Jo-Ann Lawton

Ottawa born, Burlington raised & London aged, this south western Ontario songwriter and singer, performs mostly original material.
As a member of the folk duo Sirens, Jo-Ann Lawton earned a C.F.M.A. {Canadian Folk Music Award} nomination (for Best Vocal Group) in 2007. Sirens disbanded in September of 2009.
Jo-Ann Lawton is now performing solo gigs at coffee shops, concerts, house concerts, folk clubs, fairs , festivals and the like.

How it happened:
Jo-Ann Lawton came “late” to the folk music scene, acquiring her first guitar in the early 80's, whilst in her 3rd decade (20 something).
Jo-Ann is self taught, and has no formal musical training. Her diploma in Fine Art from Fanshawe College hardily prepared her for the direction her adventure in music was to take her.
By the late 80's and early 90's much of her musical efforts were put into working with others in trios (No-In-Betweens [1988-1993] and Sirens [1995-2002-2009].

Sirens was originally a trio, featuring Jo-Ann Lawton, Donna Creighton and Nora Galloway. Jo-Ann was singing and performing her music as a solo performer, and Nora had joined her to sing backup harmonies for several concerts. Donna joined them later to create the trio, Sirens. Originally Sirens performed only Jo-Ann's music, but with Jo-Ann's encouragement Nora and Donna also started to write songs. They recorded 2 CD's together. The 2nd of those CD's with the all-Canadian folk label Borealis www.borealisrecords.com/
After Nora left the trio in 2002, (she followed a bluegrass dream with Foxtail (www.foxtail.ca) / several other performers {including Jennifer Thorpe and Amber Cunningham} stepped into the breach. But none of them stood the test of time. After some soul searching, Donna & Jo-Ann decided to carry on together “alone”. They performed across North America & recorded 2 more CD's, one of which earned them a nomination for a Canadian Folk Music Award. Sirens were four-time winners of the London Music Awards, Best Folk/World/Celtic group and two-time recipients of the Jack Richardson Folk/Roots award.

Jo-Ann co-conceived, co-produced and performed in Hearts Made Great / with Orchestra London, which might run again close to Remembrance Day.

But in September of 2009, after 14 years together, but almost 2 years of not doing any collaborative music, Donna Creighton & Jo-Ann Lawton decided to officially disband as a Musical Duo, and they will no longer be working together. Despite the many accolades from fans, and the near National fame achieved in 2007, with a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination, Donna and Jo-Ann had gone separate ways, with individual projects and personal and family matters taking precedence over their collective musical endeavours for the previous two years, and the time had come for both of them to move on.

After the disbanding of Sirens, and through several years of tough family issues, Jo-Ann has struggled to find her musical niche. Though supporters have urged her to follow her songwriter/singer roots, and record her “newer” songs, which they’d love to hear on CD, Jo-Ann has chosen other directions. Though Jo-Ann will performing solo gigs at coffee shops, concerts, house concerts, folk clubs, fairs , festivals and the like, if she were asked to do so, you are more likely to find her playing (solo at) Old Folks Homes or with the Ukellettes at various functions around the area. To this end Jo-Ann has added many traditional and old-time-favourite songs to her repertoire, and now also plays the ukulele.

Jo-Ann’s song writing is influenced by the musical stylings of the 40s, and crosses the boundaries between contemporary folk, rock-a-billy, blues and country. Her songs cross the oceans from poignant heart-wrenching ballads to upbeat sing-a-longs with a dash of humour. No two songs are similar, so you’ll never get bored listening to the melodies or lyrics.

She also can be persuaded to run 'song writing workshops'. Jo-Ann has recently instigated “one-on-one” 'song writing workshops', just herself and the prospective song writer. Contact her for information on this at jonige@sympatico.ca/

Jo-Ann Lawton now has a "... .com" website at www.jo-annlawton.com/ and also on myspace at www.myspace.com/joannlawtonsolo/

Jo-Ann’s musical endeavours over the last three decades have been very diverse, but her latest challenge has been to learn many traditional and old-time-favourite songs which she performs at various Old Folks Homes, and around the region with an ensemble of (up to) eight ukulele playing ladies { the Ukellettes/}.

Solo performances by this Artist, of her original material, are rarer occurrences, and something you should not miss the opportunity to see and hear, should you ever get the chance.


The Music on this site
Other than the Ukellette videos, all the songs you can hear on this site are penned by Jo-Ann Lawton. Though several of the songs on the site are recorded with two or three voices, all these songs are also performed by Jo-Ann Lawton as a solo artist. These few songs give you just a flavour of the talent of this Artist.

Sailors Wife : this version is the original Sirens trio with Nora Galloway.
Jo-Ann Lawton proves the power and maturity of her craft with “Sailor’s Wife”, an original which sounds like something the forsaken women of forgotten villages have been singing for generations. Jeff DeLuzio, Scene Magazine

Marg and Benny from Jo-Ann's Solo CD.. In his youth, Paul MacCartney suggested a plateau for getting old as being "64". This song is a delightful little ditty of two folk who fall in love in their twilight years (at 64). It's a true story, in that Marg & Benny are real people.

Clickety Clack from Sirens’ Live at the Ugly Mug CD.. This version of Sirens featuring Amber Cunningham. Watch out for the train!!

Darker Side of Love is another love ditty from Jo-Ann's Solo CD {Beg to be Different}

The Videos on this site
(i)Jo-Ann Lawton sings "Sitting at the Table" at Sirens CD Release Party, Aeolian Hall London Ontario.
Song origin: Jo-Ann used to know and often visited with an older lady {who is now no longer with us}, and one day, "over a cup of tea", she confessed to a lifetime of abuse that she had suffered. This song touches many people, especially those who have suffered through abusive situations.

(ii) Daddy's Farm Song from Jo-Ann's Solo CD.. a tribute to her late Father, and his demise under the onslaught of Alzheimer's Disease.

(iii) Get Behind me Satan (or Heavene Little Pony) not yet studio recorded, filmed live in our lining room with a standard camcorder by Graham Brisbane whilst visiting from Australia.

(iv)Ukellettes live at Home County folk festival The Glory of Love … a song written by Billy Hill, recorded by Benny Goodman in 1936, whose version was a number one pop hit.

(v) Ukellettes live at Home County folk festival Rhythm of the Rain.. cover tune recorded by the Cascades in 1962 … the 9th most requested tune on radio in the whole of the 20th century… If they’d heard this version it might have cracked the top 5!