PROVING IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO TAKE CHANCES AND FOLLOW YOUR HEART, SO CAL SINGER-SONGWRITER AND MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST KAREN REED FINDS AUTHENTICITY, PASSION AND A MAGICAL, UKULELE-DRIVEN SOUND ON HER ROAD ‘TRUE NORTH’ 

Driven by her personal credo “Take Chances, Be Open and Follow Your Heart,” Karen Reed calls her remarkable return to music after 25 years away “a course correction in the journey of my life, a return to something that comes from straight from my heart.” The versatile, Southern California based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s intensely creative, authentic and deeply personal journey led to an unprecedented torrent of infectious songwriting – and a passion for the ukulele that drives many of the 10 original tracks and the exquisite instrumental cover of Don McLean’s “Vincent” (billed by its subtitle “Starry Starry Night”) on her debut album True North. The project was produced by Janet Robin, accomplished singer-songwriter and veteran touring guitarist for artists like Lindsey Buckingham, Meredith Brooks and Air Supply, who heard Karen sing a new song she had written at a party and inspired her friend to launch what has evolved into a dynamic new career as a recording artist and live performer.

After years of focusing on a successful career in communications design, Karen – inspired by her family (particularly her nephews, who were into piano, guitar and ukulele) and talented musical friends – circled back to her 70s folk/pop-rock influences. Motivated by their encouragement, she dusted off her guitar and quickly went from casually tinkering to playing for hours a day. Along the way, she picked up the ukulele and fell in love with it, “I can’t put it down!” she admits. She’ll curl up on the sofa with it, strum it between fixing courses for dinner and even has one tucked behind the passenger seat in her car – so when she’s stuck in traffic she can continue mastering it. On True North, Karen also plays acoustic and electric guitar as well as the banjolele, a four string banjo-uke hybrid. Her arsenal also includes electric violin, electric uke and harmonica.  Since stepping onstage for the first time in 2011, she’s headlined shows at L.A. and So. Cal. hotspots such as Genghis Cohen, Room 5 Lounge, The Mint, L’Ermitage Hotel, The Palms, the Firefly Bistro in Pasadena, Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena and Lestat’s in San Diego, to name a few.

Karen’s love affair with the ukulele started when a friend left one at her house. She picked it up on morning out of curiosity and an hour later she’d written the infectious and romantic “Sugar Pie.” From then on, the songs kept coming and within a few months, she had enough material for an entire album. “I’m inspired by our shared experience as human beings. We think what we’re experiencing is so unique when in fact the events in my life are very similar to those in yours, or in my friends lives. I’m also inspired by major events going on in the world around me – things that are affecting and altering us as a society.” “A Better Day” reflects on Sandy Hook and all the random tragic shootings in America these past few years. The thoughtful ballad “No Shame” reflects on the controversy over gay marriage and the freedom to love without judgment, while the wistful “Got It Bad” and ethereal “Only Love” give voice to some of the painful and awkward issues we all grapple with when dealing with love and relationships. An out lesbian with a healthy sense of humor, Karen injects some wry wit into “Cougar Blues” (an insider’s take on the ups and downs of dating a much younger partner) and rebels against all the things past girlfriends ever gave her a hard time for in the sassy blues of “Bad Girl.”

A graphic designer, art director and then business owner since graduating college, Karen has spent a good many years solving and translating the desires and ambitions of corporations and entertainment companies into successful business solutions. While those efforts have been all about creating an image for her clients, her music and song-writing have allowed her to dig beneath the surface, bringing what’s inside out, rather than putting on a veneer.

“As a singer, songwriter and performer, I am now the project,” she says, “and the product is this velvet case of gems called my songs, my compositions, my thoughts, feelings and impressions crystallized in a shareable form – lyrical elixirs – tonics for the soul. These songs are written by someone who's seen their share of love won and lost and experienced a lifetime’s worth of risks and adventures. True North is as much about letting go as changing course. It’s about accepting that this life we live is full of puzzling, sometimes challenging enigmas – experiences that impact our lives significantly, yet we may never understand them. In my songwriting, I try to capture some of that shared experience and remind us that no matter what road we walk in life, we’re all in this together.”