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Janie Dare (aka Karen Worth) and a bit about the Jolly Rocker

I am the author and owner of the Jolly Rocker. Janie Dare is the stage name that I use for performance and releasing music. I created the name as a hybrid from my middle name (named for an Aunty Janie who lived in Barnstaple, Devon) and an old nickname I was given: Dan Dare (forever in outer space), and in truth I was a bit of a space case then, having suffered quite a severe nervous breakdown with schizophrenic phenomenon. I'm completely recovered now (or so my imaginary friend tells me :D).

I have been writing songs and lyrics since I was about 11 or 12, making up silly stuff and recording them on an old mono cassette recorder with the aid of a descant recorder and various household items, for rhythm (sadly, my cousin Pip can still remember some of these and takes every opportunity to remind me about them).

I started out playing the piano, after my father, who was a very proficient pianist and organist but due to the 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune', circumstances that are a bit too personal to go into here, I had to leave school and home at 16 which was when I started teaching myself to play the guitar (I couldn't take the piano with me), but I needed something.

As part of my recovery I put myself back through school and university as a mature student in the mid 90's and I posted a few of my essays on the Jolly Rocker on the Captain's Table. My main reasons for doing this is are a) they all achieved very high marks, b) the references and bibliographies are very robust and I thought they may be useful to another student and c) what a shame to have all that work sat in a cupboard somewhere and never seen again!

As for Janie Dare, I've been recording my songs now for the past 5 years or so, playing all the instruments myself and vocals and publishing on reverbnation and soundcloud. I have never attempted to get a record deal or publishing deal and honestly I'm not sure I want one. I wouldn't want to have to compromise on anything, although I do miss having the opportunity to put together a really good band.

Currently none of my songs are available for download, as they are not ready for that yet, I am really just 'note booking' them, so my music profiles are kind of like a journal which track my progress, I think if you listen right through, you can hear how much I learn about music and engineering from track to track. The process is one that I find interesting and I hope other people will too.

When I am ready, I will be remixing/recreating selected tracks into album format with the help of some professional musician and sound engineer friends of mine and should have enough for two or three albums for formal release and hopefully some gigs too. However, I still have quite few tracks to record and 'note book' before I start pulling the albums together so watch this space.

I've been keeping a roof over my head and the Jolly Rocker afloat by working as a Website programmer and SQL database engineer for the past 12 years.

If you would like to have any of your work showcased on the Jolly Rocker, then please Climb Aboard for details on how to do this.