When listening to Jennifer Roland's latest album, For Each New Day, I can hear the influence of the eastern side of Cape Breton Island in her playing. It has a bit of an Irish sound and does not have the "dirty" sound that one can hear on the western side. Like her other albums, this one also portrays a variety of other styles because of the instruments that Jennifer surrounds herself with.

    Track five, "Master Crowley's," has a rock sound because it is heavy on the bass (played by Allie Bennett), drums (Brian Talbot) and Rhodes and keys (Ryan MacNeil of the Celtic-rock band, Slainte Mhath). Track six, "Alyssa Crystal Dawn's Waltz," has a very southern American sound because it includes Dobro (Dough Proctor) and mandolin (Bennett).

    While these sounds are interesting, my favorite tracks are those that portray a typical Cape Breton sound and use very basic instrumentation. Track 4, the "Editor's Favorite," is an excellent example of this. It is simply fiddle and piano, which allows the listener to really hear the strathspeys and reels because there isn't too much going on around them.

    "Johnny Cope" is another great example. It does have a bit of bass and there are pipes on the end of the set, but overall, it sounds very simple. It is my favorite track on the album.

    Jennifer is excellent at playing slow tunes as well. My favorite of these is "Sadie's Waltz," which Jennifer composed for her mother. Another beautiful tune that she wrote is "This Flower I Pick for You," which is dedicated to the Parkinson's Society of Canada, for which Jennifer is the musical ambassador. The tune was written in memory of her late father, who recently lost his battle with the disease. It has a beautiful melody, but again, I think this melody would stand out better if it had a little less accompaniment.

    Overall, this album has a great variety of tunes and a lot of energy. The last track, "The Accents Set," sums it up really well and makes me long to see Jennifer at the Festival Club at the Celtic Colours festival again!

    SYDNEY - A renowned Cape Breton fiddler is lending her support to the local Superwalk for Parkinson's, slated for Sunday at the boardwalk in Sydney.

    "It's basically to raise both awareness and money for research," said Alder Point's Jennifer Roland.

    "My father (James 'Buddy' Roland) had Parkinson's and there wasn't a whole lot of awareness.

    "We kind of weren't aware of different resources, ways to get treatment and information here in the Maritimes."

    Parkinson's disease is a slow degenerative neurological illness.

    Symptoms include tremors, stiffness, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty with balance.

    The symptoms appear when there is not enough dopamine in the brain - a naturally occurring chemical that allows nerve cells to transmit messages between each other and then to muscles to allow normal movement to take place.

    Roland said her father passed away in November as a result of the disease. She wrote a song for him which will appear on her upcoming CD, which also has information about Parkinson's in the liner notes.

    "There's a tune I wrote for my dad which we recorded right before he passed away," she said.

    "So that's going to be a tribute to the Parkinson's Society in his memory, but to raise awareness in the Maritimes especially."

    Mary Langlois, president of the Cape Breton East Chapter of the Parkinson Society of Canada, said the Sydney event raised $2,400 and attracted approximately 100 participants last year.

    "They're very generous with their support," said Langlois, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's eight years ago.

    "There are over 100.000 people with Parkinson's across Canada and since (advocates) Michael J Fox, Muhammad Ali and the Pope (John Paul II), there's more public awareness."

    Along with the walk, the event will feature musical entertainment with Roland and other musicians including Jason Kempt and Mark MacIntyre. There will also be a pipe band performing at the walk.

    The national walk begins with registration at 1:30p.m., followed by the walk at 2p.m.

    Those who register at the event will get a free T-shirt. Anyone interested in raising money can pick up a pledge form on the Internet, at www.parkinsonmaritimes.ca, or by contacting Langlois at 539.8592.

    The Cape Breton East Chapter meets on the third Friday of every month at the Steelworkers and Pensioners Hall in Sydney, at 2p.m.

    Rising Cape Breton star Jennifer Roland aced her showcase at the East Coast Music Awards Saturday night with a dazzling 20-minute set that highlighted both her considerable talent with fiddle and bow and her fancy footwork as a stepdancer.

    Backed by a top-notch band that included her sister Karen Steele on piano, Roland brought a packed ballroom to its feet with some of the best fiddle work audiences have seen all weekend.

    The Alder Point native, who took her first fiddle lessons just over 10 years ago from Kyle MacNeil of the Barra MacNeils, delivered a fast-paced set of traditional jigs and reels, as well as some original material, barely stopping long enough between tunes to catch her breath and introduce the next number.

    A featured performer at all three Celtic Colours International Festivals in her native Cape Breton, Roland knows what audiences are looking for and gives it to them.

    You don't just get her--which would be enough to keep even the most hardcore fiddle fan happy--you get the Jennifer Roland show, which includes her own troupe of stepdancers.

    Roland's dancers, all of whom are students in her stepdancing classes and execute routines she herself choreographs, added an extra element of excitement to her set. And their precision stepline became even more impressive when Roland joined them.

    It's easy to see why Roland has become a favourite wherever she plays, from kitchen parties and ceilidhs at home to concert halls and festivals in the US and Europe.

    "What the caterpillar thinks is the end of the world, the butterfly knows is only the beginning!"

    This statement is written on the liner notes to Jennifer Roland's new CD "Wings", her follow-up to "Dedication". Roland is not only an accomplished fiddler, but a composer as well, and has penned much of the work on this new album. From artwork to music, Wings follows the metaphor of a metamorphosis. As a talent, Jennifer Roland is certainly emerging as a butterfly in the music world, as this work evolves even from her last offering. It doesn't hurt that such giants as Jerry Holland, Gordie Sampson, Al Bennett, Tracey Dares, Howie MacDonald, and Fred Lavery help her along, to name only some of the musicians on the roster. But she also flies high on her own. Her playing is delicate but strong, lovely and poignant. The work that Jennifer has put into this CD is so apparently and not just in her writing, arranging and playing.

This fiddler handled more than the bow as she choreographed the stepdancing that opens the album with "Celtic Steps". There is no doubt that she had her hand on this project every step of the way.

    Although this is an instrumental album, there is a nice exception with the song "Back to Your Shores", written and sung by Stephanie Hardy. One of the most incredible tunes is "Tears", a waltz by the Master himself, Jerry Holland. It gives you the feeling of a bittersweet last dance. And "A Mother's Love", a slow air composed by Roland's siter Karen (Karmie) Steel, is so sweet you can imagine it as a lullaby as you rock your child to sleep.

    Whether it's a new reel like Jennifer's "The Butterfly" or an old Winston Scotty number with Roland's special spin, this album is an accomplishment for this artist on so many levels. Jennifer Roland has discovered her Wings and there's no limit to where they can take her.

ALDER POINT - Sitting in her mom's kitchen with the smell of freshly baked muffins in the air, fiddling sensation Jennifer Roland talks candidly about the rigors of performing.

    Like many other talented Cape Breton performers Roland began playing at kitchen parties and community ceilidhs at an early age. Years of dedication to her music has helped her develop into one of the island's fastest rising stars. She is working on her second album along with a tour of western Canada and a 16-concert tour of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

    Roland is performing during Celtic Colours International Festival and when she isn't performing is looking forward to catching some of her fellow artists.

    She performed at the Armories Sunday and the Louisbourg Playhouse Tuesday and will perform Thursday at Indian Brook.

    "Right now I'm busy year round and it's great. We just played the Longs Peak Scottish Highland Festival in Colorado and I'm looking forward to the concert tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in March and playing the Irish Cultural Festival in Boston in June."

    It would be heard for any fiddler to top the package that Jennifer Roland has put on the market. If you didn't know better, you wouldn't think that Dedication is Jennifer's first CD. At age nineteen, Jennifer has made all the right moves to make her debut a huge success. The biggest move was perhaps bringing on veteran producer and multi-talented musician Al Bennett to produce.

    Dedication has special meaning to Jennifer because every selection is dedicated to someone who's had an influence on her life. The tunes on Dedication are played masterfully and Jennifer would be the first to credit her support cast of Ryan MacNeil (Slainte Mhath), Karmie Steele, Al Bennett, and Matt Foulds. Some of my favourite selections are "Brand New Reels", "Our Friend Archie Neil" and "Breton Batherson Dancers". Judging by the people talking about and praising Dedication it's a given that Jen is on her way to a promising career.