Versatile and skilled, LaCroix has attracted such admirers as Canadian legend Gordon Lightfoot, the late Denny Doherty of the Mamas and the Papas, and journalists and radio DJs in the United States, Canada and abroad. While folk and roots music reside at the heart of her work, the Canadian-born artist draws from a deeper well that’s also filled with R&B, folk, pop and rock. Her emotive vocalizing, heartfelt, sophisticated songcraft and superb musicianship are the mark of an artist who knows instinctively to find her way deep inside of a lyric and take us in there with her.

With the release of her new cd, Moving On, Looking Back, a compilation that includes tunes from her previous releases—Pride and the EPs Faith In You and Jump In—as well as some new tracks, Dana LaCroix is poised to break out to a wider audience. She has recently been collaborating with guitarist/vocalist Murali Coryell (son of guitar legend Larry Coryell) and a duet with Coryell, I Still Do, on the new cd is a highlight track.

Born and raised in Toronto, Dana attributes her Canadian upbringing to helping her discover her artistry. LaCroix’s father, a former singer who performed with Canadian vocal group, The Halifax Three, (which included the late Denny Doherty, lead singer of the Mamas and the Papas), was her first musical influence. One of her earliest memories is of listening to the different voices on her Dad’s old LPs and trying to guess which was his. Both her father and Doherty, whose lead vocals on such Mamas and the Papas hits as “California Dreamin’” and “Monday, Monday” are folk-rock classics, provided inspiration. “Dad and Denny both had a big influence on me. I used to love hearing their road stories about being out with the Halifax Three on the Hootenanny Tours with Peter, Paul and Mary, the Big 3, the Journeymen, and other folk groups back in the ‘60s. I grew up learning that there was a natural connection between music-making and social issues and have always thought of playing music as something that brings people together and heals rifts.”

These days, LaCroix’s style and her own unique approach to delivering a song are unmistakable. “There is a kind of osmosis that takes place when you work with music for years that is hard to describe. If you keep listening, singing, creating and performing, sooner or later your own sound emerges.”

Having toured in Canada, the US and abroad, LaCroix enjoys the varied reactions she receives from audiences in different parts of the world, but wherever she is and whether she’s alone or surrounded by fellow musicians, her goal remains the same: “Connecting with the audience. That what it’s all about.