Meet Jill Staveley. Dividing her time between songwriting, playing guitar, playing the drums, and keeping Trent Radio on the straight and narrow, Jill has been a keen supporter of and active participant in the local Peterborough music scene since defecting from Kingston, Ontario on the twelth of September, 1999. She got a job at the fondly remembered Jolly Hangman Pub at the now dismembered Peter Robinson College two days later, and the rest just came naturally.

Although Jill is often seen around town performing solo with her trusty guitar, she is also been part of a number of local bands including local rock legends The Diplomats, The Staveley Project and several other local live acts, as well as collaborating on numerous recordings in the Backlash catalogue.

With her powerful, down to earth brand of quality songcraft and even more powerful voice, Jill is an instrumental member of the local arts scene and you can often find her behind the mixing console as the head audio engineer and mixmaster of live shows and events around town.

Jill is also extremely important to the continued growth of the Radio Free Peterborough project. In her role as Digital Injest Clerk and on-air personality at Trent Radio, 92.7 FM CFFF in Peterborough, Jill was a key player in getting RFP onto the local FM airwaves for everyone to enjoy - even if they don't have a computer. Perhaps, especially if they don't have a computer.

Next time you turn on your radio and hear Radio Free Peterborough, you can thank Jill.

You can hear Jill's entire discography on shuffle right here

RFP: Can you tell us a bit about some of the bands and projects you've been involved with in Peterborough?

Jill: gimpy'n'the rangers was the first band i was ever in (besides the irish folk band with my dad in highschool). i started really playing music in a performance setting as a busker in kingston when i was 15, and kept that up til i moved here. The Dangerous ones was a G'n't R spin off, The Diplomats, The Lobsters....Ian and I did a Splinter Album together...I've been one of the hosts at the Pig's Ear Open Mic since 2001...I've played drums with The Stars of Excellence, Been part of the Gorgeous Georgie Revue as a singer, and was the recording tech for the 2nd and 3rd projects, performed as one of the BackBurners on a number of occasions, was a musician and technician on the Burning Hell recordings, I'm present on the SoWfi 4600 - though you can't hear me cause i was too nervous of the 'experimental' musicians to really take part...and i've been a technician (to different degrees) on over 30 Backlash Projects Recordings of different types since i moved here. Now is the exciting one - The Staveley Project...the group i've been patiently waiting for, for a long time...a group that wants to play this music with me, and make the songs ours, rather than mine.

RFP: How about a little description of your musical philosophy and outlook?

Jill: I write music so i can play it...i rarely know what it means, and i'm not trying to say anything prophetic...i'm just trying to get it out, i guess so i can understand myself and the world around me in a different way...i don't consider myself a guitarist...i play the guitar - at first so i could sing...and now it has become a part of the package. i live to play music and to encourage the people around me to play, and will always do my best to support the artists around me - and i'm trying to learn how to balance myself between supporting and being supported. for a long time i was scared to take the risk of trying new things, and trusting my musical self - and now i think i'm ready for the risk...ready to hear when people don't like it - cause it just means they don't get me....we just do the best we can with what we have.

While you're here, check out our previous feature artists:

Patrick Walsh
Brian Sanderson