‘The Tree of Life’ new album by Rebecca Harrold in Peaceful Radio Show 1566
7 November 2023 Uncategorized
Scroll down and click on photo for Rebecca’s website.
In 2012, Rebecaa Harrold released The River of Life to
critical acclaim. She has now resurfaced with its sequel,
The Tree Of Life. While her warm, intimate piano melodies
are as inviting as ever, Harrold has branched out and
added “vocalist” to her musical personae. In addition to
her lead vocals on four of this recordings’ seven tracks,
background vocals by others appear on several of those
songs as well. Her voice is mature, strong, and she sings
with a vivid emotional conviction whether alone or
accompanied.
The Tree Of Life was recorded at Grammy-winner Will
Ackerman’s Imaginary Road Studios where he, Tom
Eaton, and the artist shared producing responsibilities.
Mixing and mastering was done, as usual, by Tom Eaton.
Familiar names appear as guest stars, including Eugene
Friesen (cello), Charlie Bisharat (violin), Jill Haley (English
horn), Premik Tubbs (saxophone), Jeff Haynes
(percussion), and Ackerman himself on guitar.
The album features a wider variety of music than The
River Of Life, not just due to the vocals but the inclusion
of a classical composition by Franz Schubert and the
uptempo jazz piece, “Chorean,” on which Harrold plays
alongside bassist Louis Ochoa,
the tune carrying elements of
jump boogie which certainly
enlivens things more than a
little bit! Overall, the new
directions Rebecca Harrold is
travelling in further solidify a
reason to keep an eye (and
ear) on her!
Track Listing
He Shall Be Like A Tree 4:56
Rhapsody 4:01
Anything For You 3:54
Chorean 2:38
*Schubert Trio Op. 100
Andante Con Moto 4:13
Waltz Sentimental 2:30
Many Ways 4:41
Credits
Songs composed by Rebecca
Harrold except * composed by
Franz Schubert; arrangement by
Rebecca Harrold
Produced by Will Ackerman,
Tom Eaton, and Rebecca
Harrold. Mixed and mastered
by Tom Eaton. Recorded at
Imaginary Road Studios. Vocals
on tracks 1 and 5 produced by
Neil Merrick Blackwood at
Music City Scoring, Black
Mountain, NC
Bio Rebecca
People come to decisions in life about their career goals, their passions, and the direction to go
forward in any number of ways. Some are influenced by a relative or a friend; some are steered in their
choices by specific instances or events; and others just know what path to take innately. They are called
to pursue this life goal. For pianist Rebecca Harrold, this last example seems to be what has led her to
become a professional musician.
Born in Mentor, Ohio in 1963, Rebecca was the youngest of seven children. Her mother was a
music therapist and actively encouraged Rebecca to pursue music from the early age of two! Sadly, she
lost her father at the same time. Despite this, she threw herself headlong into making music her life,
adding singing to her repertoire at age 6. By the age of 10, she was composing and playing professionally
for her church. Obviously, she was the opposite of a “late bloomer,” when it came to music.
Rebecca attended Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, and graduated with a vocal
performance major in 1985. She then began a life of “working” in a variety of jobs including the food,
clothing, and health industries. While these helped pay the bills, she was also developing her true career
in music. Rebecca worked with a variety of organizations in Ohio including the Playhouse Square in
Cleveland where she worked staging and creating multi-media programs to benefit the Playhouse
Square’s Foundation. After moving to Boston, she began working with The Company Theater, the Voice
Studio of Robert Honeysucker, and Burklyn Ballet in Vermont. Her career started to blossom and her
talents and versatility in singing diverse styles took her to Europe, including Italy, and Greece. As a lead
singer, she performed with Eye to Eye, a Boston-based general business band and four-time Boston
Music Award winner. Rebecca also played keyboards for Lois Lane and the Daily Planets (and continues
to do so when she visits Boston) as well as Y.O.M.A.M.A, an original rock band (they once opened for
Average White Band and the Guess Who!). Besides the performance angle, Rebecca was Music Director
for Turtle Lane Playhouse Children’s Theater (Newton, MA), Atrium School Children’s Theater
(Watertown, MA), Walpole High School Drama Department (Walpole, MA), Temple Beth Avodah (Newton,
MA) and Theater of Light (Salem, MA).
It was sometime in 2013 when Rebecca’s path to becoming a recording artist finally revealed
itself. She was encouraged by a conversation with a Boston Ballet adult student who took classes that
she played for when she was employed at Boston Ballet in Marblehead, Massachusetts (the student had
recorded with Grammy-winner Will Ackerman). Rebecca reached out to Will and that eventually led to
Rebecca making a pilgrimage to Ackerman’s Imaginary Road Studios in rural Vermont. Working with him
and producer/mixing and mastering engineer Tom Eaton, Rebecca recorded her first CD: The River of
Life. It received an abundance of glowing reviews from online and print media. In an interview for
Purposeful Pathway Radio, Rebecca spoke of the recording process and what happened afterwards:
“When I was making the CD, The River of Life, I remember Will Ackerman said to me, ‘It’s like…you really
don’t know why you’re doing this while you’re doing it. It’s a process.’ After she released The River of Life
her brother started to go through some very bizarre changes. “He gave me a gift with music but I didn’t
realize how strong that was until his passing. And I believe that once he passed, he gave the desire for
me to do more. And this was the prediction, I think, that’s what Will Ackerman was talking about. You
really don’t know what you’re doing with your music until much later. From a young age, I was exposed to
death, and I’ve just found that by being around death a lot more than I have been around life, that grief is
love that has no place to go. And until, or unless, we find a place to put that love and that grief, it gets a
little muddled up inside.”
Sometime after the album’s release, Rebecca moved to Bentonville, Arkansas where she
currently resides. Today she is active in a vibrant church in Bella Vista where she plays piano and sings
and also gives piano lessons, both in-person and on Zoom. Rebecca is building her own production
company which has dovetailed off the Enlightened Piano Radio Artists platform, and is also branching out
to promoting and producing concerts. Rebecca returned to Imaginary Road Studios in 2017 where she is
in the process of finishing up her follow-up album to The River of Life, titled The Tree of Life. Due to the
Covid pandemic, she is just now finishing production. The album is due for release in 2023.
It is easy to see that Rebecca Harrold is an artist wholly devoted to her music whether it be
spreading her love of it through teaching and helping young people to realize their dreams, or sending her
own heartfelt music out to the world where it has touched so many people. The future couldn’t be brighter
for this talented artist and deeply passionate person.
Benno Veugen Peaceful Radio, Peaceful Radio Show, Rebecca Harrold, The Tree of Life