By Susan Shinn
Salisbury Post
Talk about acts of God.
Last fall, Ondria Durocher returned to the music studio to finish up work on her new CD, “Songs Along The Way.”
Unfortunately, a power surge had knocked out half her project ó the vocals she’d worked so hard on for the past year were lost.
“My father was just in shock,” says Ondria, 24.
She put her head in her lap and cried.
Her producer asked her, “Do you think you can start singing today?”
Ondria wasn’t ready to sing that day, but a couple of weeks later, as soon as the studio had an opening, she sang again.
“We got it done,” Ondria says. “The outcome was bittersweet. Overall, it turned out so much better.”
“In the end, it worked out fine.”
Finally, 1,000 copies of “Songs Along The Way” will be delivered to Ondria this week.
A release party is set for 4-6 p.m. Sunday at St. John’s Lutheran Church in the Center.
At 4 p.m., she’ll perform several songs from the album.
Performing with her will be her dad Rob on keyboards; Derek Sjoblom, guitar; Megan Meek, bass guitar; Ken Mowery, keyboards. Sister Britt will provide back-up vocals.
“Songs Along The Way” has a total of nine tracks ó two more than Ondria originally planned.
Along with the title track, songs include “Amazing,” “Lay It Down,” “Not a Fad,” “Linda’s Song,” “Here We Are in Paradise,”
Sjoblom wrote an instrumental, “Ontitled.”
The new songs include “Jesus, Lord of All,” and a version of “The Lord’s Prayer” that Rob wrote for use at the church’s contemporary service.
After the performance, Ondria will give her remarks and thank yous.
Then there will be time for refreshments, a CD signing and giveaways.
The CDs are priced at $12.81, which includes tax.
After Sunday, they will be available through Ondria’s Web sites, indieheaven.com/artists/ondriadurocher, myspace.com/ondriadurocher, and ondmusic.com.
The experience hasn’t dulled Ondria’s enthusiasm to make more music.
“We want to do another one,” she says. “We have new songs we’d like to record. We even want to use the same studio. They were so nice and so professional.”
Ondria is now familiar with the process and knows what to expect.
“It was really just me going out on a limb, making calls, and it just went from there,” Ondria says of finding a studio for her project.
It’s been a busy year for Ondria.
In addition to working full-time and finishing her CD, she and fiance Sacha Witt are planning a November wedding.
She continues to share her music at Center Celebration and at other churches.
In July, Ondria will sing at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hickory, and in August, she’ll be at Morning Star Lutheran Church in Matthews.
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For more information or if you’d like to have Ondria sing at your church, call her at 704-798-2413.
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Contact Susan Shinn at 704-797-4289 or sshinn@salisburypost.com.