Music Review: Song of America

This week’s Voices to Hear is going to be a bit different than pervious ones. Instead of one voice to highlight in this week’s column we’re going to talk about an entire album’s worth of voices. The album is Song of America and it features 50 artists different artists. (What? You didn’t think an album would have a MySpace page? Everyone and everything has a MySpace page nowdays.)

If you’ve heard of this album at all it’s due to the identity of the executive producer of the record, Janet Reno. Yes, that Janet Reno, the former Attorney General of the United States. Most of the press has focused on that point, which at least gives it a chance to get out there and maybe be heard.

The genesis of the album started ten years ago when Ed Petterson, a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn New York wrote a song about the American cowboy. He brought the song to his Aunt to listen to. His Aunt just happened to be Janet Reno. She liked the song, but suggested that he should go farther than just one song about one point in America’s history. She suggested that he record a collection of songs that would reflect American’s history.

What they ended up envisioning was a collection of songs that would trace the events that shaped our nation’s history. The album became a collection that could be used as a tool to help teach the youth of our country about their history through song. The album was divided into five broad themes from America’s history:
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
War and Peace
Work
Families at Home and on the Move
Faith and Ideals

The performers interpreted these songs in their own style for the listeners of today. In some ways it was the same idea that was behind Wilco and Billy Bragg’s updating of Woody Guthrie song’s from Mermaid Avenue. They took the words but made the music their own.

The performers came from all sorts of musical genres. The album opens with a Lakota Indian song and ends with a Woody Guthrie song. To list all the performers on this album would stretch this column out too long, but such performers as The Blind Boys of Alabama, John Wesley Harding, Freedy Johnston, Marah, Janis Ian, Elizabeth Cook, John Mellencamp, Old Crow Medicine Show and a host of others. In keeping with the theme of this column almost all of the performers were not well known. John Mellencamp is probably the biggest name on the album.

The album is divided into three cds: red, white and blue. The red disc starts with songs from the American Revolution and each disc moves the songs through the history of our country. Some of the songs on these two discs you’ve probably heard a million times and may not have thought of since you were in school. Harper Simon (Paul Simon’s son) does a version of Yankee Doodle, The Mavericks do Dixie, Joni Harms does Home On The Range. The blue disc brings us up to the modern era and has songs that most listeners will be more familiar with, at least from radio. This disc has Kim Richey doing the Rascals “Get Together,” Anthony David doing Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” Martha Wainwright doing Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman.” Only one artist is represented by two songs on the album, Bruce Springsteen: Matthew Ryan does “Youngstown” and Bettye LaVette does “Streets of Philadelphia.”

This is one of those albums that I was absolutely fascinated with, after listening to it it will make you proud to be an American. And it does it without resorting to the sort of jingo posturing you usually find in these type of projects.

As one final note, with the kind permission of Miss Heather, I’m going to include two songs with this column. There was so much great stuff to chose from it was a really tough decision, but I went with both ends of the timeline. The first song is Harper Simon’s “Yankee Doodle” and the second song is a heart breaking rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” by Bettye LaVette. But I could have easily picked any of the other forty eight songs to showcase, they’re all that good.

Harper Simon "Yankee Doodle"


Bettye LaVette "Streets of Philadelphia"

Music Review

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina



You know those times when you hear a voice that you don’t recognize but it reaches out and just grabs a hold of you. One of those voices that you can’t get out of your head. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it’s magic. Sometimes when I’m shopping, checking out the music bins and I don’t have any particular cd or person or group that I’m looking for, I’ll just stroll through the bins, skipping around and looking through names that I don’t recognize or sometimes finding a name that I vaguely remember reading something about. I was at Borders one day, doing just this, when I came across a cd by a group called the Waifs. No idea who they were. Now I do a lot of reading about music and musicians, so I generally have some clue to a lot of names in the record bins, but there are still some out there that for one reason or another has escaped my eye. This group called the Waifs was one of them.

I was looking at a double album, a live album by them called “A Brief History.” They got marks for having a Dylan song on the album. The price was good for a double album. I didn’t have anything else to buy, nothing else reached out and spoke to me, so I decided to give this album a chance. After getting in my car and fighting with the packaging (why do they make cds so hard to open?) I finally managed to get the cd out and in the player. The last time I was so moved by a new voice that I didn’t know was when I heard Joss Stone. The sound coming out of my car stereo captivated me. The voices did more than just reach out to me, they reached out and shook me. I didn’t just like this cd, I feel in love with it. There was something in the music, something in the voices that sang it, that just made me want to listen to it over and over.

The Waifs are Donna and Vikki Simpson and Josh Cunningham. They are from Australia and sing folk rock. The two sisters started singing as a group called Colours. After they met Josh and he joined the duo they changed their name to the Waifs.

In Australia they built up their fan base until the release of their fourth album Up All Night in 2003 which debuted at number 3 in Australia and went double platinum in their home country. Later that year Bob Dylan toured Australia and the band opened for him. Dylan was so impressed by the band that he offered them the opening spot for them on his U.S. tour.

The single for this week is “Bridal Train” and tells the story of Vikki and Donna’s Grandmother, a war-bride of a U.S. sailor during World War II.

After the release of their double live album in 2004 the Waifs have been quiet on the album front. The two sisters have been busy having children and getting on with their lives. But this month so the group releasing a new album entitled Sun, Dirt, Water.



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These words are being typed just hours after coming back from a concert by Shannon McNally that was just as good as expected. Shannon was one of the first voices to hear, back before this column had a name. Check out John’s altjiranga mitjina this month for more about Shannon.

Music Review: Carrie Rodriquez

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina

This week’s voice to hear hails from the state of Texas. Carrie Rodriquezwas born in Austin and started playing the violin at the age of five. By the age of ten she had already played Carnegie Hall in New York City. At this point she was playing classical music, a far cry from what she is currently playing. In her teens she started playing with her father, singer-songwriter David Rodriquez, in clubs around Austin.

In 1996 Carrie went to college to study classical music, but soon discovered that she wanted to stretch her playing abilities to other styles of music. She decided to drop the violin and pick up the fiddle. She quite the college she was going to and enrolled in Berklee College of Music in Boston and studied bluegrass, jazz, swing and everything else she could.

During a South by Southwest show with another band Carrie was seen by Chip Taylor, writer of “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning.” He was knocked out by her fiddle playing and invited her to tour with him in Europe. It was during their touring in Europe that Chip convinced Carrie to sing. Up to this time Carrie had considered herself a fiddle player and not a singer.

Before long the two found themselves in the studio recording a duet album. Their album Let’s Leave This Town was met with great critical acclaim. Their second album The Trouble With Humans went to number one on the Americana charts. After their third album Red Dog Tracks Carrie decided it was time to do a solo album.

Last year she recorded and released her first solo album Seven Angels On A Bicycle. The new album ranges wide in style, from Americana to Jazz to Folk. Her old partner Chip Taylor doesn’t abandon her for her solo outing. He helped co write many of the tunes and produced the album with her. Carrie’s voice is tender and seductive and flirty, sometimes all in the same song.

Carrie Rodriquez is a voice that is going to go far, she is still young, in her twenties and has the talent to carry her far.

If you're reading this it can only mean one thing, that John from altjiranga mitjina has once again forgotten to provide a blurb after whatever it is he wrote for this issue and Heather is quietly cursing him whilst cutting and pasting this from last weeks review. All he can say is that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. He'd write more but he'd just forget whatever it was he wrote.

Music Review: Alexa Ray Joel

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina

Today’s voice to hear is probably the most famous name we’ve featured yet, but still is also one of the most unknown at the same time. Confused? It’s Alexa Ray Joel, the daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley. I have to admit when I first heard that she was trying to be a singer I wasn’t predisposed to like her, it was one of those gut things, she’s the daughter of one of the greatest singer/songwriters and most beautiful women in the world, what else does she want? You just know she’s going to be a prima donna with everything handed to her. Well, I learned that you shouldn’t jump to conclusions, because she’s nothing like that.

I saw Alexa Ray perform at the last Jazz Fest and she put on an incredible show. She has a very strong stage presence, talking inbetween the songs and making the audience feel comfortable. After the show she went to the side of the stage and stood there talking and taking pictures with every fan that came up to her. Listening to her talk she sounded very down to earth and nothing like what I would have expected. I even got a picture with her and she autographed my Jazz Fest hat.

Listening to her at Jazz Fest it is evident that her musical style is all over the place. She is willing to sing a pop song followed by a jazz number than a bluesy song to be followed by a country song. She is not going to be stuck in any specific genre. She even records a cover of a Neil Young song, the one featured for us today. The one constant in her music is the sound of the piano, which considering who’s daughter she is should be much a duh! thought.

Alexa was born January 1, 1986 and her middle name was given in honor to Ray Charles. She started to take classical piano training for a few years before moving on to a five week study program offered by the Berkley College of Music. She only lasted one year at the New York University’s Musical Program before deciding to try her skills on the open road as a performer.

You have to give her credit for not having her father pull strings for her and get her a recording contract. She has decided to hit the small clubs with her own band and build a following and get a recording contract on her own. Her first concert was at a club in Hoboken New Jersey. Afterwards she went on a tour of colleges on the east coast. Her next step was a Hard Rock tour of the East Coast. She has performed at Jazz Fest in New Orleans and the Bonnaroo Musical Festival in Tennessee.

Still not signed to any label Alexa has released an ep of music on her own. It became the first cd sold by Target that was not from a major label. Rolling Stone Magazine named her an up and coming artist in its year end issue. She’s been featured in People magazine and on the NBC Today show.

Alex is currently looking for a record label that will let her record the music she wants and not squeeze her into the style they want her to do. She is still touring and building her fan base the old fashioned way, one fan at a time. Her music is infectious, after one listen I was hooked and her ep soon became one of my favorite listens.

If you're reading this it can only mean one thing, that John from altjiranga mitjina has once again forgotten to provide a blurb after whatever it is he wrote for this issue. All he can say is that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. He'd write more but he'd just forget whatever it was he wrote.

Music Review: Lori McKenna

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina

For once my timing is right on with this week’s voice to hear. I actually had decided on making this week’s voice Lori McKenna while I was listening to her most recent album in my car and when I went to her website to gather some information for this week’s column I discovered that her new cd Unglamorous will be released on August 14, the day after this column appears (or at least would have if Heather's internet connection hadn't gone down for the week).

You might not know who Lori is, but if you’re much of a country fan you’ve probably heard a few of her songs. Faith Hill recorded three of her songs for her most recent album, including the title song “Fireflies.” Faith says she heard Lori’s songs and fell in love with them. The other two songs Faith covers are “Stealing Kisses” and “If You Ask.” The added attention brought Lori’s last album to the attention of Warner Brothers and they re-released Bittertown on their Nashville label. Her newest album which comes out tomorrow if you’re reading this the day it pops up on the internet is produced by Tim McGraw and was recorded in Nashville with a session of studio musicians. Country singer Sara Evans has recorded the song “Bible Song” also.

Not bad for a woman who didn’t start singing until she was 27 and already married with three children. She made her professional debut at open mike nights in the clubs in Boston. At the age of 19 she married her high school sweetheart. Currently they have five children. She released her first album Paper Wings and Halos independently. A singer/songwriter friend of hers, Mary Gauthier (an upcoming Voice to Hear) gave her music to people she knew in Nashville and Lori signed a publishing deal with Harlan Howard’s music company.

Lori lives in Stoughton, Massachusetts with her husband and five children. Her husband is a plumber and she used to drive to gigs in her mini-van. Since the inclusion of her song’s on Faith’s last album Lori has appeared on Oprah and opened part of the Soul2Soul tour for Faith and Tim. (Unfortunately not the show I saw recently.) On her MySpace page she blogs about the tour and traveling the country with the two country music superstars. You can almost hear the awe in her words as she talks about things she never imagined happening to her, life on the road with two of country’s biggest stars and appearing before crowds that she never thought she would.

Lori writes about life in a small town and life as a Mother and Wife so convincingly because she lives the life she writes about. Her song are not strictly auto biographical, but she takes parts from her own life and mixes it with what she sees around her and creates songs that tell the truth of such living.

On Mandy Moore’s new album the former teen pop star was looking to become a more serious singer/songwriter and went to Lori to collaborate on three of the songs on the new album. This could be one of the voices that we hear now as a small, not well known singer that might be on the verge of breaking out into super stardom. Lori might be about to take that next step to becoming to a Star, but regardless of her status in the music field she will continue to release albums of heartfelt emotion and superb singing and that is enough.

If you're reading this it can only mean one thing, that John from altjiranga mitjina has once again forgotten to provide a blurb after whatever it is he wrote for this issue. All he can say is that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. He'd write more but he'd just forget whatever it was he wrote.

Kelly Willis

Written by john from Altjiranga Mitjina



I consider myself being pretty up-to-date on what new albums are coming out and when. I know when someone has something new coming out and when it’s coming out. So imagine my surprise when I went to the store a few weeks ago and saw a new album sitting on the rack by Kelly Willis. Somehow news of her upcoming album had slipped through my radar. I like being able to keep up-to-date on upcoming releases but it’s nice when I’m surprised by an album’s release. (The whole knowing so much versus being surprised is worthy of a whole column itself.)

So this long winded explanation brings me to this week’s voice to hear. Her name is Kelly Willis and she’s one of my favorite singers. (I know I probably say that about almost everyone that I present here, but it’s really true, I have a lot of favorite singers.) Kelly has a voice that expresses a longing in every word she sings.

Kelly was born in Oklahoma to a military family. She moved around the country quite a big as a child as her Father was transferred from base to base. In her teens she joined the band of her boyfriend and before long the band changed its name to Kelly Willis and the Fireballs. After graduating the band decided to move to Austin Texas and not long after the move the band broke up. In Austin Kelly attracted the notice of several well known singers such as Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith who ended up introducing the fledging singer to Tony Brown of MCA Records.

She was soon signed to MCA Records and her first album, Well Traveled Love, was released in 1990. MCA did a big publicity push for Kelly and the album, but it still did not do very well. The next year saw the break-up of Kelly’s marriage and the release of a new album Bang Bang. In 1993 a self titled album was released. Despite the push of MCA and good critical word none of the albums did very well.

If you're reading this it can only mean one thing, that John from altjiranga mitjina has once again forgotten to provide a blurb after whatever it is he wrote for this issue. All he can say is that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. He'd write more but he'd just forget whatever it was he wrote.

The Blind Boys of Alabama

Written by john from altjiranga mitjina



I’m not much of a church-going man, but strangely I find the music of the church has a soothing effect. The call and response of the Spiritual infuses me with an almost religious feeling of joy and happiness. There is so much emotion in the musical shouting of these songs. This week’s voice to hear is a veteran gospel group of over sixty years. Also along with a voice this week we’re also going to talk about a specific song.

The group is the Blind Boys of Alabama. The group was formed in 1939 at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind. Two founding members, Clarence Fountain and Jimmy Carter are still performing with the band. They’ve added a few newer members in the years following their debut. The Blind Boys of Alabama worked the traditional gospel circuit for over 40 years, releasing albums that primarily found an audience with the Christian following.

In 1982 they made something of a cross over between the religious audience and the secular one with their appearance at the World’s Fair in Knoxville. The next year they appeared in a smash musical drama off-Broadway The Gospel at Colonus. During the nineties they released a couple of albums that had some cross over potential, but never quite made the reach across between the pop audience and the religious one.

All the changed in 2001 when they released Spirit of the Century. Their booking agent and producer decided to self finance the album that he knew the group could make. This album brought them to the attention of the music world outside the gospel one. It was the start of a string of Grammy Awards for them. The music on this album mixed traditional gospel songs with contemporary songs by such writers as Tom Waits, Ben Harper, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Their version of “Amazing Grace” was sung over the tune of the traditional blues “House of the Rising Son.”

“Amazing Grace” has become one of those songs that has become more than just a standard. Everyone from gospel singers to jazz to rock to punk rockers have covered this song. This song is so ingrained into the fabric of our musical heritage, but what do we know of it?

The song was written by a former slave trader, John Newton, who reformed and became a Christian minister. Newton was captured and held prisoner on Plantain Island off the African coast for close to a year. After being rescued he converted to Christianity on the trip home. Years later he wrote the hymn after he became a minister.

They hymn crossed the Atlantic in the early 1800s and was put to the now familiar music by a singing instructor from South Carolina. The song spread throughout the South with the growing revival tents that moved from one Southern town to another.

Today the song is heard performed by everyone from Elvis Presley to KC and the Sunshine Band to Tori Amos to Ani Difranco to Dropkick Murphys to…well the list is just about endless.



“Amazing Grace” wasn’t sung at his Dad’s funeral, but the songs that were did provide a certain amount of comfort. This past week has been one of the hardest he‘s ever had to live through, but there is a relief that his Dad is no longer in such pain. John from altjiranga mitjina continues to speak as if he's not the one writing this.

Voices to Hear

Written by John from altjiranga mitjina




This week’s voice to hear is Ani Difranco.Ani defies characterization; she is a punk folk jazz singer/songwriter. She was born in Buffalo New York and grew up on the same typical radio pop bubblegum that we all do. Somewhere along the way she turned towards folk music.

Ani developed a very loyal fan base with her touring and the records she put out. Not willing to sign to a major label and have to design her sound to fit their needs she established her own label, Righteous Babe Records. All her music and some personally chosen others appear on her label. She has put out over 18 studio albums and 8 live albums.

As she grows as a musician and a person her sound has evolved. Her early sound was folk/punk/rock with a lot of times just her and her guitar. Now she is not above using complete bands and strings and whatever she feels will best suit the song.

She shines on her live material. Her live In Clip and Carnegie Hall albums are two of the best live albums by anyone. She still lives in Buffalo but recently has also taken a home in New Orleans. In fact she was in the crescent city just days before Katrina struck.

Ani’s lyrics are some of the most amazing song writing you’ll hear. A lot of her songs are told from a female point of view, about why she should have to conform to what others thinks she should be. Her newest album Reprise is more low key to some of more recent efforts and on first listen I was somewhat put off. But after few listens this album has become one of my favorites.

Ani has such a wide range of selection that there is definitely something there for you to like. Like the song says, she has “32 flavors.”


John of altjiranga mitjina apologizes upfront that this was a short column, but he just got word that his Dad is not doing very well and he’s on his way to Tennessee now. He’s just waiting for his brother to come meet him so he’s trying to keep himself occupied.

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina




This week’s voice to hear is Buddy Miller. Buddy calls Nashville home and is an in demand session player and producer as well as a superb songwriter and singer. He also records with his wife Julie. Besides country music Buddy considers himself a Christian singer, though it might not be quite the church music you’re used to.

Buddy started out playing in a bluegrass band in high school. After traveling the country playing his guitar he ended up in New York with the Buddy Miller Band with a young Shawn Colvin singing and playing guitar. After a few years of this he ended up moving to Nashville. Along the way he met and fell in love and eventually married Julie.

Buddy is the leader of Emmylou Harris’ band and has helped produce her more recent albums. She has called Buddy one of the best guitar players of all time. He has gained fame as a songwriter, with artists such as the Dixie Chicks, Lee Ann Womack and Brooks and Dunn covering his songs.

Buddy is not just a behind the scenes person though. He has stepped out front to write and sing his own songs, as a solo act and with his wife Julie. He has released 7 albums between his solo career and with Julie.

His most recent disc is Universal United House of Prayer. It’s a country album that rocks, a protest album, a gospel album…there are many things this album could be called, among them I would call it great. This is a theme album and the theme is the soul. He writes of the problems the word is facing today and their impact it has on the soul. The centerpiece of the album is his covering the Bob Dylan classic “With God on Our Side.”

Even more recent Buddy has produced a new album for soul great Solomon Burke called Nashville. His album Universal United House of Prayer won the 2005 Album of the Year award from the Americana Music Awards.

If you're reading this it can only mean one thing, that John from altjiranga mitjina has once again forgotten to provide a blurb after whatever it is he wrote for this issue. All he can say is that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. He'd write more but he'd just forget whatever it was he wrote.

voices to hear #7

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina

This week’s voice to hear is a departure from what we’ve done so far. Instead of a single voice, we’re going to talk about a group. The group is called Marah and they hail from Philadelphia. Basically the group is two brothers, Dave and Serge Bielanko and whoever else they let in. Over the years they have had quite a few players come and go in the band, while they remained the constant. They’ve recorded six albums and one of them was a Christmas album.

On their MySpace page they call their music “technicolor folk-punk-rock” and I think that’s about a good definition of it as I could come up. How many rock bands use a banjo?

Besides making great music the band also comes up some of the best song and album titles ever. Their first album was called Let’s Cut the Crap and Hook Up Later On Tonight. Their most recent album is called If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry. One of their early songs was titled “The History of Where Someone Was Killed.”

Early in their career Marah was labeled in with the alt-country crowd and it wasn’t exactly a place they wanted to find themselves in. The presences of the banjo made people think they had to be alt-country. Which they weren’t. What they are is rock n roll, or as they put it “Technicolor folk-punk-rock.”

Marah has self produced five of their six releases. They’ve worked with artists like Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen. Stephen King called If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry the best album of the year upon its release.

Marah has also given me one of the most fun concerts I have ever been to. Last year they performed at the Parish Room at the House of Blues. This is the upstairs smaller room, for artists that can’t open in the main room of the HOB. I don’t think there were more than 100 people, and if there were that many I’m being generous, there that night. But it didn’t stop the group from putting on a great show.

Towards the end of the show Dave jumped down from the stage onto the floor. He called all the people in the audience to him and had us all sit on the floor around him as he talked and sang. It was one of the most unique concert experiences I have ever had.

I’ve always read about groups like R.E.M. and the Police that started out playing clubs they said with fifty people in the audience. I always thought that would be really cool to see a concert like that, for someone that later became big and you can say I saw them when. I really feel like I had that experience with Marah.

Marah is a band filled with excitement and that excitement translates onto the album and in concert. They sing about people trying to live their lives with all the problems that come with that; money and faith and love and the occasional beer and party in there. This is a band to watch out for.

If you're reading this it can only mean one thing, that John from altjiranga mitjina has once again forgotten to provide a blurb after whatever it is he wrote for this issue. All he can say is that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. He'd write more but he'd just forget whatever it was he wrote.

voices to hear #6

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina

This week’s voice to hear started her recording career in the early 1960’s, but hasn’t released anything new since 1965. She’s Mary Weiss, the former lead singer of the girl group Shangri-Las. The Shangri-Las were the tough girl group that sang the hits “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and “Leader of the Pack.” The Shangri-Las were the street tough girls compared to the other girl groups at the time. Their songs were melodramas of teenage alienation, loss, love and death.

The group consisted of Mary and her sister Betty and identical twins Marge and Mary Ann Ganser. They were signed to a recording contract when they were still in their teens and their first hits were produced by legendary producer Shadow Morton. Mary was 16 when she sang on their first hit “Remember (Walking in the Sand).”

In 1968 the group disbanded and Mary married and went to work as an interior designer and furniture store manager. Mary Ann and Marge have both died since the group disbanded. Mary and her sister have re-united a few times to do shows, but have went no farther with the group.

Recently Mary decided to return to singing. She’s signed to Norton Records and with the garage band the Reigning Sound she has recorded a new album. Mary has a powerful voice that just commands attention and she has lost none of that power over the years. As the album starts with the first cut it evokes memories of past sounds and you can almost hear the other members of the Shangri-Las singing in the background.

Mary doesn’t try to update her sound. Her songs from the past have been cited as influences by such groups as the New York Dolls and Blondie, so her sound really needs no updating. She sings straight ahead rock and roll that can get you to humming along and tapping your feet and finally singing along.

It’s great to discover new talent and encourage new singers on the path to stardom, but it’s nice to find some of the older artists and realize that they can be just as important to today’s music as they were in the past. In country music a lot of older performers are treated as irrelevant by today’s fans, artists such as Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. This is beyond crazy, these artists made the genre what it is today and still can add much to it to legacy. We shouldn’t ignore our past while we look forward to the future.

After forgetting for the past couple columns John (who finds referring to himself like this weird) has remembered to write a bio. He’s just redesigned his blog, altjiranga mitjina so everyone should go check it out. Besides that he’s too busy with work and other things to do much else.

voice to hear

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina

This week’s Voice to Hear is another MySpace discovery. Though this time it didn’t come to me as a request. I found her site while browsing someone else’s site. I wish I could remember who I started off with to discover her, but it’s lost in my slowly senile drifting mind. Whoever it was I owe a big thanks, because I have become hooked on Lily Holbrook. As soon as I landed on her page and the music started I was entranced. She has one of those voices that just reach out and grabs ahold of you and doesn’t want to let go.

Lily Holbrook is a young singer/songwriter that started her career busking on the streets of Boston while she was in college. Busking is another name for those street musicians you see on the side of the street or in the subway stations playing their guitar and singing with the guitar case opened for tips while most people wander by without even stopping to listen. Lily started her career this way because she was too shy to appear on stage and figured this was an easier way to sing in front of others. She soon gained enough confidence and a following that she started to play the local clubs in the Boston area and began to attract a following. Local busker and now recording artist/singer Mary Lou Lord calls Lily “Boston’s best kept secret.”

In 1999 Lily released her independent debut Running From the Sky. Drawing comparisons to Tori Amos and Kate Bush with her writing style and her singing/playing the album creates it sound with simple guitars and some strings. Her voice reminds me of Jewel, hauntingly beautiful.

Next up Lily was featured as one of 16 street musicians in the documentary Playing For Change. This documentary featured 16 different street singers and told their story. Her appearance in the movie helped secure her a contract with Backporch Records, a subsidy of EMI/Virgin.

Her next album was the Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt. For my money this is one of the best album titles I’ve seen. I like it when an artist titles his album something besides the name of his latest hit song. To me it sounds better when they dig a little deeper and name the album for some feeling or emotion they’re trying to convey with the entire album. Lily captures that perfectly with the title of this album.

This album uses a wider range of musical equipment and her folkie tendencies are joined with a wider range of musical noise. Writing that makes it sound like a terrible sound, but Lily pulls it off. She doesn’t lose her sound from her first album, she just adds a bigger musical palette to paint with.

A lot of Lily’s music concerns itself with beauty and physical appearances and what today’s society expects of women. On her new album she does a cover of Ozzy Osborne’s “Mama, I’m Coming Home” in tribute to her late brother. This is a beautiful cover of the song that slowly builds to a stunning climax.

Lily has left Boston for the warmer streets of L.A. While in L.A. she was presented with the idea of becoming the “next” Brittney Spears, but decided she would rather make music that mattered to her and not just sing formulaic pop songs. She’s since left L.A. for a life on the road and is touring in support of her music. Her last album was released two years ago, here’s hoping she’s working on a new one and also that her tour will bring her down this way.

voices to hear #4

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina

This week’s voice to hear has been recording since the mid nineties. She’s had a fair share of acceptance, her most recent album debuted at #34 on the charts, but she still is far from a household name. She’s Patty Griffin, currently living in Austin Texas and one of the most accomplished singer/songwriters currently working.

Her newest album Children Running Through was released in February of this year and a lot of magazine critics were already calling it the best album of the year, only two months in the year, but they felt it was such a strong album. Patty has always been a great singer, but on her new album her voice goes places she’s never visited before to bring the emotion for these songs. The album is more a stripped down affair, with some horns and strings, that bring to mind classic R&B and gospel music.

One of the songs from her new album “Up To The Mountain” was sung by Kelly
Clarkson on the special edition of American Idol with guitar accompaniment by Jeff
Beck. Patty’s songs have been widely covered by other artists. The Dixie Chicks have sung three of her songs on their albums. Other artists that have covered her material are Martina McBride, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris, Solomon Burke and Bette Midler.

Patty was living in Boston waiting tables and taking guitar lessons when her teacher persuaded her to accompany him on stage one night. This helped her overcome the stage fright she had and enabled her to start performing in public. She soon landed a spot at A&M Records and her first album Living With Ghosts. The album was basically her stripped down demos released after trying to cut more elaborate studio versions failed. Her next album Flaming Red brought more sound to her songs and was somewhat of a surprise to her fans after hearing the more low key first album.

Her next album became a casualty of the ever changing world of the music business. The album was recorded in 2000 and was never released. Two years later she signed with Dave Matthews’ label and released the folk inspired mostly acoustic album 1000 Kisses. This was followed shortly by a live CD/DVD A Kiss In Time.

2004 she came out with a new album entitled Impossible Dream. “Top of the World” from this album was covered by the Dixie Chicks and the song “Kite” was used in the television show Joan of Arcadia in one of the best uses of a song for a show I think.

Her current album came out at the start of this year and is considered to be her best music to date. Her singing has never been better and the album finds her mixing gospel and R&B influences with her folk leanings. While I think it is too early in the year to call it the best album of the year like some critics have already done so I will safely concede that it will be one of the top albums of the year. It’s that good.

Voices to Hear

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina.

This week’s voice to hear has been singing for over thirty years, but only recently released a solo album. Susan Cowsill has been singing and playing guitar since she was in kindergarten. Her family The Cowsills were the real life inspiration behind the television show The Partridge Family. In the sixties they had hits with the songs "Hair," "The Rain, the Park and Other Things (Flower Girl)," and "We Can Fly." At the tender age of twelve Susan decided to retire from the music business.

Her retirement didn’t last long. Before almost any time she was back performing with acts such as Dwight Twilley, Hootie and the Blowfish and other musicians. She still was singing in the background, not taking the forefront yet. In the 90’s her musical family reunited for a new album and tour.

Living in L.A. she met Vicki Peterson, formerly of the Bangles and the two formed a power pop duo called the Psycho Sisters. The basis of this musical act became a life long friendship and years later they became sister-in-laws when Vicki married one of Susan’s brothers.

While performing in L.A. the two met some other musicians that were forming a new group called the Continental Drifters. One of the members of this group was Peter Holsapple, formerly from the critical acclaimed group the dBs. Peter and Susan ended up marrying and having a child together. The group slowly found its way to New Orleans until all the members were living in the Big Easy.

For ten years the Continental Drifters put out five albums of quite simply wonderful glorious music. The group has multiple singer/songwriters so every album is a mixture of songs from the different members. Unfortunately great music doesn’t always equal great sales and finally after a decade the group and marriage of Susan and Peter go their separate ways.

Finally Susan is ready to release a solo album. Just Believe It comes out and is proof that Susan is just a talented lead as she is part of a band. Susan’s songs are Pop music mixed with some of the Louisiana flavor and a sprinkle of country and rock. “I Know You Know” is one of those songs that just makes you want to sing along. Instead of the…I’ll be nice and not say what I think of a lot of the current “musical hits,” this song should have been a hit.

After Katrina every other artist from New Orleans had a “Katrina song.” Susan was no exception except I think she had one of the best, if not the best of the bunch. Her song was called “Crescent City Snow” and it incorporated so many elements from New Orleans in it.

I’ve seen Susan live multiple times. She always puts on a fun show. She loves to talk to the audience and have fun with them. I’ve seen her open for the Bangles, play Jazz Fest, open for Better Than Ezra, headline her own show. Every month at Carrolton Station in downtown New Orleans she does a Covered in Vinyl show, where she recreates a classic album in its entirety. She’s done songs from Fleetwood Mac, U2, Led Zepplin, Joni Mitchell, Mamas and Papas, Jimi Hendrix, Beatles and many others.

In addition to her solo album she has released an album of live outtakes from different Covered In Vinyl shows and has two live albums from her appearance at Jazz Fest available. Also check out her albums with the Continental Drifters and her family The Cowsills. For someone with just one album out officially she has a lot of music out there to sample.

Voices To Hear

Today’s voice to hear may be the most obscure of all the singers I have talked about so far. Her name is Maggie Brownand she was born in the same small Louisiana town as Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley, Ferriday. She has one album out and lives in a small town in Mississippi and bartends to add income to her life as a musician. She is also an English teacher with two kids.

She owes the start of her singing career to her Mom, who was quite a character in her own right. To read more of her early life and her Mom go to her webpage and read her bio. It’s a fascinating story.

Anyone who has a MySpace page knows what a pain it is to get dozens of “friend” requests from people who are really just trying to sell you something, the porn sites and the thousand-and-one musicians that you’ve never heard of and never want to hear of. That’s how I first learned of Maggie Brown. I got a “friend” request from her MySpace page and decided to check it out. She has made it worth all the other worthless friend requests I have had to plod through. I couldn’t believe how good she is.

I dare anyone to listen to “Forty Dollars” and not be instantly hooked. Her voice carries such a lived in, been there, done that, but I’ve survived and can sing about it sound that it just reaches out and grabs ahold of me. Her music has an edge of country with enough guitars in it to slide into that rock category.

To get her CD you’ll have to go to her site and order it. But you’ll be glad you did. She sings stories of life and living, hope and despair. I haven’t been this excited about a new singer in a long time. She’s that good.

I haven’t had a chance to see her live yet, though she performs not far from where I live in Mandeville quite often. So far her scheduled dates have always been bad for me, but I plan to change that soon and check her out live. I just have this feeling that she’ll be just as good in person as she is on vinyl. (Well, actually not on vinyl anymore, but I’m not sure what those cds are made out of.)

I’m hoping that she’s working on a new album, it’s been at least a year since her first one. I want to hear more music from this woman.

Back from our nation’s capital John from altjiranga mitjina is once more on the road. Unfortunately his trip to Tennessee is due to his Father’s sickness. All kind thoughts for his Dad would be greatly appreciated.

Voices to Hear

John, your usual man in the know about all things musical, seems to have gone missing in action (along with several other TopBlogMag writers this week) so I am trying, not very successfully I’m sure, to fill his shoes this week.

As many of you are aware, I really do live in a little wooden house in the middle of a forest in northern Europe where, to be completely blunt about it, the music selection on the radio, sucks. Hence the reason, on my recent trip back home, I was very excited about ‘discovering’ the amazing, haunting voice of Katie Melua.

Yeah, yeah, I know. You’ve all been listening to her for years and as I heard her on the radio she’s not exactly ‘little known’, but hey, she was to me and so therefore maybe to some of you as well.

Born in Georgia (the country not the state) Katie and her family moved to the UK when she was 8 years old where she got her first taste of fame at age 15 by entering and winning a televised competition called ‘Stars Up Their Nose’. Since then, Katie has developed her talent into the spine tingling sound you can hear, for free, at her myspace page, a great sound track to put your feet up to and read through the rest of this weeks entries here at TopBlogMag.

Voices To Hear

Written by John Holland of altjiranga mitjina

After enough begging and whining Heather has decided that the easiest solution to dealing with me is to just give me a weekly slot here to talk about music. So this week’s column starts the official debut of Voices to hear. Not much is really going to change from the previous posts I’ve done here. My goal is to spotlight music that doesn’t get enough notice in today’s media driven world of who is the biggest, not always who is the best. Now and than I might slip an album review into here or talk about a concert. What you won’t find here will be reviews that bash some artist or album. The purpose of this column is to promote and showcase, not tear down.

Today’s column is going to spotlight an American treasure. This man should be much better known than he is. No Depressionmagazine (a great magazine about music) named him the artist of the decade for the previous decade. Who am I talking about? His name is Alejandro Escovedo and unfortunately most of you reading this have probably never heard of him. He’s not a new artist, he’s been singing and making great music for decades. His voice echoes the weariness of life, his music a combination of rock, folk and country.

He was born in San Antonio to a large family. His niece is the singer/drummer Shelia E. After moving to San Francisco for college he formed one of the seminal punk bands of the Bay area, the Nuns. After awhile he moved to New York where he joined forces with Chip and Tony Kinman (from the Dils) to form the country-punk band Rank and File. Their first album rates as one of the classic pieces in what is now called Americana. The band moved to Austin where he quit and formed a new group with two of his brothers called True Believers. After a rocking first album the group was dropped by their label just before the release of their second album.

Now a solo artist Alejandro began to make music that really fit in no neat little box. He played a combination of rock, folk, country, blues mixed in with the music of the Mexican-Americans from his home state. His voice is a rich deep sound of a life lived hard but still filled with small joys one can find. His songs tell the story of such a life and the lives of his parents and family.

In 2003 after years of living a rock and roll lifestyle and the hard drinking and drug use that goes with such a lifestyle Alejandro fell critically ill before a concert and was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. After a long bout of recovery he release a new album last year called The Boxing Mirror.

His discography is not large. His first solo release was Gravity followed by eight more albums. He has played with a rock band, acoustically and with a string quintet and a 13 piece Orchestra.

Live he is amazing. I saw him perform with just another guitarist, David Pulkingham. The two sat on the stage and played some of the most amazing music I have ever heard. In between songs Alejandro would tell stories of his youth and of his Father coming from Mexico. It was one of the most amazing shows I have ever had the privilege.

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By the time you read this John Holland of altjiranga mitjina will be back from his trip to Washington D.C. but as he writes it he hasn’t even left yet, so he hopes he had a good time.