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"...What is your passion when life is unsettled? Where do you go where life is unturned? What do you do when faced with the knowledge?  How do you start when you feel so unheard?…"

--Jodie Manross from "Still"

Jodie Manross with band members, Laith Keilany, Nathan Barrett, and Andre Hayter

songwriting ability.  Jodie says that lyrics have taken her "on a wonderful journey."  She also says some are so personal that they can be hard to share, but share she does.  "Pull of the Moon" is often requested at weddings, and when she was recently she was asked to perform at a very special wedding in New York, her lyrics took on extra special meaning for the couple.  The groom had been on the 26^th floor of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit his building.  Stopping to help someone else on the way down, he made it out onto the street just as the second plane struck.  For them, Manross sang "With All the Words" which they had inscribed on their wedding bands.  "With all the words I've thought/And for all the times I've said/I need, I long, I hope/With you this love begins."
     As Jodie and I talked, she recounted the musicians who have influenced her over the years.  The list includes Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Tuck and Patti and various soul singers from the 60s.  However, one musician especially stands out for her.  That is Ani DiFranco.  When I asked why she is such a role model the reasons were many. 


She started out as a traveling folk rock singer and now        has her own corporation doing  music.  She is on her own label….  She is also very committed to her home town         

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