The Short Version
"If songs were different colored feathers, Swan would resemble a headdress of truth and reflection, rich in imagery and history." With 7 CDs to date, Pamme's 30-year musical journey has been lined with performances in coffee houses, inns, college frats, bandstands, decks and campfires, and a few Adirondack tour boats. She comes with a wide range of original, storytelling songs about Central New York and the Adirondacks. Songs about the hermit Noah John Rondeau, the Loomis Gang, The Spirit House, and escaping Hurricane Katrina. Her song Boom Town, (the Chester Gillette/Grace Brown tragedy) has been recognized by author Craig Brandon and featured on the Mohawk Valley Living show. Ode To Anne ( Anne La Bastille) was mentioned in the Adirondack Living magazine which got her an invitation to perform her song at Anne's memorial on her beloved Twitchell Lake.
Pamme plays on an old Taylor 514 CE, a cherry Martin, a strum stick, and a walnut dulcimer and also covers a wide range of songs from various artists mostly of the folk, bluegrass, and singer-songwriter genre.
Discography:
Tango Tree 1998 Pamarama 2002
Sprinkles 2002 (Top Ten Pick for 2002 Syracuse Post Standard/Music Critic Mark Bialczak)
Pamarama 2003
Once Sated 2004
Patchouli Room (2006 Top Ten Pick for 2006 Syracuse Post Standard/Music Critic Mark Bialczak)
Songs From Mountains East And West 2008
Year Of First's 2011
A repertoire of Artists Covered:
Joni Mitchel, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, John Prine, Peter Paul and Mary, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, The Carter Family, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Linda Ronstadt, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, The Rolling Stones, and much more. I also cover many children's songs.
The Long Version:
And this is what I learned Where ever I may go Wish them well where they wander Because it is what it is. It is what it is. Someone once asked me, "Pamme, why do you write... why do you take so many pictures"? I said, " Because my life has been so amazing, I"ll need proof later or no one will ever believe me"! I've played in several bands, duos, and trios... I've Learned a lot and have come full circle again, downsizing to just me. It's refreshing! My uncle bought me a subscription to National Geographic magazine for Christmas when I was about nine and that's what started me writing. I wrote about the pictures. Over the years I wrote and wrote and wrote some more... I started playing guitar when I was 12...There were no shopping malls to hang out in back then and growing up in a small town there was nothing but time. I miss that time. Long hours to practice and ponder. I guess that's when the stories became shorter and I started writing songs. So I played records and played with friends. I played in bedrooms, woods, parks, and high school plays. My first recording was done in a huge, converted barn called "Art Ark". I played under pavilions, the stars, and the influence of several things I am lucky to have survived. I played in cars, bars, churches, weddings, and laundry mats. I've rocked out in frat house parties where I should have had a tetanus shot before entering. I think I played in every frat house along 12 B in Hamilton. Home of Colgate University. I've played in Coffee Houses and Public Radio TV shows in pretty much every state here in the North East. I started out alone...Then, while having babies I played with Camila Loop while she was having her babies. We wrote a song called "Power Moms" That's right! Camila and Pamela ...we called ourselves The Slamela Sisters..no, we were not lesbians. (not that I'm against lesbians in any way shape or form...Just saying. We had one gig. It was on the night OJ Simpson in a white bronco, was being chased by the police...we had the audience 'till that scene came on the big screen...and this is pretty funny because as I sit here writing about OJ, I hear from the TV in the other room that he's been arrested yet again for armed robbery... anyway, our babies were a lot of work...so Cam and I put our guitars down and tended to them. Divorce made me pick up that guitar again several years later when the babies stopped breastfeeding and went to daycare...so I played again and tended bar. I love people.
A lot of what I write comes simply from listening to what people say. I remarried this time to my Biology Teacher from Sherburne...no, I didn't even think he was cute in high school! But he had a really nice house and I was very sick of living underground under snow banks and we hit it off and got married. He has supported me in all my musical endeavors, all the CDs I made, and all the money I didn't make not working a real job. I could not have done it without him.
I did go to college! When my children were in their early years of schooling I got myself a degree in Landscape Design. I learned the names of every tree, shrub, annual, and perennial. No flower arranging classes for me! I learned how to drive a backhoe, bobcat, and dump truck. I wore work boots and was in pretty good shape with a pruner strapped to my side on the Morrisville State College campus in search of pests and plant diseases.
After graduating there I joined a rock band called "Club Ed". We didn't go very far as Colgate kept us busy. We bragged about having two drummers. Band members were Ed Vollmer, Myself, Scot Kraly, Jimmy Wunderlich, David Thompson, David Williams, and whatever Colgate student who got up to jam along...Club Ed lasted about 8 years...I've paid my dues belting out rock cover tunes...Enough of that. I then put together The Swan Road Trio with Jimmy Wunderlich and Scot Kraly as it seemed such a waste to not play anymore with these guys with whom I've played for so many years. We did all my original material. It was an honor to play with these guys and a challenge to arrange my simple folk music to include a percussionist and another guitarist...who knows, we may still play again?
My most recent CD "Patchouli Room" was a truly magical adventure...each song falling into my lap somehow. I could not have done this without the help of my dear friend and fellow writer, Patrick Mills.
Not long after the holidays of 2007, I picked up the weekly edition of the Mid York and read a heartfelt paragraph written by Charlie Getchonis remembering his son Craig who passed away two years ago. Ironically Rob Stahl had read the same paragraph and we both had the same idea and contacted one another. Thus Skyway was born. Both Rob and I worked with Craig at the bookstore and were friends of the same feather. "Skyway" is a benefit concert in memory of Craig. A festival of local artists to raise money for the next generation of musicians in the area. Our first Skyway show was a success and a reason to do one every year. 2007 has been a very rewarding magical year for me.
I now have a "regular" gig playing at the Big Moose Inn at Eagle Bay NY. I'm currently recording a live CD of originals at Camp Palace on Big Moose Lake. Since I've downsized, the next compositions will be a series of songs and stories with an Adirondack spirit. The Adirondack Mountains have been good to me this summer and won't let me go. I'm not complaining.
So, when people ask me what my music is like, "I tell them I'm a folk singer". I don't (not anymore) use gadgets that change the sound of my guitar or toys that manipulate my voice. (Well, maybe a wee bit of reverb)! My songs tell stories and enkindle you from within.
My music is relaxing and geared toward a listening audience. I've grown up with Peter Paul and Mary, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline...I grew into Joni Mitchel and Cat Stevens and served french fries to John Prine.
Fortunately, My music is aging well all by itself.
And so... It is what it is... And it's another beginning!