Nancy Manet has never allowed life to get in her way. Despite a tangled trajectory flush with both its triumph and challenges, she’s managed to persevere while creating music that details her often difficult journey through an expression of unblemished honesty.

Nancy’s new album, aptly titled, Paths, finds her continuing to share her story and build on a career that got off to an exceptional start courtesy of her self-titled debut, which was recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London and Criteria Recording Studios in Miami. Given Grammy Consideration as “Best Rock Album” and “Best Engineered Album” (non-classical), it detailed strife and struggles without ever conceding defeat.

Grateful and humbled by honors accorded her, she adds that she has four more albums in queue. Indeed, five albums recorded in two years, combining her own music and memories makes that no small feat as far as her due diligence and determination.

 

As with her initial album, Paths contains all original songs, each of which offer expansive insights into Nancy’s ongoing evolution in terms of her experience and endeavors. It also shares broader themes which encompass universal concerns - love ballads, melancholic pieces, anthems of inspiration, and works that show solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community and the human race.

True to form, the songs are consistently embracing and affecting, from the assured yet assertive “Oh Son of Mine” and the decidedly determined “Hey Little Brother,” to the dramatic designs of “I Thought,” the tender tapestry woven throughout “Once In A Lifetime” and the heartfelt sentiment so ably expressed in “I Have Always Loved You.” It is, in short, an album that makes an immediate and emphatic impression.

Overseen once again by Grammy-winning producer David Percefull, Paths was recorded, mixed and mastered at yellow DOG Studios in San Marcos, Texas. The album is preceded by four singles starting with the resolute and anthemic “Set Us Free,” which was inspired by a conversation Manet had with her daughter about the current political environment. “Our Story” features a heartfelt, meditative melody inspired by another talk with her daughter, one that took place on Mother’s Day, where they discussed her upbringing and the legacy she hopes to leave behind.

The album’s third single, a beautiful and beguiling ballad titled “Waves,” is an enlightening track drawn from a poem she wrote for her friend, who was struggling with military PTSD and other deep emotional pain.

 

The final single, “Geronimo” is a forthright track written for a friend whose constant source of encouragement served as the catalyst for Manet to fully commit to her craft.

 

The product of an abusive upbringing, scorn, homelessness, and the trauma of a violent marriage, she’s found redemption and resilience through her art. When she was a child, Nancy’s talent became immediately apparent, and her parents were encouraged to enroll her in a conservatory. However, after her father died, her piano lessons came to an abrupt halt. She continued to play piano while no one was home and eventually bought a guitar at a garage sale so she could quietly play in the middle of the night.

 

After she turned eighteen, she moved out to escape the beatings and lived in her car. She found a job, a place to live and later scraped enough money together to buy an old upright piano. Finally, after 30 plus years of playing on church stages and at the age of 48, Nancy was able to pursue her lifelong dream and put her past behind her. Her debut album was, in a very real sense, a reflection of her resilience and sheer determination, a series of singular tales about her determination to overcome the odds. Late last year, she released “Spirit of Christmas,” her first holiday single and a song based on a life-altering childhood encounter. She wrote it as a means of bringing comfort to anyone feeling lonely during the holidays. It garnered extensive airplay, as did a radio promotional tour that she undertook last year.

“Life is more than just that dash between your start and finish date,” one observer declared. “Nancy Manet is living proof of this. What she has shared with us on her first record will make you smile, laugh and for me cry multiple times. Through her music, voice
and melodies, she gives us a real, relatable, empowering view of her journey that seems to be just beginning.”

As for Nancy herself, she says that as pleased as she’s been thus far, she’s even more excited about the road that lies ahead. “I am really proud of what we have accomplished,” she declares. “More importantly, I can’t wait to share what we’re recording now.”