CD Baby handles online sales and distribution for independent artists and labels. More than 75,000 artists sell their music through CD Baby, making it the largest seller of independent music on the Web.
"Best Buy believes the future of music depends on consumers exploring new music and connecting with new artists," said Gary Arnold, senior vice president of entertainment for Best Buy. "As the link between the artist and the consumer, Best Buy is in a unique position to help generate excitement by exposing people to talented independent artists. It's a responsibility we take seriously, and that's why this agreement with CD Baby is so important."
The alliance with CD Baby is part of Best Buy's overall commitment to provide consumers with as many entertainment choices as possible. Best Buy stocks a deep catalog of music that goes well beyond simply carrying new releases. Offering the CD Baby catalog online will provide an even more diverse selection of music to Best Buy customers.
"Best Buy selling deep catalog directly from independent musicians like this is the beginning of a 'long tail' revolution," said Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby. "This will highlight the most amazing musicians in all genres of music, that are bypassing the record labels to sell directly from musician to fan."
The CD Baby alliance will be featured on front page of the music section on BestBuy.com. A link will take customers to a searchable library of independent and unsigned artists. Consumers can browse by style of music, check out the top selling albums on the site, and can even search by location to discover talent from their part of the country.
December 2005
Someone want a podcast?
Check out Streaming Video of the band from one of their shows at Theodores'
Then click on the HiFi button in the left frame. Thanks to the Link to Rock guys for the footage. There is a link to their site on our links page.
November 2005
On November 6th and 7th, Janet's voice student Traci Mnich released her new CD "At Last" which features Janets song " He Don't Know He's In Love". Janet recorded the song with Traci this summer at Zing Studio, playing piano and arranging the song for Traci. Janet was at the CD release party at the Majestic Theatre to play for Traci and friends, and help her celebrate her success with the new CD. Traci has been a student of Janets for over a year.
August 2005
Janet's song "What I Like Best is You" got some nice reviews at http://www.c0nsensus.com./#target611
July 2005
Janet Played the 25th annual Crafts on the Common event, Held in the center of Amherst, MA This show was a benefit for the organization Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County.
May 2005
Wrapped Up in Blue is featured here...
http://www.free-musicdownloads.net/blog/
April 2005
Janet traveled
to Canada to perform in an Opera!
Old Deerfield Productions
produced an American Opera called The Captivation of Eunice Williams.
January 2005
Happy New Year! January finds Janet back in the studio preparing material for her third CD release! More details to follow...
September, 2004
It's that time of year again!
The on line voting closed for the 2004 Valley Advocate's annual Grand Band Slam. The GBS recognizes the best of the local musicians in the Western Massachusetts area. We are proud to announce that Janet Ryan won in the category of Best Female Vocalist! Janet would like to thank all the people who thought of her and took the time to vote for her! The Grand Band Slam organizers set up a performance for her on September 16th at the Shakago Martini & Piano Bar, 23 Hampden Street, in Springfield, MA.
July, 2004
Janet performed in an Opera!
Old Deerfield Productions produced a new American Opera called The Captivation of Eunice Williams. The opera was performed on July 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, 25, 2004 at the Reid Theatre on the campus of Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, MA. For more information visit Eunice Williams
Thursday, June 10th, Chris Sautter's documentary film about Roger Salloom, "'So Glad I Made It', a portrait of Roger Salloom, America's Best Unknown Songwriter," had been gleaned from over 500 entries to be shown at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana held this past February 20-25. Janet has placed one of her original songs in this movie, and appears onscreen with Ray Chaput, as they perform her song "Tired of Talking". The film was shown tonight at the beautiful Academy of Music in Northampton, MA.
Saturday, June 4th, Janet and the band performed for the American Cancer Society, at their annual Relay for Life. Relay For Life is a fun-filled overnight event designed to celebrate survivorship and raise money for research and programs of your American Cancer Society. During the event, teams of people gather at schools, fairgrounds, or parks and take turns walking or running laps. Each team tries to keep at least one team member on the track at all times.
Relay For Life represents the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day, cancer will be eliminated. It is a 24 hour long event held at the racetrack in Greenfield, MA. For more details, Visit Relay For Life
Thursday, February 5th,the track "No Good News" will be Blues Track of the Week at GarageBand.com. For 7 days starting on Monday, the 9th of February, 2004 "No Good News" will be featured on the home page, charts page, and elsewhere on GarageBand.com.
Wednesday, February 4th, Dennis Halsey has written a nice review of the CD "Wrapped Up In Blue"... It's now posted at the website Best Female Musicians.com.
Wednesday, January 21st, The new CD from Greenfield TV, titled "Homegrown", is out and in your local stores. Janet and the boys have contributed a track to this compilation. You can hear samples and purchase the CD at www.TV15.org Sales of the CD benefit Public Television in the western Massachusetts area.
Tuesday, January 6th, 2004, The documentary about Roger Salloom, " 'So Glad I Made It' a portrait of Roger Salloom, America's Best Unknown Songwriter," has been gleaned from over 500 entries to be shown at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana held this February 20-25. Janet has placed one of her original songs in this movie, and appears onscreen singing "Tired of Talking".
2003
Saturday, November 29th 2003, Our CD, "Passion and Fire", is now available on CD Baby
Saturday, September 20th, Janet and the boys played the Blues, Brews, and BBQ Festival at 6 Flags New England. It was a great day in New England, with lots of wonderful music and plenty of happy blues fans in attendance.
Wednesday, August 20th, 2003 Our CD "Wrapped Up In Blue" is now available at CD Baby. Click on the baby to visit our CD Baby store.
Friday, August 1st, 2003, Janet and the band played on radio station WRNX, 100.9 F.M. on Donnie Moorhouse's program.
Monday, May 31st, 2003, The band placed one of their songs on the Northampton Music Festival's compilation CD. Check out www.nmfest.com for more details.
Monday, March 31st, 2003, Our CD is making the rounds. It's getting attention in Norway, Sweden, Italy, Germany, and Canada!
Thursday, January 14th, 2003, Donnie Moorhouse, WRNX 100.9 DJ, and Springfield Union News columnist, awards "Wrapped Up In Blue" a 2002 Livewire award for being one of the top 10 local CD releases.
Sunday, January 5th, 2003, Steve Walbridge, DJ and Blues Revue Magazine contributor, chooses "Wrapped Up In Blue" as one of his top ten picks for 2002.
2002
Saturday, December 28th, 2002 DJ Beef Stew from WCCC, 106.9 FM, chose the new CD "Wrapped Up In Blue" as one of the top 5 local Blues CDs released in 2002.
His
Contact info is: Beef Stew - Sunday Night Blues - 6:00pm to 12:00am 106.9 WCCC - 1039 Asylum Ave - Hartford CT 06105
Main phone is 860-525-1069 - Voicemail 860-244-9677 x161 - Request 860-525-WCCC
Please visit: http://megablues.com http://wccc.com
Saturday, November 23rd, Janet, Billy, and Ray performed with Susan Angeletti at her CD release party at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA. Susan is headed to the west coast to further her musical career. Janet and the boys wish her well, and they gave Susan an original song to take with her on her trip.
Friday, November 22nd. Janet, Billy, and Ray appear in the JFK musical "Love Field"
Saturday, October 5th, Janet and the boys played the Northampton Music Fest. They have the distinction of being the only blues band to perform there this year.
Friday, September 13th, new short MP3 files from the CD "Wrapped Up In Blue" have been added to the download page. These are small samples of our music that have been encoded at 96 KBS for faster downloading.
Saturday, August 24th, Janet and the band hold the CD release party for the new CD "Wrapped Up In Blue" at Theodores' in Springfield, MA. It was a great night, with lots of music lovers in attendance.
Saturday, August 10th, The Taste of Northampton, MA, Showtime was 6:50 till 8:15 P.M. It was a beautiful day to perform outside. Great gig, great music, and great fans!
Wednesday, August 7th, Janet and the boys win in two categories in the 2002 Advocate Newspaper's Grand Band Slam. Janet won for best female vocalist, and the band won for best blues band!
Tuesday, August 6th,the new CD, "Wrapped up in Blue" is finished! This CD features ten original tunes penned by Janet and the boys in the band.
Wednesday, July 17th, Janet
and Ray appeared at
the 19th Annual Picking in the Pines show at the
Pines Theater located in Look Park in Northampton,
MA. This outdoor venue is a great place to see live music.
Sunday, July 28th, Open
Square, Holyoke, MA.
Janet and the band shared a bill with sax great Charles Neville
Saturday, June 22nd, Janet and Ray joined Susan Angeletti at the Blues Fest in Northampton, MA, at the Three County Fairgrounds.
Monday, June 17th, the band
did a live TV shoot at Greenfield Television in downtown
Greenfield, from 6 till 7 P.M. 393 Main Street, Greenfield,
Massachusetts
01302-0807
Saturday, June 8th, Janet and the boys performed at the Taste of West Springfield, MA, on the common from 7 till 9 P.M.
May 24th, Janet and her band played the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA, with the Susan Angeletti Band. The place was full, and the music was hot.
April 10th, We can now
accept credit cards!
Visit the CD Page
for more info.
April 8th, new short MP3 files from the CD "Passion and Fire" have been added to the download page. These are small samples of our music that have been encoded at 96 KBS for faster downloading.
In March and April, Janet and the boys headed into the recording studio where they laid down basic tracks for their upcoming CD.
In addition, they also recorded a tune for WRNX DJ Steve Walbridge to celebrate his first year of spinning music at WRNX. 100.9 FM. The song is titled "The 6 O'Clock Blues," and will be used occasionally as the outro music for his Sunday night program.
They also wrote bumper music for the River RoadHouse Blues Break on radio station WRSI, 93.9 FM. WRSI plays a cool blues tune twice a day, and uses Janet's music to introduce their selection. You can hear Janet and the band everyday at 8 AM and 4 PM.
Saturday, February 23rd, Janet and Ray headlined the Cabin Fever concert at the Northampton Center of the Arts. Roger Salloom put together this show to celebrate the coming of Spring. Rockabilly monsters The Memphis Flyers opened the show. These guys sound great! Roger then played with his band. Janet and Ray came up last and performed with Roger's band to end the evening.
Thursday, January 31st, Janet and Ray were finalists in radio station WRSI's singer/songwriter contest. The show was at Bishop's Lounge in Mulino's restaurant, across from the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA.
Sunday, January 6th, 2002 Janet kicked off a new feature of the WRNX (100.9 FM) Sunday Night Blues show. Hosted by Steve Walbridge, the Sunday Night Blues show has opened up one night a month for an artist to come on and discuss their music and influences, and spin a lot of their favorite music. Steve chose Janet as his first interview, and they put on an excellent show.
The year 2001 was a good year for Janet and the boys as they made lots of new friends and musical connections, and played in many new venues. They are currently recording a new CD with their new rhythm section and should have it available by spring. We here at Charona Records wish them all the best, and hope they have a great 2002!
September 28th, Janet invited Beth Styles, the keyboard player from her old band, out to western Massachusetts to play a pig roast out in the hills. This particular keyboardist/ singer lives in Manhattan within 4 blocks of the WTC towers, and had worked there! Coming out to the laid back country seemed to be just the thing to help her relax , and she played some great lines that weekend. She had many incredible stories to tell. Western Massachusetts is a great place to live.
Saturday, August 25th, The Band opened up the rock and blues portion of the Celebrate Holyoke (Massachusetts) festival. There was live music all day, and Dickey Betts closed the show.
Saturday, August 18th, Janet and the boys landed a debut gig at Theodore's on Worthington St, in Springfield, MA. Theodore's is the Premiere blues club in western Massachusetts.
Saturday, August 11th, the band played at the Taste of Northampton, (MA.) The weather was excellent, and the band sounded great!
Sunday, August 5th, the blues festival was a good time! Northampton, MA, was painted blue when the Second Annual Blues, Booze and BBQ fest was held at the Tri County Fairgrounds. It was the bands first appearance there. Lots of people who dug the blues showed up, and everyone had a great time!
Wednesday, July 25th, Janet and Ray headlined the Roger Salloom Band at their 18th annual Splendor in the Grass Festival. This was a family oriented event, complete with a storyteller for the children. This has been a free concert for the last eighteen years, and Janet and Ray are proud to have been a part of this years festivities! The Pines Theater is located in Look Park in Northampton, MA. It is outside in a natural amphitheater that sounds wonderful.
Monday, June 25th, The Band did a live TV broadcast. The program is called "Homegrown" and was broadcast on Greenfield, MA television station 6.
Saturday, June 9th, The band performed at this years "Taste of West Springfield" from 7 to 9 P.M.
Friday, June 8th, Janet and the band performed live on the Riversound Cafe radio program on radio station WRSI, 93.9 FM. in a live broadcast from Union Station in Northampton, MA.
Thursday, June 7th, Janet and Ray performed live on radio station WMUA, 91.1 FM after the live Ruth Brown interview!
Janet met Steve Walbridge, who has an excellent blues radio show Sunday nights from 6 to 9 P.M. on radio station WRNX, 100.9 FM. He has played songs from Janet's CD during his program. To stream audio go here, and click on the "Listen Live" button on the right side of the page. To email your blues requests to his show, click here.
Janet and the band have been featured several times on radio station WRSI, 93.9 FM, on their "Local Hero" radio program. This station supports local music, and they have very nice people working there. Stream audio from here. Call them at (413) 586-9530 to request Janet's music. Email users write to WRSI DJ.
Janet was a guest DJ recently, doing the "Pick Your Own" program on WRSI. She did a great job, and the band will be doing a live in studio performance this summer!