Sometimes when you meet a person for the first time you are struck with a feeling. A kind of a feeling that there is just something about this person that is special. You aren’t quite sure what it is at first. I was playing a songwriters night in Cambridge called “the 9”, where nine different songwriters from the area play an evening of music together. Of the name’s on the bill that night I didn’t know anyone’s music except for my mandolin brother, Forrest O’Connor and fiddle extraordinaire and folk pop songstress, Eva Walsh. That left 6 other folks I didn’t know and hadn’t heard. I, naturally, got there early did my awkward, brooding songwriter thing but then gravitated towards a friendly face in a gal named Hayley Sabella. We sat down for a bit and talked about life, what we did. I found out she was a farmer down in Plymouth, sang songs, and it turned out her dad was my Spanish teacher in high school. A simple conversation, but there was something about Hayley that hit me square in the jaw.
Then she got up to sing her songs and I was blown away. I have said it before and likely will say it a million times over again, but the control she commands over her voice in uncanny. There is no one I have witnessed to date that can control her voice like this singer…and subsequently, she also controls a room when she is performing as a result. As great as her voice is, you cannot overshadow the fact that she is a hell of a finger style guitar player. The combination of these two things, along with well written songs, adds up to one heck of a show, a record that is in my top choices for the year, and a wonderful artist to see again and again. Hayley is also the type of songwriter who is also always writing and thinking about the world around her and how it can be conveyed in song. I have such an appreciation for that.
Something else important about Hayley is that she has a deep rooted passion for community building. Her Barn Shows (yup, barn…like at the farm she works at) have become a popular show down in Manomet over the summer time. With big crowds of music lovers and some incredible acts spanning the summer and autumn months, they have been hugely successful, thanks to Sabella’s passion for the music and the community.
I am so happy to have Hayley on board. As much as I am a fan and appreciator of her music and her songwriting, I also am simply a big fan of Hayley. She is a great person and a great addition to the this project and for all of the right reason.
So please welcome aboard and into the LCL family, Hayley Sabella.