Fiona Lee Maynard is an enigmatic and prolific singer songwriter. A multi genre music enthusiast, and generous collaborator.
Writing and recording her first 60’s and Sunnyboys influenced pop song; Just Like Me for a school Drama project when she was 15 years old.
She's just released Junction an album written and recorded with her husband James while waiting for a kidney transplant for him. Dr Gonzo would like to post these words written by the Dockers wildman Paulie Stewart about his friends Fiona Lee Maynard and James Lomas.  

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE. 
Singer and bass guitarist Fiona Lee Maynard and lead guitar playing husband James Lomas have always  shared a special bond with their music but a recent event saw them take their relationship even higher. 
Fiona, once described by music critic Jeff Jenkins as ``one of Melbourne’s greatest rock chicks'' gave her left  kidney to husband, James on July 27, 2023. 
The formidable female rocker and frontwoman for bands Have A Nice Day and In Vivo explained "James had  sudden onset kidney failure in late January 2021 when a rare auto immune condition was triggered out of the  blue and destroyed his kidneys in 10 days. 
The following January 2022 he was activated on the deceased donor transplant waiting list about 11 months  after the visit to the emergency at Monash."
"All up, James was on dialysis for 2 and a half years, waiting for a deceased donor kidney and having a hard  time maintaining social connections, worse of all he couldn't perform music.". 
In November 2022, when things were looking bleak he agreed to accept his wife’s loving donation when it  was discovered she was compatible with him and the Transplant Team at Monash Hospital immediately  sprung into action. 
Not surprisingly since his wife’s amazing gift James’ health and quality of life has dramatically improved and  they’ve both recovered well from the surgery. 
One bonus side effect from their experience is  ‘Junction'  the album of acoustic songs that they worked on together while waiting for their operation. 

Fiona says she wrote the songs while James was in dialysis and he played his guitar parts between dialysis sessions.
Since the transplant, they've been able to perform live again and James has more energy and at least 15 hours per week has returned to him for use in places other than the dialysis chair,  says Fiona. 
``Writing the music for the album was a great comfort to us during the time when chronic illness and the rigid  routine of dialysis occupied most of our attention, and I hope the songs will offer comfort to others awaiting  transplant". 
``I want to use the opportunity of releasing a new record to raise awareness for organ donation and for kidney health as well as advocate for mental wellness through creative processes, in particular music and storytelling songwriting".

Fiona Lee Maynard joins Dr Gonzo to present the songs from the album Junction on And This One's Introduced By…

Please support the artist and consider purchasing the album HERE and check out some video clips HERE

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