Paula Foley has been performing since childhood. In late 1997, she decided to pursue her love of music through singing and song writing.

Paula's music has sprung from the early influences of family and small-town New Brunswick - singsongs, choirs, weddings, funerals, and community concerts. These were intimate, natural, often spontaneous experiences - sharing music for the love and joy of it.

Music tied everything together. It was a necessary and natural piece of the living and dying experience of my extended family and my community. Singing helped our lives make sense.

Paula has been affected by her Celtic roots that reach back through Miramichi- and Newfoundland-Irish ancestry. On one hand, the music she writes and chooses to perform is a product of the visceral and spiritual connections she feels to the natural world - the rocks, the waves, the trees. On the other hand, Paula's music is informed by her social conscience and her perspective on the socio-political context of the times.

Paula Foley has incorporated music as a central element in her work as a social worker with terminally ill clients and their families, women, and the poor. This work has been done in private practice and in institutional and community-based health care.

I have come to understand the healing power in both the telling and witnessing of another's story. My music is about freedom and hope. It's about protest and struggle to claim ourselves.

In keeping with these themes, Paula defines herself as a folk singer/songwriter. Musical arrangements are kept simple, to spotlight the message as well as her voice.

For Paula, singing and songwriting are deeply satisfying expressions of herself. "The sharing of a musical moment, of word and sound borne from myself is intimate, spiritual, and an honour." Paula's newly-released CD, "The Soul of Who She Is" will soothe, stir, and challenge audiences, while her presence and voice will hold them.