Marblehead, Massachusetts-based songstress Jeanie Stahl was on the crest of a promising solo career, in 1983, when a tragic wind surfing accident prevented her from performing for two years. Although she had just released her debut solo album, I'm Just Fooling Myself, Stahl was left healing her wounds as the album went largely un-promoted. While Stahl subsequently resumed her career, much of the momentum was lost.

Stahl first attracted attention in a duo that she shared, in the late-1970s and early-80s, with multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Mason Daring. Besides collaborating on two albums -- Sweet Melodies In The Night, Heartbreak and The Early Years -- Stahl and Daring recorded Daring's soundtracks for several John Sayles-directed films. The Early Years, released in 1992, samples tracks from their two albums and movie soundtracks. In addition to performing frequently at New England folk music clubs and coffeehouses, the duo periodically joined with Bill Staines, Guy Van Duser and Billy Novick in the folk super-group, The Passim All-Stars.

With the increase demand for Daring's time as a producer and soundtrack composer, Stahl began to perform as a soloist in the early-1980s. Although she's turned the songs of such songwriters as Gordon Lightfoot, Robin Batteau and Randy Newman into heartfelt experiences, Stahl remains as effective singing jazz standards from the 1930s and '40s. ~ Craig Harris, Rovi