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About Jamaica

"California Girl" is 10 songs of modern folk and folk tinged rock from San Diego based singer / songwriter Jamaica Rafael. On this album, her debut as a solo artist, themes of love, longing, hope, and loss weave through varied soundscapes constructed by some of the best musicians in the world.

Daughter of songwriter and Woody Guthrie interpreter Joel Rafael, Jamaica is a talented multi-instrumentalist (violin, viola, guitar, piano, voice) who has appeared on dozens of recordings and live performances with a wide range of notable artists.

Contributing musicians include Fritz Lewak (drums), Kevin McCormick (bass), and Mark Goldenberg (guitar) from Jackson Browne's band; Satnam Ramgotra (tabla); Mark Shark, Sean Watkins, Manny Alvarez, and John Inmon (guitars); Dan Rothchild (various bass instruments); and a cameo by Ben Harper singing and playing acoustic slide on a traditional folk song arranged as a duet by Jamaica and Ben ("Just Kiss Me Once").

Self produced by the artist with help from Paul Dieter (engineer and co-producer of records by Jackson Browne and David Crosby among others), the album features songs written and recorded over a period of 5 years, a period which included the deaths of the artist's maternal grandparents and the untimely and tragic death of her infant son (to whom the album is dedicated). The sadness and, ultimately, the healing from those wounds are themes that weave throughout these songs.

The artist grew up in the ‘70s in California and has a somewhat different view of the state than the archetypal "bleach blond in the bikini" vision sold to the rest of the world. Her California is one of endless natural beauty, wonder, and bounty; a place where love and truth reign supreme and possibilities are endless. This California girl is the opposite of plastic, the antithesis of shallow. Her heart is on her sleeve, and in these songs.

Instrumentation ranges from solo vocal and acoustic guitar ("Still") to full-tilt rock band arrangements ("California Girl" and "Rhythm and a Groove") to quirky combinations like acoustic guitar, vocal, tabla, baritone harmonica, and electric sitar ("Green Mountain Boy"). The artist plays piano on two tracks, otherwise she is playing acoustic guitar and of course singing on all tracks.

  • California Girl

    Words and Music by Jamaica Rafael

    Everybody wants a piece of you
    If you can fit me in I want a night or two
    Maybe you can get away
    With no one calling you for just one day

    Hold me closer for the very last song
    Before you're down the road and moving on
    Look into my eyes and say
    Will you wait for me
    I know you don't want to live this way

    What I really want to do is
    Sail away into the blue
    And if I have a dream come true
    I want to sing my songs and see the world with you

    Hold me closer for the very last song
    When it's over you'll be moving on
    Look into my eyes and pray
    That I'll wait for you
    Because I don't want to live this way

    Everybody's got a point of view
    Some a double standard that they'll live by too
    So if you're wondering where I'll be
    California that's where you'll find me...

    If somebody tells you there's a girl out there
    With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair
    She plays guitar and cries and sings
    And lives her life for love
    And all it brings

  • Beauty in the Shadows

    Words and Music by Jamaica Rafael

    I can still feel you in my arms
    In the springtime after the freeze
    I think about what you gave to me
    On a swing under a pepper tree
    Beauty in the shadows
    Beauty in a world that's shaken
    Beauty in a summer rain
    Beauty in a heart that's breaking

    There was a time that we walked together
    We used to talk about more than the weather
    In a fairyland of rainbow color
    I will remember forever
    You are my story, you are my story,
    You are my story, you are my song

    Somewhere within
    Is all that I am needing
    I don't remember when
    Or why I stopped believing
    Fragments of the broken
    Are taken as a token
    But something that you gave for free
    Made all the difference in me

    There was a time that we walked together
    We used to talk about more than the weather
    In a fairyland of rainbow color
    I will remember forever
    You are my story, you are my story,
    You are my story, you are my song

    Some things are a mystery
    I can feel your spirit with me
    I see you in every flower blooming
    I hear your voice in every tree
    When my heart is lonely you will be my song
    I will see you in the moonlight all night long
    I will try to remember to stand up straight
    I am really sorry that I ever made you wait

  • Rhythm and a Groove

    Words and Music by Jamaica Rafael

    There's a rhythm in I love you
    And there's a rhythm in a rainbow too
    If I could feel the rhythm
    I would find a groove
    Then I'd just keep rolling on
    I'd sparkle underneath the sun
    Did you know that the ocean
    Does not fear the waves?

    All good things take time
    And you know I really don't mind

    Gonna take my time with you
    There's a rhythm and a groove
    Like the beating of my heart
    We'll find a silent place
    Feel heaven's grace
    And hear the music start

    Well the rain keeps falling down
    So I'm heading for higher ground
    On an ocean wind I sail
    But I'm following a mountain trail
    It'll take me to a waterfall
    High above the cedar shawl
    I'm going where the trees won't grow
    Climbing up from the valley below

    All good things take time
    And you know I really don't mind

    Gonna take my time with you
    There's a rhythm and a groove
    Like the beating of your heart
    We'll find a silent place
    Feel heaven's grace
    And hear the music start

    Gonna take my time with you
    There's a rhythm and a groove
    Like the beating of our hearts
    We'll find a silent place
    Feel heaven's grace
    And hear the music start

    There's a rhythm in I love you
    And there's a rhythm in a rainbow too
    Feel the rhythm
    Find a groove
    Just keep rolling on
    Sparkle underneath the sun
    Be like the ocean
    Do not fear the waves

  • The River

    Words and Music by Jamaica Rafael

    Sometimes the river's high
    Deep and strong and wide
    It might be hard to cross
    To the other side
    And when you think it can't be found
    It's just gone under ground
    And it will always flow
    Just sometimes far below

    I will take you down
    Where the river runs
    Through the apple trees
    In the mountain sun
    I will lay with you
    Where the grass is green
    Still the rocky stream
    Is a long way down

    Destiny
    People living free
    Learning knowing
    Loving sharing growing
    Children dancing
    Laughing singing
    Songs of love
    And peace and harmony

    I will take you down
    Where the river runs
    Through the apple trees
    In the mountain sun
    I will lay with you
    Where the grass is green
    Still the rocky stream
    Is a long way down

    The moon is rising
    My spirit lifting
    High above
    The feathered clouds are drifting
    Golden water
    Water flowing
    I will follow
    Wherever you are going

    I will take you down
    Where the river runs
    Through the apple trees
    In the mountain sun
    I will lay with you
    Where the grass is green
    Still the rocky stream
    Is a long way down

    I will take you down
    To the apple trees
    But you've got to go on your own
    Down to the rocky stream
    I will lay with you
    Where the grass is green
    Still the rocky stream
    Is a long way down

    Oh the rocky stream is a long way down

  • Tangerine Sky

    Words and Music by Jamaica Rafael

    She goes to a swing by a fountain
    In a garden on a mountain
    There blooming late into October
    Lavender, hyacinth and clover

    She is captivated by the light
    Fascinated with the tangerine sky

    And even though she seems to have it all
    She reaches out to him and he just lets her fall
    She's always looking for the answer
    She used to be a real good dancer

    She is captivated by the light
    Fascinated with the tangerine sky

    She is a melancholy flower
    Her cloud gets darker by the hour
    And while she lingers by the fountain
    The colors fade into the mountain

    Into the mountain

    And she swings high
    Under a tangerine sky

  • Rough

    Words and Music by Jamaica Rafael

    What I really want is to stay with you
    But sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do
    So tomorrow, with the rain or shine,
    You've got to go your way and I've got to go mine

    Trying hard to just survive, never time to plan
    And I'm still looking for a steady place to stand
    It's taken me years to find a way
    To live in the moment and embrace each day

    Maybe I'm rough around the edges
    I walk the line close to where the ledge is
    If I don't fall I'll be coming back to you
    I'll try to get back up even if I do

    I want to dance like the fire glow
    That's burning inside of me
    I want to fall like falling snow
    I want to fall more gracefully
    I won't break if I learn to bend
    There is a way that
    Both of us can win

    Love is nectar I'm a honeybee
    Take me to another realm like the light through the sycamore tree
    You work so hard you give so much to me
    I want the world for you so I‘ll set you free

    Maybe I'm rough around the edges
    I walk the line close to where the ledge is
    If I don't fall I'll be coming back to you
    I'll try to get back up even if I do

    Maybe I'm rough around the edges
    I walk the line close to where the ledge is
    If I don't fall I'll be coming back to you
    I'll try to get back up even if I do

  • Green Mountain Boy

    Words and Music by Jamaica Rafael

    He took me to the mountain in a car he had to hide
    We drove up to the top listening to Black Mountain Side
    Together we shared
    Just a little taste
    Of something that he'd grown
    At his family's place
    Mmmm

    I remember covered bridges and autumn changing and birds in flight
    And driving over the mountain in the golden light
    Waterfalls and quarries
    Hard cherry cider stories
    Walking through the woods with you
    To tripping fields for a better view

    He was a green mountain boy
    He lived off the land
    He could fix anything
    He did everything by hand
    He was a green mountain boy
    He was a green mountain boy

    He took me by the hand and he showed me his world
    He made me feel like I was a green mountain girl
    Maybe we were never lovers
    But the love that we shared
    Was a sister and a brother's
    And that's all right with me

    He was a green mountain boy
    In a green mountain world
    But he made me feel
    Like a green mountain girl

    I was a green mountain girl
    I was a green mountain girl
    I was a green mountain girl
    A green mountain girl
    A green mountain girl

  • A Violet Hue

    Words and Music by Jamaica Rafael

    Deep within my heart
    Deep within my soul
    Feeling the pull way to hard
    It's cutting me to my core

    And through a lens of blue I look at my life
    But still my blood bleeds red when I'm cut with a knife
    Sometimes you gotta use what you've got and just make do
    If I mix it all together it's kind of a violet hue

    Deep within my heart
    Deep within my soul
    I didn't really ask for this
    It's something that makes me whole

    I've been down so many roads before this one
    I might not look old enough, but I started young
    Now I've found that I come back round to where I begin
    As I watch the sunrise and go down again

    Deep within my heart
    Deep within my soul
    Going where I've never gone before
    Searching and asking for more

    Am I running free or am I running scared?
    The time to jump is now if I ever dared
    I'm too old to be looking for love where it can't be found
    Too late to pull out of this crash and I'm gonna come down

  • Still

    Words and Music by Jamaica Rafael

    I am at the river's bend
    When I hear that song again
    Playing in my heart
    Waiting for the day to end
    That's where I begin
    Where I start

    Still I am far below
    The waves they are crashing
    Rolling over me
    So I stumble through the dark
    Try to find my way back home
    On my own

    In life sometimes your dreams come true
    But a heart can break in two
    And you can lose your soul
    Then there is no song to hear
    Only doubt and fear
    And a great big hole

    Still I am far below
    The waves they are crashing
    Rolling over me
    So I stumble through the dark
    Try to find my way back home
    On my own

    We are never really all alone
    But it feels that way
    When your heart is torn
    So here at the river's bend
    Will I find my soul again?
    Can I be my own best friend?

    There is something just beyond
    Calling me in song
    Into the light I'm shown
    Still I'm chasing my own tail
    When will my wings sail
    Into the great unknown

    I'm still and I am far below
    The waves they are crashing
    Rolling over me
    So I stumble through the dark
    But I will find my way back home
    On my own
    On my own

  • Just Kiss Me Once

    Traditional, Arranged by Jamaica Rafael and Ben Harper

    There blows a wind
    Down in the pines
    It calls a name
    The name is mine
    There's nothing more
    You need to know
    Just kiss me once before I go

    Don't work too hard
    Don't grow too strong
    If you must cry
    Don't cry too long
    For I'll be back
    Before you know
    Just kiss me once before I go

    So keep my fields
    And cut my hay
    There‘s nothing more
    That I can say
    And what I don't
    I think you know
    Just kiss me once before I go