Welcome to Episode #1 of the Tasty Brew Music Podcast! Host Diana Linn met and had a conversation with Singer/Songerwriter Ilona Pal in Montreal, Canada during the 2019 Folk Alliance International Conference. They quickly established a connection not only via Ilona's music, but through the spirit of Hollywood icon James Dean.
Ilona Pal has traveled the rails between Montreal and Ottawa many times over, but in November of 2017, that train ride, and a movie about friendship, love and loss inspired a song that gave her wings to fly.
The movie was the 2015 feature film “Life”: the story of photographer Dennis Stock’s historic 1955 photo shoot of iconic actor James Dean in Fairmount, Indiana, for that still famous spread in Life Magazine.
“The song was a gift,” says Ilona. “I wasn’t looking to write a song about James Dean that day, the song was looking for me”. But when the last frame of the film faded to black and the words ‘James Dean died 6 months later’ appeared on the screen, she felt a wave of emotion well-up in her chest. That wave soon reached her creative spirit, and all at once, most of the lyrics and melody that would become A Farm In Indiana were born.
Pal first emerged as an independent Canadian New Country artist with her debut single Hold On Heart and self-titled album. She landed a spot on the roster at Peter Asher Management in LA, alongside such notable artists as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. French recordings of her songs have ranked #1 in Quebec and received ADISQ award nominations. Film credits include the closing theme song for Time At The Top (Showtime, HBO). Learn all things Ilona Pal here.
