Tanya Marie Harris changes lanes
Tanya Marie Harris is coming off the road.
The Cambridge-based country music singer-songwriter has decided to change direction. She wants to focus more on songwriting and pitching songs to her producers in Nashville.
“I have a six year old daughter and that is the primary reason for me doing this,” says Harris. “I told myself I would wait until she was in Grade 1 which she starts in September so I have kept true to my word.”
Her daughter is the reason Harris became a singer. She is also the inspiration for Nashville breakout country single “Second Hand Dreams.”
Harris always wanted to be singer and began writing songs when she was very young.
“I can’t say I was ever all that great of a singer,” adding she did the best she could singing in the school choir. “Some people just have it naturally. To me it just felt so good doing it.
“If you love the way something feels you just work at it. I started writing songs when I was eight years old but I am not sure what actual song made me decide to become a singer, maybe it was from (TV talent competition) ‘Star Search.’ I was an eighties kid, you know. Stuff like ‘Little Mermaid’ comes out and next thing you know . . .” she says.
“I was convinced I wanted to be in musical theatre, and because of the Disney songs and other stuff I discovered I could use a big voice. That’s actually when I started to get better. That “big voice” was new to me and that is what started to change. But music was not a realistic goal so I always pushed it aside. I did everything else to try to compare with the happiness factor. I tried to avoid music my whole life,” she says, adding she listened to rock singers like Amanda Marshall then to classic country singers like Patsy Cline.
Harris went to college to study social work. She also did some fundraising and worked with charitable events.
She once had her own restaurant in addition to a tea shop where she would ship specialty teas across Canada — a project business which paid for itself.
Working with the public so much also gave Harris great insight into songwriting.
After the birth of her daughter, Harris had a life-changing revelation.
“We put her in gymnastics and she was walking along a one-inch balance beam and I thought maybe she will be a gymnast. Then I thought ‘Oh, but that’s is not a real job.’
“Then I got mad at myself for saying that, because that is what I did to myself growing up. ‘That’s not a real job’,” she repeats. “That festered for a bit,” admits Harris. “I just could not take it anymore. I thought I made the choice to have a daughter and have a child, so I have to make the choice to do the things that scared me the most. So that she is not afraid like I was.”
That’s when Harris hopped a plane to Nashville.
When she got to Nashville, the producers she found introduced her to different writers.
She met her band through a mutual acquaintance. These musicians backed up other artists and agreed to back up Harris for her first couple of gigs.
“I don’t even know how it happened. They terrified me when I walked in for that first rehearsal. Next thing you know, they are my band and they no longer working for anybody else,” she says.
Harris’s Bare Bones band includes Jeff Black, bass; Tony Bandoni, lead guitar; and Rich Mikolajczuk on drums.
“Second Hand Dreams,” a song “about doing right by your kids,” was co-written with Nashville-based producer-songwriter David Norris who also works with Crystal Shawanda.
“Treat Me Like Your Girlfriend” (cowritten with Norris and Nashville country singer-songwriter LaLa Deaton) is written for Harris’ husband. “He Talks About The War” (written by Harris’ pal Susan Smith) is a loving tribute to Canada’s veterans. The song spoke to Harris because her grandfather and great-grandfather fought in the war.
Harris directed and produced the “War” music video through her company TMH Productions.
Harris’ last live show will be on a boat at Matt’s Duc Cruise in Sarnia where U.S. fans will also have a chance to see her. For the Preston Porch Party she will have Tony Bandoni on guitar for a “more laid back show.”
When the time is right, Harris says she is looking forward to doing a few smaller shows on her home turf. For now, she plans to write new songs and send them to Nashville where a demo singer will get them “radio ready” through publishers to pitch to other artists. She says it would be a dream come true to work with other acclaimed songwriters like Brandy Clark and Kacey Musgraves, or maybe one day hear “idols” Martina McBride and Faith Hill sing one of her songs.
Harris will also take these same demo songs put her own vocals on them and do little videos on her website as a special treat for her fans.
“I am just changing directions,” she notes. “I will get my singing jiggees out at a campfire,” she says with a laugh. “And for sure I am still going to be around,” she adds. “I want to thank everybody that has been super supportive especially the fans here in Cambridge.”