artist Shannon Rose & The Thorns

While she very much enjoys walking, reading, playing Scrabble, and sipping tea, singing has always been Shannon Rose’s favourite thing to do in the world and writing songs has become a close second. That she gets to do these things with her guitarist husband Steve at her side, is as sweet as the honey in the tea, or a zed on a triple word score.

When Shannon met Steve he had a funk band, and she was just starting to learn to play guitar. With his help she recorded a song as a birthday present for one of her childhood best friends. It was meant to be a sweet joke gift, but it sparked the pilot light for Shannon, as she realized she had a natural talent for songwriting. It wasn't long before she was hooked, and as she learned new chords on the guitar she wrote more and more, until she had enough bedroom demos for her full-length debut album of folk-pop gems, Sing Me a Song (2008).

Steve and Shannon’s talented musician friends, including producer and studio owner Dean Watson and members of the Hilotrons and Mashed Potato Mashers, soon signed on to help bring her songs to life in recordings and on stage as The Thorns. Over the past year Shannon Rose & The Thorns have recorded and released four five-song EPs inspired by the Canadian seasons.

The recording process was kept close to their Ottawa home with a generous recording grant from the City of Ottawa, Shannon’s guitarist husband Steve Matylewicz working as producer, bass player Dean Watson engineering at his Gallery studio, old friend and drummer for much of the first album Phil Bova Jr. mastering at Bova Sound, and special guest appearances by other musical friends - Dave Norris, Brian Simms, Matt Ouimet, and Shannon’s cat Maddie who always tries to sneak a meow or two into recordings.