Melanie Has A Brand New Key

Melanie would be the first to admit she’s lived something of a charmed life.  The effusive energetic singer, who may be the only person alive who appeared at Woodstock and had songs covered by Cher and Miley Cyrus, is appearing at The Center for Performing Arts in Natick (TCAN) on Thursday, December 4.

Her path from Woodstock to Natick is interesting, as was her journey from adolescence to Woodstock itself. She shared that story with us.

“To be honest, I didn't spend a lot of time paying dues.  I went to acting school and did some auditions, not a lot, because I was shy, and an introvert. I sang in Greenwich Village, on the streets, in coffee houses.  I wasn't even interested in the money- I thought it was embarrassing to pass the hat, and I had no guitar case. I literally walked away from money.”

“To this day, I don't know what motivated me.  I was really shy, but while I was singing, I was really driven.  It was the ‘in-between stuff’ I wasn't good at.  I needed people who would deal with the money, and organizing my career. I was right out of acting school.”|

“One day, I went to a building to do an audition for a musical, and there was a music publishing company on the same floor.  I walked into it by accident. They thought because I was there with a guitar, I had come to audition for this producer who worked there, Peter Scheheryk. So the next thing I know, I’m auditioning for him. And that was it. He and I fell in love, and married, and he became that person who took care of the business for me. Money, producing, business. For 45 years; until he passed away a few years ago. So I didn’t really feel the reality of having to make a living at this. I guess I had the sort of career where you ay your dues in public.”

Even into a life as serendipitously blessed as Melanie’s a little rain falls.

“Well, I did have a real job, once.  I was in a bar on 80^th Street.  I think it was a gay bar.  I was a gourmet girl, I was dressed up a French peasant woman costume- I spoke French, that’s how I got the job.  I was supposed to walk around, say a few words, and sell cheese baskets. One night they assigned me to the coatroom, and I hadn’t done that before- and I was with a friend, and we got to talking.  And at the end of the night, there was a huge pile of coats, and the wrong tickets attached to them. It was a mess. And I was fired on the spot, which wasn’t fair, ‘cos they had never really trained me for what they wanted me to do.”

Melanie did not let that get her down.  She moved smoothly through a career that by the end have brought her Gold Records for songs like ‘Beautiful People,’ ‘Lay Down,’ ‘Candles in the Rain,’ ‘Brand New Key,’ and ‘Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma.”  There was a great deal of acclaim- at one point Billboard, Cashbox, Melody Maker, Record World, and Bravo all promoted her as the Number # Female Vocalist in the World. There were appearances on Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin, the Tonight Show, Johnny Cash. And of course, onstage at the Woodstock Festival, early on, in 1969.

“Well, that was totally serendipity.  My husband had an office in same building as the organizers.  I first heard about the festival about a year out. The Aquarian Exposition, arts crafts for three days... that sounds nice. My husband Peter figured we’d like to do it, and they said, ‘yeah, come and play’, it was like that.”

“I was in England doing a film score, working as a songwriter in London with Peter, and I was really enjoying being behind the scenes.  We debated whether I should come back to the states to do Woodstock, and finally, we decided I should go, play, and then come back a few days later to finish up. So I get on the plane, with no clue about the hype, and my mother meets me at the airport, and takes me up to where I’m supposed to be. Which turns out to be somewhere else.  By now we’re beginning to realize things are getting a little different. I get to this motel, and there’ all this traffic, and we’re thinking that it might be related to the festival- and the first person I see in the lobby of the hotel, there’s Janis Joplin. Then Sly Stone walks by. OMG! I’m thinking what am I into here?”

“I’d never seen anyone famous before, close up. So terror starts to mount.  The next thing I know, they’re hustling us towards a helicopter. And my mother tries to get in with me, and the pilot says ‘who’s that’, and I say ‘my mother,’ and he says “sorry, no moms here,” and I don’t think to say “... and my manager...”  So the copter lifts off without her, and it’s my first copter ride.  And as we get close to the festival, I look down, and I see what looks like a big lake and I ask, “What’s that,” and the pilot says, “That’s the people.” And I don’t believe him, so I point to another thing that looks like a pond and I say ‘What’s that?’ And he says, “That’s still the people. They’re all the people down there.” It was terrifying, and we are landing over that big sea- and I still didn’t believe it was all people.  And I get out, and Richie Havens is like on his 30^th Chorus of ‘Freedom’, and I could tell his passion was coming from several laces- terror being one of them. And I’ve never seen such a big riser on a stage before. It was just unbelievable. And when it’ time for me to go on, it’s getting dark, so the Hog Farm, I think, starts to distribute all of these candles. And it starts to rain, and all of these candles are getting lit, I’m trying to absorb this- and then I start, and all the candles get lit. And that’s where the candle lighting began, holding up a match.  For the rest of the time I appeared onstage, anywhere, people would bring a candle to my concerts. And fire marshals hated it.”

Like I Need To Add A Caption?

Since the seventies, with virtually no break, Melanie has continued to perform, and record. She often brought her kids on tour with her husband, who had also taken on the additional responsibilities of tour manager for her. It comes as no surprise that her son Beau-Jarred, has become an integral art of her musical universe.  In addition to having become a guitar player of astonishing skill, speed and melodic substance, he is also following in his father’s footsteps- engineering, arranging.

“He’s upstairs right now working on some classical arrangements of my early songs.  I work with a label that has the resources to be able to look back at that stuff, and then help me to present it with some beautiful, full instrumental arrangements. And Beau is writing them!”  There is no small touch of parental pride in her voice when she speaks of her kids.

Her most recent CD was recorded in 2010, Ever Since You Never Heard of Me, while her husband was still alive.  It is vintage Melanie in many ways, drawing from world musical motifs, a little rough around the edges, and delivered with ebullience and love and largeness of heart and voice. Available through her website, the CD was never given a full-bore release the passing of her husband.

In many ways, the change from a relationship in which Melanie was sheltered from “the business” and allowed simply to create in a supportive, familial environment has not passed unnoticed by the veteran performer.

“Since Peter passed a few years ago, I’ve been sort of thrown into the ‘other side’ of the business. I was so sheltered.  But think at this point in my life, I am too much who I am to be badly affected by that.”

“I tell everyone I’m ‘the oldest little girl in the world.’  My life before now seems like another universe entirely. It’s such a different world now for me. I'm much less guarded, and like being less in the public eye.  It seems like there wasn't a time when everyone knew everything I did.  When the pressure is off that way, and everyone isn't waiting for you, you can take a breath.”

Melanie remains a high energy, very giving performer, so it’s likely that breath will be a short one- enough to get her to the chorus of the next song.

Melanie is appearing at The Center for the Art in Natick on December 4^th, and at the Tupelo Music Hall in Londonderry New Hampshire on December 5^th.

You can follow her at her website at: http://www.melaniesafka.com

CD REVIEW

Ever Since You Never Heard of Me

Melanie

Available through the website: http://www.melaniesafka.com

Melanie has always been something of a happy anomaly in a business that usually shies away from the singular of any artistic particular quality. She is, and remains a genuine original, with a heart as big as Cleveland and a quirky, affectionate sense of humor,  she has succeeded in her career beyond her own expectations (which were minimal in terms of traditional success), and certainly beyond that which was expected.  It is hard to imagine another performer of her era, who appeared at Woodstock, and who continues to offer new music as personal and relevant as Melanie.  Perhaps Neil Young stands with her in that regard.

This CD was recorded four years ago, work begun by Melanie’s guiding force and muse of 45 years, her husband, producer, manager Peter Scheyereck, who passed away while the recording was in progress. The album was completed, and features Beau-Jarrerd, the couple’s son.

It also features a roiling and eclectic array of Melanie tunes.  Traditional, rooted in world melodies, and catchy.  She has always had the ability to shine through her own lyrics as the genuine article- personal, humorous, transparent.  In many ways, this CD reflects Melanie at her “earthiest”- the least polished production, the most ragged of accompaniment- and it is a deeply, warmly authentic piece of work, worthy of her canon, and of a regular spot in you CD queue.

It is a collection of songs that seem half-finished, in a warm sort of way.  But by no means incomplete- what is missing, simply is the part that the audience brings to the listening experience. In an almost magical way, the CD can only be completed by the listener bringing their own sensibility to ‘the party’; it is a space left by a generous artist to be filled by an enthusiastic and open listener.   And that is an experience this listener hasn’t felt since the release of Warren Zevon’s The Wind, a CD that cannot be heard without full listener engagement on an emotional level.  That is a rare feat, done here with such riveting honesty that it is often breathtaking. That ethereal connection to Zevon is further reinforced by the tune ‘I Tried to Die Young’ with the neo-Zevonian lyrics “there were demons, I know them, and they still come by, well we’ve become friends, my demons and I”.

Notable tunes on the CD include the very beautiful “Kiss From The Heart”, a moving song about true love and deep attachment, and loss- something that is fresh for the artists.  I use the plural, because of the presence of Melanie’s son on harmony.

Melanie and Beau

Any doubts that Beau’s talent is monster big, and will be a part of his parents’ happy legacy should be erased by his guitar playing on Deserts of Blue, which opens with some glistening guitar fretwork by the then-sixteen year old. His demonstrated gifts on this tune are nothing short of jaw dropping.

Melanie remains fully in control of her muse.  She has suggested that the passing of her husband has in some ways opened her eyes and ears to a whole new range of possibilities.  Ever Since You Never Knew Me is ample proof of that. The future looks creative for this artist.

The Powers of Music- Kerri Powers Reloads and Recharges

Kerri Powers now has a perspective that she didn’t have earlier in her musical career, when she first started out. Powers, opening for Melanie at The Center for Arts in Natick on December 4^th, and headlining her own show on December 6th at Temple Isaiah in Lexington, MA, is emerging from a self-imposed hiatus, taken primarily to raise her son.

                                                                                                     

“I have lot more faith and confidence in my own ability.  I tend to be highly creative and visual, but when I started out, I didn't really have a belief in myself. After giving birth, you get this sense that there is nothing you can't do.  Raising my son, and just so much life experience, have put me in a much different place.  I’m much more likely to go with the flow.”

That ‘flow’ moves through the singer-songwriter Powers with intensity and strength, born of the challenges in life- childrearing, separation and divorce, and probing the depth of her own artistic ‘calling.’  She is re-emerging as a much more self-assured and deeper artist, more solid in her craft, and focused on her calling. 

“I have more clarity, a greater sense of honesty. I feel blessed I can do this, now.  I can’t imagine a life not doing it- music, art- I am clear that this is what ‘I’ do. I know you need, these days, to have 100% of your soul engaged, and faith.  It is not an easy industry to make a living in.”

Personally introspective and intense, it seems increasingly natural that Powers is supremely comfortable with the blues as a force that informs her musical sensibility. There would seem to be a paradox for her- the transparency with feeling and emotions that characterizes the blues, and her own more recent insight into that kind of openness and seamless honesty in her own art. 

“I think from the time I was young, I always resonated with the blues. All music stems from that form.  Of all the music I know, I think it’s the best way to connect with people.  It opens the heart.  If you are gonna put music out there has to be about feeling, connecting with others.  I’ve always been shy, so I know it seems like a paradox, but the blues have always been my way to get out there more.  To me, it’s natural... it's all about the feel, about what it evokes in people.  It’s a very powerful form of music. All music comes from that place- all from the blues.”

As she has grown as an artist and songwriter, she has found a changed music industry. 

"Well, this industry is not easy- it’s completely different than when I started a couple of decades ago. Because of the changes in how artists are marketed, and market themselves, it’s tough.  It’s a great time for indie artists, in some respect, but it is also a heavily saturated market.  I find I just have to do what feels right- do what I do, and go along for the ride." 

Powers’ original songs have a spaciousness of form, an easy confidence about them. They are infused with the blues, but are also threaded with other American musical idioms- country, r and b.  She can power off blues riffs with the best of them, but moves easily through an interesting and sinewy musical landscape.  Her most recent album features two covers- the heartfelt Janis Ian tune ‘Jesse,’ and the BeeGees classic ‘To Love Somebody’.

“When I do a tune written by somebody else, it has to completely absorb me from the get go- has to make me cry.  I am drawn to that very intense vibe. Actually, it was Gram Parson’s version of ‘To Love Somebody’ that caught me. I just went crazy for it, I cried when I heard it. That doesn't happen often for me, so I guess that's how I know.”

She’s not afraid to be interpretive with the work of another songwriter. 

"I believe in artistic license. I think it's right from an artist’s standpoint. If you can’t believe in in yourself enough to wear ‘different hats,’ and enjoy the process- maybe this isn’t for you.  Not everyone is gonna like what you do compared to what they are used to. But it is about being true to ourselves, as artists, as well." 

With her new self-titled new CD, Kerri Powers, she has re-entered the music scene emphatically and with confidence, after a self- and circumstantially imposed hiatus.

“I always hoped I could continue making art.  I never had grandiose ideas about where it would go, though I do think that when we’re older, we learn not to mess with expectations. I love having the ability to grow with what I 'm feeling and fortunate enough to put be in a place to put it out there.  I never had dreams of a star, never got caught up in all that stuff.”

“I guess I never truly was able to ‘stifle’ all of that stuff inside of me. There was a time I had to take a break for an important priority, but that artist part was always there.  I couldn’t leave it behind and be a complete person.”

Powers remains true to her art, and her heart. She can be found online at: Kerri Powers

She is appearing at the Center for the Arts in Natick on December 4^th, at 8pm. She can also be seen at Temple Isaiah in Lexington on the 6^th of December. 

CD REVIEW

Kerri Powers

Kerri Powers 

Available through website: Kerri Powers

Powers eponymous second album is a strong offering, deeply reflective of a thoughtful and somewhat restless talent.  She is a gifted melodist, painting in deep and at times subtle shades of blues and angularity. This is a sparse view of the aural landscape, well suited to her muscular lyrics and delivery.  In Powers’ lyrical world there are few places to hide. 

In her return to recording and touring as a lifestyle choice, Powers is on the fast track as an artist evolving. There is a self-confidence about this set of music that suggests an artist growing comfortable in their own skin, and with their own gifts.

Powers has some real blues chops, mostly restrained on this CD, but threading neatly throughout her tunes. However, those confusing restraint with sedate are warned that Powers has some sharpened steel running through her words; one need only sit through the opening tune, ‘Tallulah Send a Car For Me;’ which sets the stage for Powers to assert herself with authority, as Kevin Costner once said in Bull Durham.  “Can’t wear my alligator boots in church- preacher says all they ever do is drag in dirt, well I think I got some dirt on his clean white shirt.”  And if that isn’t fair warning enough, she also confesses ‘I love lighting firecrackers in the dark.’

And yet, the aching transparency she shows in her cover of Janis Ian’s Jesse reveals a vulnerable heart behind all the bluster of Tallulah. The third tune, an original, ‘Old Shirt’, reveals another aspect of the artist a person; the hurt, and forgiving person, who has ‘come apart at the seams that hold an old shirt together.’

A mature work that delivers, and yet promises in it’s next incarnation to move us even further along on this artistic, evolutionary journey of Powers’. Terrific, listenable, and moving. 

CD Review: Tom Russell, Wounded Heart of America

Wounded Heart of America
Tom Russell
Hightone Records
2007
www.tomrussell.com

A good song touches the heart of a listener, makes them think. Sometimes it makes them cry. A great song touches the heart of the person performing it; it draws something heroic out of them, something that is visceral, and real. Tom Russell writes great songs. Truly, great songs.

Wounded Heart of America, a collection of artists covering the songs of Russell, is far more than homage. It is a series of performances by singers and songwriters that weave together a larger story of America. It is Russell’s America, seen through the eyes of illegals and Mexican-Americans, Japanese-American citizens relocated during the Second World War; through the words of Alaskan natives and heartbroken drunks, wide-eyed young lovers, Texas State Troopers, and half-cocked Outcasts. It is truly the wounded heart of America, the people who belly up to the bar in search of something they can’t name, of the midnight floor cleaners prowling silent shopping malls, of cops and outlaws, bar-room preachers and justice denied.

The list of performers loaning their talent to the collection is impressive; even more so when you realize that they are some of the best songwriters and interpreters of the last couple of generations. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Johnny Cash, Dave Van Ronk and Beat legend Lawrence Ferlinghetti occupy one stellar end of the spectrum, Dave Alvin, Joe Ely and Ian Tyson another, Doug Sahm, Nancy Griffith, Iris DeMent, and Laurie Lewis yet another; and there is still room on the disc for contributions by the likes of Jerry Jeff Walker and Suzy Boggus. As performers, it is as talented a group as you will gather anywhere. More than that, and key, is the stunning reality that it is also a collection of some of the best songwriters in America.

The coherence of the album is remarkable, given the stable of talent, and the fact that it does represent a full and lengthy songwriting career. Russell has produced more than a catalog; the album reflects a quality that places Russell in pretty rarefied company—Springsteen, Guthrie come to mind. Each has produced a body of work that is a tapestry, gathering the strands of a much larger story; each strand able to stand alone, yet completely of a piece with the next. It is a considerable accomplishment. And, it is self-evident in this CD.

Whether it is Dave Alvin’s aching baritone telling the story of fringe-dwelling wanderer, or Dave Van Ronk’s off-kilter and obtuse tale extolling the simple unpleasant existence of the “other” in America- the Black Sheep, philandering, too-loud relative whose primary activity is to embarrass the family, the lyrics are balanced by performances that are melded with the style of the particular artist. More than that, Russell’s intrinsic solidity as a songwriter provides a foundation that allows the performer to transcend their own style; to fuse with a larger story. That is a quality unique to truly great songs; Russell offers a dozen and a half of them here.

Russell is a one of the most literate, thoughtful, and astute songwriters on the scene today. He can turn a mean and artful phrase; to do it in the context of a genuine, heartfelt story of human longing, and passion, and experience, well, that is the essence of art. And Russell is an artist, from the rich and passionate original artwork that adorns the CD to the deeply expressive lyrics and eclectic American melodic stylings of the song.

This CD is flat-out brilliant.

CD Review: Ariel Storm

CD REVIEW:

Ariel Storm
Kai Ariel and Ariana Storm
Carefree and Bohemian Records
www.arielstorm.com

Someone out there has described the work of Northern California duo Kai Ariel and Ariana Storm as "Ambient Dreampop." Ambient? Certainly-- the CD is textured beautifully, with the extraordinarily rich voice of vocalist Ariana Storm at times embedded in lush arrangements, often of her own voice multi-tracked and punctuated by her own piano playing. Dreamy-- I can buy that. There is something more here than pop music, however.

The lyrics penned by the duo wedge themselves too deeply into your heart to be dismissed as pop.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of pop music I like. But this isn't anything like pop.

The songs have a strongly ambient feel to them; the melody is carried by Storm's vocals, accented by almost surgical percussion, guitars, and bass by the multi-instrumentalist Ariel. It is Storm's voice that is the lead instrument. But it is her lyrics that are deeply personal and self-revealing, and challenge the listener, such as in the tune 'Rich Man'.

Who do you run from
I’m not so serene
I want to be somewhere
I’m not demeaned
I want to be something
Other than mad
Could I be here
With a little more heaven

Storm is a woman prepared to ask us and herself difficult questions, to challenge assumptions, to advocate for herself. She is also a person who recognizes that value is not what sits in your bank account; value is found in human relationships, and that some qualify as transcendent. In her song 'Lucky', Storm expresses a vulnerability that is under-girded by her willingness to risk sharing herself, unconditionally; more than that, she is aware of it.

"So rare to find someone
Who’ll talk it out when you trespass
Or they do
I’m afraid sometimes
To let it in let it in
How good it can be
I’m so lucky
Lucky
To know you"

In the world of Ariel Storm, and lyricist Ariana Storm, (an award-winning songwriter), you will not be lulled to sleep by an ambient confection; Storm is too forceful and passionate a songwriter to take the easy way out. Jump into the CD, and you are entering into a dialogue with two skilled musicians, who will assert themselves, challenge you; at times discomfort you. But there is nothing superficial about Ariel Storm; despite the sheer beauty of Storm's vocals, and the masterful multi-tracking of them that recurs throughout the CD, the songs possess their own depth. Each is confessional; sometimes those confessions emanate from the writer, but more often, they are the whisperings in the heart of the listener.

And yet, for all of the introspective and emotional content on the CD, it ends with an oddly festive, simple tune, 'They Are Not As Many,' with lyrics fitting this moment, 27 years tonitght removed from the death of John Lennon.

"Come on come on
Come on now
Let it be
Love
Away away
Away now

Those who refuse
Love
Open heart
Make it better
One world
Together in Love"

One world. Together. In Love.

Lennon would have liked that.

This Compact Disc is well worth listening to. It is strong, very strong lyrically, with the ability to draw you in and make you think deep and hard. There is nothing about the transparency of Storm's lyrics that will let the listener off easy-- it's your life she is singing about, as well as her own. The musicianship is first rate, and the arrangements serve the lyrics, which in turn are delivered by a strong vocals

Janis Ian- Always Breaking New Ground

Interview with Janis Ian From Late 2006

As she eloquently confessed in the lyrics of one of her songs, Janis Ian “learned the truth at seventeen.” As a performer entering her fifth decade on stage, she has never stopped sharing those truths.

Ian is one of the great treasures of contemporary American popular music. She started playing piano at the age of two, and published her first song at the age of twelve. That song, Hair Spun of Gold, appeared on her first album, recorded on the Verve-Folkways label, when she was fourteen. Her first album yielded her first hit single, Society’s Child, which dealt with the issue of interracial dating in 1965.

The song was controversial, and resulted in the torching of a radio station and the firing of several disc jockeys who played it.

Starting Young

Was her adolescence as filled with as much angst as Society’s Child and At Seventeen would indicate? Ian laughs at the question.

“Yes, in many ways. But I was making records, and out on tour. I was getting a lot of feedback, but I would only think about it in my most private moments. That isn’t something I think an artist should gloat about; you wouldn’t think about putting it on a resume. But it is what makes it worth getting your nose ground into the dirt in this business.”

Ian is emphatic about that last point. Given her unique vantage point of over forty years as a professional musician, she has seen the music business change.

“The main thing is it that is was a business, and now it is an industry. When I started out, when you added in even the lawyers, the whole business had about 2,000 people in it. You could fit them all in the ballroom at the Waldorf. Now, it’s like U.S. Steel; the mega-corporations getting everything they can out of it. That’s why the Internet has changed so much of the way things are done. Anyone with five hundred bucks can make a compact disc, and distribute it.
That is so different than the way it was when I started.”

Running Against the Tide

Ian’s restless intellect was fascinated by the potential for using computer and digital technology to create and distribute music. Her article “The Internet Debacle” became a rallying point for artists and computer users in their battle with the RIAA over downloading music.

“I embrace the new technology because I looked around and hated the industry, and what it had become. I thought a lot about just chucking it all. Then I went onto the Internet, and realized it was a different world. Even with all the science fiction that’s been written, we couldn’t imagine access to all the information now at our fingertips.”

“We’re all trying to reinvent ourselves, because we have to. To the industry, you could say in one sense, ‘we’ are the software, and what we sell is the hardware. No one needs a singer songwriter, so from their point of view, it won’t make them money unless we can move product. But the technology has the potential to remove the middle man.”

An Industry, A Business

In recalling her early days in the industry, Ian is characteristically direct.

“Even back when I started, when it was a business, and not an industry, the racketeering notwithstanding, you always knew where you stood with people, with the company.”

Ian, who has nine Grammy nominations and two Grammy awards to her credit, understands that while the acknowledgment of her peers is important, she needs to keep things in perspective.

“For a while, it means greater sale-ability. Back when I was first being nominated there were something like 70 categories. I’ve lost track of how many there are now.”

More important to Ian were the accolades she has received from artists like Ella Fitzgerald, who called her “the best young singer in America,” and Chet Atkins, who claimed that Ian’s skill on the guitar gave him “a run for my money.” Her music has been recorded by Cher, Mel Torme, and many other artists.

Stormy Waters

It hasn’t always been a steady course for Ian. Despite recording twenty albums on major labels of the last forty years, she has taken several breaks from the studio and touring. During those breaks, she has written short stories, written music for television and film, and for a nine year period, studied acting with the acclaimed teacher Stella Adler.

“Stella Adler was my first real female role model, after my mom and grandparents. She taught me articulate what I felt about things.”

She also feels a great debt to conductor Leonard Bernstein, who showcased Ian and her controversial song during one of his telecasts.

“Bernstein was a force of nature. I owe my career to him.”

Through the frenzy of living life on the stage, and making a living as a performing artist, Ian has learned some important lessons. While she took off the nine years to study acting, she was married, divorced, survived two emergency surgeries, and ended up losing all of her earnings and her home to an unscrupulous business manager. Needing a change in scenery, she moved to Nashville, arriving “penniless, in debt, and hungry to write.”

Nowadays, Ian has found the balance that has often eluded her, personally and professionally.

“I try to lead a congruent life. If you can manage to stay on the path, things have a way of falling into place as they are meant to. Even with my music. I can hear other artists producing albums that sound like they were meant to make just a living, the same stuff put together in the same way.”

Ian puts it simply.

“I can’t put out something inferior.”

A Kinder, Gentler Place

The move to Nashville has had a salutary effect on her.

“Well, it keeps life interesting. If I’d stayed in New York, I’d just be preaching to the choir, which isn’t any good. It isn’t interesting. I find that I really like the south. It’s slower, kinder and gentler, more tolerant of eccentricity. I find that conducive as a writer. You know, you hit an age where you don’t want to have to fight all day. You want to save you passion for the art, and not squander it on the day to day.”

“As a writer in a city with so many other good writers, I find that Nashville keeps your motor oiled; writers need to write.”

As for how she arrives at a song, Ian herself remains unsure.

“I’m damned if I know where the inspiration comes from. All good songs have an urgency; they have to otherwise it is way too much work. And there are multiple ways to approach it. Some people need to push it. I tend to be looser than that. I mean, I say everyday I’m going to write, but in general I wait for it to happen. Too many people are afraid of their talent.”

Ian has also collaborated with some pretty formidable songwriters, including Kathy Mattea, John Mellencamp, and Bette Midler.

"Collaborating always takes you out of your place of comfort. You can always find a songwriter in Nashville. There is always that element of surprise, because you never know how another person writes. It is a way for me to stay fresh at something I’ve been doing since I was 12."

Ian has been touring in support of her latest CD, her twentieth, “Folk is the New Black.”

“It’s as close to folk as I’ve ever gotten. The CD features some great playing, and I’m really pleased with the songwriting. The older I get, the more I find that I’m really in service to the song. Luckily, I am able to work with musicians who are attracted to the music. I finally understand that the singer doesn’t need to get in the way.”

Janis Ian, still learning after all these years.

CD REVIEW:

Janis Ian
“Folk is the New Black”
Cooking Vinyl USA/Rude Girl Records
www.janisian.com/

There may not be a more persistent, and insistent songwriter than Janis Ian. Her voice retains the power to persuade; and her lyrics, provocative, reassuring, insightful, and occasionally rankling, are buoyed by inventive melodies and flawless guitar work.

Ian has always been a fearless writer, truthful and clear, gifted and economical. “Folk is the New Black” displays all of these qualities. Working with a very sympathetic pair of musicians, Victor Krauss on bass and guitars and Jim Brock on percussion, Ian paints a mural of love, xenophobia, the loss of love, the tragedy of an urban death; sixteen songs that display Ian at the peak of her considerable songwriting powers.

And while she sings with her tongue planted firmly in cheek, it’s hard to disagree with the opening lines of her song “My Autobiography:”

I know you and I’ll agree
What this world needs is a lot more me…

A terrific return by Ian, whose songwriting improves with age, she posses a wit that spares no-one. and retains a fearless simplicity.

Sweet Honey In The Rock- Soft and Mighty Voices

(left to right): Ysaye Barnwell

Aisha Kahlil, Louise Robinson,

Carol Maillard, Nitanju Bolade Casel,

Shirley Childress Saxton

Photo: Sharon Farmer

An Interview From 2006

There is great power in the melding of voices, raising them to illuminate the human spirit and the broad palette of emotions we carry within. Sweet Honey In The Rock, a group of African-American women have been doing just that for more than 30 years.

Carol Maillard, by training a singer and actress, was one of the original founders of the group. Although she left for other projects, she returned and has been with Sweet Honey since 1992.

In The Beginning

“Essentially, Sweet Honey was something that happened at the DC Black Repertory Company, a theatre group, around 1972-73. The people in the troupe were extremely talented performers, singers, arrangers, and we liked the music we were creating. We asked Bernice (Johnson Reagon, founder) to get us together as a singing group. She finally gave in, and set up rehearsals on Tuesday nights, from 8-10pm.”

Maillard cites this as the genesis of Sweet Honey.

“It ended up being an ensemble of the best singers, sometimes all men, sometimes all women, sometimes a mix. We took a break that summer, and when we resumed in the fall, it turned out that there were four of us, all women, who had been to every rehearsal. We just sort of became Sweet Honey In The Rock.”

“One of the best things that happened to us was the Smithsonian Festival of American Folk Life. Bernice, who was working as a singer/cultural educator at the festival, brought us into her gig. We made our debut in May of 1974, as part of the ‘African Diaspora.’ It was wonderful. For two weeks, we sat on a porch that had been constructed, just sang; 30 minutes in the morning and then twenty minutes on the stage at night. Whoever was available sang, there were no mikes, we’d sing and talk to the audience. We did it in 1975 and again in 1976.”

“After that, we just started getting a lot of exposure. We played at folk festivals, rallies and fundraisers, at colleges and church functions.”

The “work” of Sweet Honey” has become clearer over the years.

Coming Into Focus

“We are intentionally bringing music that reaches people on so many levels. We sing about social justice, politics, love, human rights, everyday life and living. Music is so much a part of African culture; it really is part of daily life and living. It is participatory, not something you just sit back and watch. It is part of birth, growing, taking care of the village. These are the sounds that we all lived with. Sweet Honey honors that tradition.”

While the group, with dozens of albums/CD’s to their credit, are accomplished a capella singers in the studio, their live shows provide audiences with a genuine, soul-stirring experience. With their astonishing repertoire, ranging from traditional African chants to gospel shouts and spirituals, folk songs to original songs about growing up and learning and loving, Sweet Honey has honed their Grammy-winning style into a veritable musical force of nature. They present audiences with a delightful paradox; they manage to exude an utterly guileless and infectious exuberance and at the same time retain a nearly regal dignity.

Maillard is amused at this description.

“I don’t have a clue about how it happens; we don’t study or talk about it, we just do it. With the people we have in the group, we have the ability and energy to reach the audience. We sing about some pretty serious issues. I guess we ask questions, like where is the will to go forward towards joy, and how are you going to raise yourself up? You have to exude energy if you are going to make a change.”

Thirty Years of Growing and Learning

Working as a group for more than thirty years has been a great experience for Carol Maillard.

“We learn something, every time we get together and sing. These are very creative people with a lot of influences that really run the gamut. Sometimes we hear different things within a song, in voicing or meanings, rhythms. Sometimes these don’t become part of what we are doing until a year or two down the line. I might want to expand an idea, add words, grow the song. That way even traditional songs stay fresh, and we want to keep that solid. But we can hear things in another way, and have the freedom to try that.”

For Maillard and her companions in Sweet Honey, she hopes that audiences will take away a clear sense of the group.

“We just want people to know the group is constantly evolving. We are pleased when you people come to see us, and we like going to sing in new places. We want to do everything we can to Sweet Honey out there to learn from, enjoy and share.”

CD REVIEW:

RAISE YOUR VOICE!
Sweet Honey In The Rock
Earthbeat R2 76422
www.sweethoney.com

This soundtrack, taken from a PBS American Masters presentation, captures the live sound of Sweet Honey to perfection. Not only do the shifting and swirling arrangements spotlight individual voices, they also embrace an eclectic range of harmonies and rhythms.

To fans of the a capella group, this should come as no surprise. Their live performances are legendary for their sheer energy and their eclectic repertoire, and this album is a veritable buffet for the fan and the uninitiated. Several of the songs feature spoken introductions, which help place the songs into a context- historical or otherwise relating to the growth of Sweet Honey. The first song they performed live, ‘Joan Little,’ is as relevant today as it was thirty years ago. Likewise, ‘The Ballad of Harry T. Moore’, adapted from a poem by Langston Hughes to commemorate the death of an organizer for the NAACP in Florida in the early fifties, in this heart-felt rendition, is a haunting reminder of the road we still have to travel.

The other highlight of the CD is an ethereal version of another of their reportorial classics, ‘In The Upper Room With Jesus,’ worth the price of admission by itself.

Thirty years on, Sweet Honey remain luminous, inspiring, and most decidedly on key. A terrific introduction to one of the truly important musical groups in American culture.

Jesse Winchester- More Than Just a Showman

MORE THAN JUST A SHOWMAN
THE MUSICAL JOURNEY OF JESSE WINCHESTER
AN INTERVIEW FROM 2006

Acknowledged as one the finest songwriters of his generation, Winchester is in his fifth decade as a performer. His catalog of 11 albums, (ten recorded in the studio and one live), representing 35 years of his songs, remains one of the most consistent and coherent bodies of work from any musical artist in the last 50 years.

The music may have a linear feel to it: Winchester’s path has not. He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and raised in Memphis. After spending some time in Massachusetts and Munich, Winchester moved to Montreal in 1967 to avoid the draft, something he spoke about in the song “Tell Me Why You Like Roosevelt:”

“’Cos I'm baptized by water
So I'll pass on the one by fire
If you want to fight
Go on and fight if that be your desire”

Reliving History

Avoiding the draft altered his life forever, something Winchester has always acknowledged. With recent events in Iraq and Afghanistan, he finds the feelings of forty years ago still resonate.

“I do feel a great sadness, and am distressed about our country. You have to wonder do we really ever learn the lessons. This time, though, there at least are some differences, and in our response at home; we haven’t made some of the same mistakes. Back in the sixties, we didn’t pull any punches. Then we made mistakes by blaming the soldiers who fought in Viet Nam. But still, the war is the exact same cultural argument from then, which never got resolved.”

Winchester retains his southern accent and manner. His conversation is leavened with gracious gentility, and he often adds “why, thank you” and “bless your soul” at the end of his comments, or in reaction to a compliment.

He has made the transition from the warmth of Mississippi to the cool frosty air of Montreal.

“It’s gotten so that I actually look forward to winter. After all the grey dreariness of November, you long for the beauty of the snow.”

His songs are noted for their wry humor, poetic twists, and poignant, sometimes aching timbre. They are songs about disappointment, about living with choices made in life; as well as wistful memories of times and places that are lost forever. Winchester is also known for his astonishing economy of language.

The Songwriter's Songwriter

“I am a very slow songwriter,” he says. “I edit severely. Even the stuff that I write that I like gets edited down to the absolute bare bones. Over time, I’ve become more conscious about what I want to say.”

“There are so many people that I admire, so I can look at what they’ve done and still learn. Harlan Howard, Hoagy Carmicheal, Johnny Mercer. All of these wonderful songwriters who’ve gone before help me to be a better writer. Maybe when I was younger, I’d write a tune that was ‘Bob Dylan’ cryptic, more stream of consciousness. “Brand New Tennessee Waltz” was like that. I guess I don’t really do that anymore.”

As some of his most poignant tunes show, Winchester remains deeply rooted in his southern childhood. Songs he has written about the south, “Biloxi,” “Mississippi You’re On My Mind,” and “Bowling Green” have been covered by artists as diverse as the Everly Brothers and Jimmy Buffet.

Winchester can plant his tongue firmly in cheek, however. In “Let the Rough Side Drag,” he manages to be both wry and ribald simultaneously.

“It's a good thing the sea's not dry
Such a good thing that cows don't fly
What a good thing to make a joyful noise
It's a good thing that beds don't talk…”

"A Blessed Thing"

Winchester's ability to tour the United States was made possible by President Jimmy Carter’s 1976 amnesty of Viet-Nam era draft-evaders.

“That was such a blessed thing. It had such an impact on my life, and that of my family. Huge.”

The amnesty opened up the possibility of returning to the United States to promote the albums he was producing during the late seventies and early eighties. A songwriter’s songwriter, Winchester was beloved by a small but devoted base of fans, which hasn’t really translate into robust album sales.

“Well, let’s say I haven’t gotten rich from any of the albums. A couple of songs have done real well for me, which gave me a chance to step back and figure out what I wanted to do.”

By the late nineties, Winchester had stopped touring and going into the studio. He simply wasn’t enjoying it anymore. The difficulties of constant road life, the breakup of his marriage and other struggles sent him in a different direction. He had been offering nuggets of insight to his fans through his songs for years (“A Showman’s Life” and “Little Glass of Wine”); he decided to concentrate on his songwriting.

“I wasn’t having fun. It had become just ‘doing something.’ You see, when you’re enjoying it, it’s like the lights come on when you step on the stage. It’s like magic. Time stops and you’re in this moment with the audience.”

“Real true music is a performing art. It’s evanescent, it lasts for that moment you are up there and the audience is tuned in. It shouldn’t be frustrating, and it was.”

When the Spirit Moves

A recurring theme in Winchester’s music is a spiritual dialogue; an ongoing conversation versed in both testaments, occasionally borrowing from the deep and rich style of spirituals. This is a conversation that shares lessons, and doesn’t preach.

Winchester is animated when he discusses it.

“Spirit is important to me. It means a lot. I also value doubts as much as faith. We lose something as human beings without doubters to challenge us and make us think. I guess on that final day, I’d be lining up with the faithful.”

“Peter Ustinov once said that humanity was divided by faith and united by our doubts. I couldn’t put it any better than that.”

Winchester is now ready to return to the stage.

“Yeah” he admits. “I want to keep on getting after that kick of doing it right. I guess I’m crazy for that pleasure of getting it right, of getting the respect of my fans.”

Jesse Winchester, after 11 albums, 35 winters in Montreal with his feet in the Mississippi mud, is also a pragmatic wanderer who recognizes when the deck is stacked and fate is rumbling. Appropriately, on his 1972 tune “Do It,” he offers sage advice and a shy, winning smile.

“If the wheel is fixed
I would still take a chance
If we're treading on thin ice
Then we might as well dance”

Indeed. Come on out and dance, and sing a joyful song.

CD REVIEW:

LIVE FROM MOUNTAIN STAGE!
Jesse Winchester
Blue Plate Special
2001

www.jessewinchester.com/

Jesse Winchester, alone on stage with his guitar, is a magical performer. This show-stealing set recorded in 2001 showcases his animated percussive guitar-plucking style contrasted with his sweet, sweet tenor. Wrapping those two gifts around some of his best tunes, the package offers a terrific sample of the work of Winchester.

His sly, self-effacing stage presence is not as evident on the disc, but his facility with a sharply-turned lyric, coupled with simple and haunting melodies make this a joy to listen to.
Winchester opens the set with two songs that are utter bookends; “Eulalie,” which finds him on the sideline mooning over the prettiest girl in town who doesn’t even notice him, and the delightful “Foolish Heart,” where he’s strolling down Main Street, with another pretty girl admiring him, much to his delighted confusion.

The set also features some other classic Winchester tunes- “Little Glass of Wine,” “Brand New Tennessee Waltz,” and “Yankee Lady.”

It serves as a good introduction to the estimable singer songwriter, and it’ll do until you get the chance to see him live.