Sarah Jarosz has just turned 20 and the musical maturity that she displays on her new CD "Follow Me Down" reveals a talent that sounds and feels much older, more seasoned than her years. She commands the space on the record with her confident singing and proficient playing on mandolin, banjo and guitar. Her youth is not lost, and comes through in the wonder and joy of discovery that is evident in each song.
Some of the best players in the folk, country and bluegrass world provide support. Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas, Dan Tyminksi, Victor Krauss, Shawn Colvin, Stuart Duncan join in. Most of the songs are written by Sarah and the covers are well chosen. Chris Thile and The Punch Brothers collaborate on Radiohead's "The Tourist" and Vince Gill and Jerry Douglas bring it on home with Sarah on Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells". Gary Paczosa produces with great care.
There was a seemingly endless line that snaked down Landsdowne Street this past Sunday night as Adele fans waited to walk into The House of Blues for the British singer's show that sold out months ago. These were people WITH tickets! and everybody wanted get in early to claim a spot for the night.
At other shows at HOB, I have found a place in the back near the sound board, but Sunday we made our way to the front of the floor section and found room, stage right with a great view of what would be an unforgettable night of music.
From this vantage point, I was able to see the roadies set up for Adele's set and this was a part of the show that I didn't expect to witness. They were getting everything just right. The straight mic stand, the stool, the table with water and tea, the fan, and the four (or was it five?) monitor wedges that would surround Adele with her voice, the voice that everyone was coming to hear.
When we did hear her, it was from off-stage. And when she appeared, it was simply, with her trademark openness, humility and thankfulness, and to great applause and cheers.
The talent that Adele displays is equally matched with the love, admiration and appreciation that her fans have for her. The appreciation is the main thing. Adele does something for her fans beyond just dazzling them with her vocal prowess and stunning presence; it seems that she holds a mirror to their best qualities.
"Rumor Has It" was one of the highlights of the show. Adele tells the story behind the song
It's been 20 years since Hot Tuna released an album, so the new "Steady As She Goes" is a welcome arrival and well worth the wait. Produced by Larry Campbell at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock NY, the album is firmly fixed in the 60's and 70's acoustic/electric rock n' roll that Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady first established in The Jefferson Airplane and their early days in Hot Tuna.
According to Kaukonen, both he and Casady felt very comfortable and free to create in the recording process due Campbell's support of their vision and the producer's clear view of what the final product would sound like. Not only did Campbell produce the record, but he plays multiple instruments, including fiddle and violin, recalling the great sounds of Papa John Creach. Barry Mitterhoff is on mandolins and Skoota Warner on the drums, making this a real band album. Teresa Williams provides harmony vocals, and in a couple of songs sounds like The Airplane's Grace Slick. The effect is perfect, and it's one of the many fine touches that serve to recapture a sound that could well be lost and forgotten but lives on in their music making.
The sepia tone of the picture of Alison Krauss and Union Station on the cover of their new album "Paper Airplane" sends a message before the first notes of the record sound. Tradition is important here. Over the course of the past thirty of her thirty-nine years, Krauss has mined the folk and bluegrass traditions of American roots music, recording for the first time when she was fourteen. She has stayed true to her original record label, Massachusetts based Rounder Records, signing with them in 1985. She has worked with Union Station since the early 80's
This album flows like a rolling river, steady and strong, mighty, but contained. There is a depth of experience, a certain world weariness in Krauss' voice that ever so softly permeates the songs she sings here. The twenty plus years of playing with Union Station secures the music so there is not one false note. Dan Tyminski confidently takes the lead vocal on a couple of the tracks. Richard Thompson's "Dimming of the Day' and Jackson Browne's "My Opening Farewell" are nice additions to the new material written for the record.
I started listening to this new album by The Little Stevies, a band for Melbourne Australia, just before I went on vacation in March. I took it with me and it ended up in a endless loop in the rental car cd player. These guys have great musical chops and an innate ability to connect heart to heart. The album was recorded in L.A. and produced by Ethan Allen who has worked with Tim Finn and Kristin Hersh.
After doing multiple takes for a video for one of the songs "Feel It", they ended up taking the 10th and last one for the final video. Sisters Sibylla and Bethany Stephen and their band mate Robin Geradts-Gill dance through the shot just like they did when they were kids putting on dance routines for their parents in the back yard. You'll see their folks applauding at the end of the video.
We played the new song by Dawes today on mvyradio's What's New For Lunch. The new album "Nothing Is Wrong" will be out June 7th. The song is very SoCal- the band proudly hails from North Hills, CA. It's reminiscent of early Jackson Browne and The Eagles, with Jackson himself, and Benmont Tench appearing on the record. Dawes starts a tour May 5th in Houston, with Brett Dennen joining them on some dates, and will be doing select TV dates and live shows with Robbie Robertson.
Here's a clip of "Time Spent In Los Angeles": Click here
The band appeared with Robertson on Letterman recently, performing his "He Don't Live Here Now More". Robertson says "They're all at the top of their game. I'm the one that's a little rusty."
Abagail Washburn's artistic aspiration of bringing traditions forward and creating music that offers "a line of connection between hearts" is more than realized in her new album "City of Refuge".
The singer, songwriter and clawhammer banjo player who was with the bands Uncle Earle and Sparrow Quintet, collaborated with many musicians on the record including songwriter, vocalist and instrumentalist Kai Welch and producer and percussionist Tucker Martine, who has worked with Tift Merrit and Decemberists. Washburn decided to work with both Welch and Martine for their indie flair, purposefully going outside of the folk music world to get a new sound working into her music.
Washburn's voice is captivating, both in it's purity and expressiveness. The tone and presence of her banjo is perfectly suited to the Asian musical colors that infuse the album. "I wouldn't be a musician if it weren't for China", she says. She lived there for years and was to return to become a lawyer in Beijing when she got sidetracked and became a musician. The music of that country seems to be written in her soul and provides a unique sensibility here.
"Loverboy", the new album from Brett Dennen is a joyful, spirited and confident cruise. The movement comes in the sweet match of music and lyrics, each urging the other on. There are a lot of musical ideas and styles working- folk-rock, soul, world, pop- and it all settles into an inviting groove.
The liner notes give meaning to the album title. Brett writes, "This is an ode to the wonderful feeling of love. Whether it be romantic, friendly, or just plain caring for people." The feel is loose but precise, it floats and busts out like a bird set free. Great songwriting, tight band. Production by Brett, with Martin Terefe assisting on a few tracks.
With so much tragedy and strife in the world, the soft and simple coming together of two voices and two musical paths soothes the troubled heart. The Civil Wars is Nashville based, California born Joy Williams, already a music veteran at the young age of 29 and Alabama's John Paul White. Both are accomplished vocalists, songwriters, and instrumentalists who met at a writing camp in 2008. There was a spark of musical recognition between them and they decided to work together. They have just released "Barton Hollow" on Sensibility Records, a record label started by Williams and her husband Nate.
Their band name is beautifully provocative and apt for musicians who have differing musical sensibilities, but what the record reveals is a civil union of their different stylistic approaches to music making. Williams comes from a more pop sensibility and White from a more alt-country one. The resulting dynamic tension is the fuel they travel on. Standout tracks are "20 Years", "I've Got This Friend" and the only instrumental on the album, "The Violet Hour".
Michael Stipe sings "oh my heart, oh my heart", the refrain in the song of the same name on R.E.M.'s new album "Collapse Into Now". His voice rises to each note, precise, pleading and full of emotion. His vocal delivery has a new simplicity and brilliance that sets the tone for the whole record. "It's sweet and it's sad and it's true, how it doesn't look bitter on you." Here is R.E.M. 2011, 30 years in.
On this, their 15th album, the band takes stock of itself. Older, wiser, still searching, and relaxing into their emerging sound. Evidently, Patti Smith, a friend and collaborator on this and 1996's "New Adventures in Hi-Fi", suggested the title of the album. Nice. Long time Patti Smith guitar player Lenny Kaye, Eddie Vedder and Peaches make appearances. Jackknife Lee, the producer of R.E.M.'s last record, "Accelerate" returns to produce. The band has no plans to tour in support of the album, citing tour fatigue. "I just don't want to," says Michael Stipe.
“As soon as I got a microphone in my hand, when I was about 14, I realized I wanted to do this,” Adele says. “Most people don’t like the way their voice sounds when it’s recorded. I was just so excited by the whole thing that I wasn't bothered what it sounded like.”
This part of Adele's story is at the heart of her popularity. Underlying all the musical talent that she possesses, the skill in her songwriting and delivery, the powerful vocal technique that feels like it's just the tip of the iceberg of what is yet to come in her career, lies the fact that Adele is completely at home in her music. There is no space between her and it. This authenticity is so appealing and it makes it easy to find a place at her table.
Multiple producers including Rick Rubin worked on the record. Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder, Fraser Smith doubled on producing and co-writing tracks. Dan Wilson co-wrote three. Adele covers Robert Smith's "Love Song", paying respects to The Cure, the first band she saw in concert -she was three years old.(!) Now 22, she's the one on stage. Her concert tour starts in Olso, Norway on the first full day of spring, March 21st, and she comes to the States in May.
"...You're living for nothing now. I hope you're keeping some kind of record."
Famous Blue Raincoat by Leonard Cohen
When I first heard Famous Blue Raincoat, the song that Leonard Cohen wrote in the form of a letter to his friend/rival/"brother"/"killer", I was there with him at his writing desk in New York at "4 in the morning", hanging on every word, every note. This kind of response to songs and the artists that write them, has repeated itself thousands of times in my life in music and this is what my Famous Blue Blog explores.
Barbara Dacey
Since 1970, I have lived and worked on Martha's Vineyard. I am mvyradio's Director of Worldwide Programming and for 25 years have shaped and been shaped by the sound of mvy. I am on air weekdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and host Uncharted Waters, mvyradio's weekly new music show. I am a singer-songwriter and guitar player, and a long-time Buddhist practitioner.
Sarah Jarosz has just turned 20 and the musical maturity that she displays on her new CD "Follow Me Down" reveals a talent that sounds and feels much older, more seasoned than her years. She commands the space on the record with her confident singing and proficient playing on mandolin, banjo and guitar. Her youth is not lost, and comes through in the wonder and joy of discovery that is evident in each song.
