By Drew Kampion

"I'm a storyteller at heart," says Janie Cribbs. "My perspective on life is fairly optimistic, but I believe in telling the truth as I see it. Some songs just need to come from the other side. As a singer and interpreter of words, I want to move people to recognize parts of themselves - the very human frailty and courage we all share."

Born in Colorado and transplanted at eleven to Ireland where her mother, a Ph.D. English scholar, proposed to write her thesis on W. B. Yeats, Janie Cribbs was singing in smoky Irish pubs by the time she was 13.  "It was my first taste of performing," she says, "and I was hooked."

She's lived a musician's gypsy life ever since - London, Corsica, Paris (where she worked by day as a sculptor's model, by night singing the blues with other expatriate Americans), then back to Dublin, where she signed a record deal with a band called Midnight Well.  Performing a hybrid of traditional Irish music and original folk rock, the group toured  extensively in Ireland and Europe, received lots of air play, and made frequent television appearances.

But when her mother headed back to the U.S., Janie followed, only to fall seriously ill. Thanks to a sister's gift of a kidney, she recovered and, in the process, began writing her own material.  Her health restored, she worked regularly with several bands, honing her singer-songwriter act, first in Los Angeles and then nearer her family in the Pacific Northwest.

Janie blossomed in the mists of the Olympic rainshadow, working as a vocalist in a series of local groups, including Hostile Locals and Blue Nectar, an up-and-coming traditional blues band. Her work as writer, singer, and manager/promoter of the band was rewarded with Washington Blues Society nominations for Best New Band and Best Female Vocalist.

Then Janie met Joe Reggiatore, already well known for his burning electric guitar work.   On sabbatical from the Hollywood rock scene, Joe found himself playing a beat-up acoustic guitar on a low-key island in Puget Sound, where his true roots emerged in a unique and passionate fusion of folk, pop, blues, and rock - a music that met and meshed perfectly with Janie's.

"No Illusion" is Janie Cribb's debut album, and this line from her title song says it all:

    "You came into this world seeking love
    that cannot be denied
    and all the questions deep inside
    stand and witness to all your power and prayers
    risking everything you stayed
    so very unafraid."