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August 18, 2008
Carrie Rodriguez – ‘She Ain’t Me’ (review)
For those who’ve followed the short career of Carrie Rodriguez, her new album She Ain’t Me will sound like a change in direction. As duet partner to Chip Taylor and on her debut solo record Seven Angels On A Bicycle, Rodriguez not only established herself not only as Taylor’s apprentice of sorts (he wrote the lion’s share of the songs on Seven Angels) but as a notable fiddle player as well. That second aspect no doubt drew the attention of folk music fans – those most likely to be alienated by Carrie Rodriguez version 2.0.She Ain’t Me finds Rodriguez leaning more heavily on her own songwriting – albeit with help from Gary Louris, Dan Wilson and Mary Gauthier – and letting her fiddle play, er, second fiddle to her singing. The performances are notably tighter, eschewing the cool, laid back vibe of Seven Angels. Malcolm Burn’s production gives each tune a sparkling sheen, and it’s fairly obvious that the artist or the label (or both) thought it was necessary for Rodriguez to extend her base. That’s likely to put off some fans, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Whereas Seven Angels took its time and incorporated quite a few jazzy elements (Bill Frisell’s guitar work, sax solos), She Ain’t Me feels tighter and more immediate. On the album opener “Infinite Night,” Rodriguez wraps her smoky voice around a pulsing guitar strum, heavier than probably anything on her debut. The title track is probably the flattest production number on the album (hello, obvious-first-single!), but Rodriguez goes a long way in salvaging it with an impressive vocal. “Rag Doll,” however, has a gorgeous acoustic shimmer, joined in the second verse by an equally lovely arrangement. “El Salvador” is perhaps the only track that would not have sounded out of place on the comparatively more upbeat Seven Angels. The back half of the album slows down just a bit, highlighted by the slow burn of “Let Me In” and the ache of “Can’t Cry Enough.”
Burn’s production work will sound familiar to those who have previously heard his work (think of Emmylou Harris’s Red Dirt Girl as a point of reference). For the first time in her career, however, Rodriguez allows her voice to be the star attraction (cynics might complain that the label is pushing her youthful good looks as the star attraction, but hey…). Certainly some will argue that without her fiddle, Rodriguez sounds diminished, but she makes up plenty of ground with some remarkable vocals. Though Bill Frisell is nowhere in sight, the excellent Greg Leisz returns to play a number of stringed instruments throughout the album. Rodriguez also contributes electric mandolin and tenor guitar.
Truthfully, I never listened that much to Seven Angels On A Bicycle, but I always seemed to recall that liked it. However, She Ain’t Me has sent me back to that album, and I obviously missed some of its considerable merits. Without a doubt, some of the charms of Rodriguez’s debut are missed on her new one (there is nothing quite as sexy and cool as “50’s French Movie,” for instance). But She Ain’t Me reveals Rodriguez to be a truly remarkable vocalist and a quickly evolving songwriter. This new album may not be better than its predecessor, but it definitely provides a more complete picture of Rodriguez’s talents. Whatever expectations fans had about She Ain’t Me, it’s clear that Carrie Rodriguez has taken a large step into the league of great female singer-songwriters like Lucinda Williams and Patty Griffin.
http://houstonramblings.typepad.com/ramblings/2008/08/carrie-rodriguez—she-aint-me-review.html
http://tinyurl.com/648mjb
In the Studio: Lucinda Williams Cures Her Blues
8/13/08, 12:08 pm EST“Whatever record I’m doing reflects my life,” says Lucinda Williams with a smile, sitting in Los Angeles’ Village Recorder studios. And guessing from the sound of the singer-songwriter’s ninth album, Little Honey, an upbeat disc of bluesy rockers and contented love songs, Williams is feeling pretty good these days.
The sunny vibe clearly comes through in the rowdy arrangements on the 13-track set — co-produced by Eric Liljestrand and Williams’ manager-fiance, Tom Overby — which bring the lively playing of guitar ace Doug Pettibone and her road band, the Buick 6, to the forefront.
Though Little Honey sounds strikingly different from 2007’s downcast West, the majority of the songs were originally written for that album. And some of the material goes back even further. The ballad “Circles and Xs” dates to 1985; “Well, Well, Well” is from the demos for 1992’s Sweet Old World and is revived here with bluegrass singers Jim Lauderdale and Charlie Louvin. Other guests include Elvis Costello, who plays the part of a drunken degenerate on “Jailhouse Tears”; and Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs add harmonies to the trippy, six-minute “Little Rock Star,” inspired by seeing Pete Doherty in Rolling Stone. “It’s an empathetic look at self-indulgent, little-brat rock stars,” she says. “He’s great, and you want to say, ‘Snap out of it!’ ”
To close the set, Williams covers AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll).” “At first, I didn’t dig it,” she says. “But I gave it a shot. And what do you know? It seems to have worked!”
[Photo by Sam Comen]
[From Issue 1059 — August 21, 2008]
• More From Issue 1059
a friend of mine makes shirts, and last time she saw charlie she offered him one of her sweetheart of the rodeo shirts. he was so touched and asked her how much he owed her……..what he’s seen in his lifetime!
http://www.cypresscowboy.com/
the embroidered byrds shirt is perty dang cool.
i hardly wear t-shirts, but had to have one of those babies…….Pigeonhole Carrie Rodriguez at your peril. Sure, she’s done a lot of duets. She plays a fiddle (a mean one at that.) She’s recorded songs with a pleasing, folksy twang. But don’t think you know what you’re getting.
Not yet 30, and with a critically-acclaimed solo record and several well-received duet records in her wake, the classically trained singer/songwriter has just begun flexing her artistic muscles, still figuring out how far her talents will take her. If you’re looking for someone playing it safe and sticking to tried-and-true ways of music making, as the title of Rodriguez’s daring new album aptly states, SHE AIN’T ME.
Infinite night was a good start to the album, leading to title track She Ain’t Me debuted at Americana Radio last week at 22. Over all itz one fine album i would rate 7/10.
Carrie Rodriguez’s new album, She Ain’t Me has just been release in the U.S. and Canada via Manhattan/Back Porch (EMI).
NOTE: It will be released in other parts of the world in January, February, and March of next year.
CD giveaway contestFor my beloved readers* wait no longer I have 2 copies of Carrie Rodriguez’s newest album for giveaways =) All you have to do is answer a simple question.
Q:What is the title of Carrie Rodriquez’s newest album?
Send in your entry to enquiries@lost-nomad.ws in the format: (name, age, Your Answer, address) and who knows you might just be one of lucky winners.
http://lost-nomad-rulez.blogspot.com/2008/08/cd-review-carrie-rodriguez-she-aint-me.html
i’m not sure which is my favorite album of the year so far, shelby lynne’s just a little lovin’ or she ain’t me. i see jackson browne has a new one coming out & so does rodney crowell and of course little honey will be out this year, great time to be a music fan.
In this day of specialized labels, specific tastes, and narrow radio play lists, it seems that the number of artists that attempt to break new ground with each CD release is rare. Many artists are practically forced to simply recreate a sound that will keep a fan-base intact and not alienated. There are great acts that are great at doing such “controlled reinvention”. Drive by Truckers, Coldplay, Kathleen Edwards and Ryan Adams are some recent examples of artists that continue to be exciting, by only slightly branching-out without drastically altering their sound (Adam’s Rock & Roll being a bit more than a minor alteration to his previous sound). On the other side of this coin are artists that seem to suffer from an amazingly creative and fruitful form of amnesia. Instead of pulling something out of the back-catalog to remind their fans what makes them great, they simply decide to create something new that may or may not leave folks wondering,”what happened”?? My Morning Jacket displayed that sense of excellent reckless abandon with “Evil Urges”. Another artist who has decided that the ways of the past are not necessarily those of the future is Carrie Rodriguez, with her second solo album, She Aint Me.
Don’t get me wrong, this album isn’t too drastic of a departure from her previous solo album, Seven Angels on a Bicycle. That album was excellently written and beautifully produced, just as this one is. The departure is from her work as the duo partner of Chip Taylor. The collaboration with Taylor is what made her a well-known and respected fiddle player, writer and vocalist. Her twangy vocal style, snappy fiddle and overall fresh perspective was the engine that drove the duo’s albums to the top of Americana charts for several years. With She Aint Me, Rodriguez fully exposes herself as an artist that is far more than a simple fiddle playin’ side-woman.
The first 4 tracks of the album, “Infinite Night”, followed by the title track, then “Rag Doll” and finally, “Absence” are better than many ENTIRE albums I listen to on a weekly basis. I hate comparisons, especially ones that are very likely obvious and over-used, but I dare you to listen to these tracks and not think of Lucinda Williams. Both artists posess voices that are distinctive and instantly recognizable, add to that these first 4 tracks showcase a range of tempo, attitude and vulnerability that should make any singer-songwriter envious, as Williams has been doing for years. With “Rag Doll”, Rodriguez delivers what is likely my favorite vocal performance of the year, if not longer. To say the song is heart-breaking is a severe crime of understatement. During the chorus, as she sings to a lover that likely doesn’t deserve her love, “I feel like a floppy rag doll” and “I make it hard to love me“, Rodriguez’s voice reaches an aching whisper that somehow displays the strength of a cry. That fragility, mixed with her catharsis propels this track from a simple song about troubled love into a story that leaves more questions than answers about how the subjects will end up. Before you ask, if you haven’t already, yes, Rodriguez’s fiddling prowess is featured in various spots on the album. The fiddle’s most prominent role is in the cut, “Absence”. A feeling similar to that of greeting an old friend hits as this song plays out, reminding us that this is a performer who wants us to know that she may be giving other instruments a turn, but her love lies with the fiddle.
Over the length of the disc, we see guitar, piano, and the fiddle employed to a wide array of tempo and production. The cuts that feature mainly acoustic guitar, piano and Rodriguez’s vocal are songs that could be turned into cheesy VH1-ready “girl love songs” if in the hands of someone else. Tracks such as the closing, “Can’t Cry Enough” contain a depth that glossy radio and TV typically have a hard time fully grasping.
Fans of “Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez”, please take note, and save your worries, She Aint Me is an absolute triumph on every level. The same angelic twang, expert musicianship and vivid storytelling are as present here as they ever have been. Creating diversity inside of a body of work for an artist can often times be risky. When someone with this quality of vision and ability looks to try something new, the risk becomes the listeners reward.
Once famous for taking her time between albums – there was an 8-year gap between her second and third releases – Lucinda Williams has made good on her promise to make a swift follow-up to last year’s West with a new release scheduled for October. Little Honey not only collects some of the leftover songs from West that didn’t fit into that record’s heavy themes of death and betrayal, but also includes some much older songs that never made it out of the studio such as the 23-year-old ballad ‘Circles & Xs’ and ‘Well Well Well’, a fresh recording of an old demo Lucinda cut for her 1992 album Sweet Old World.
Though it is most striking for its considerably more upbeat feel than much of her recent material – largely due to newfound contentment with fiancé Tom Overby, who co-produced the album with Eric Liljestrand – Little Honey also features some star guest turns. Paste Magazine have already heralded her duet with Elvis Costello on ‘Jailhouse Tears’ as among the top five all-time greatest country/rock duets, while bluegrass singers Jim Lauderdale and Charlie Louvin give a new flavour to ‘Well Well Well’. Elsewhere, ‘Little Rock Star’ was improbably inspired by Pete Doherty – or as Lucinda puts it, “an empathetic look at self-indulgent, little-brat rock stars” – and features Susanna Hoffs and duet partner Matthew Sweet on harmonies.
Perhaps even more improbably, the album ends with a cover of AC/DC’s ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)’. Little Honey is released on October 13th through Lost Highway.
Little Honey
01 Real Love
02 Circles & X’s
03 Tears Of Joy
04 Little Rock Star [feat. Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs]
05 Honey Bee
06 Well Well Well [feat. Charlie Louvin & Jim Lauderdale]
07 If Wishes Were Horses
08 Jailhouse Tears [feat. Elvis Costello]
09 Knowing
10 Heaven Blues
11 Rarity
12 Plan To Marry
13 It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N’ Roll)http://wearsthetrousers.com/2008/08/09/trouser-press-lucinda-williams-pj-harvey-and-more/
lisa
i can’t get carrie’s electric mandolin out of my head……which is a good thing. personally, i like rag doll, but that’s the thing about music.
Carrie Rodriguez – She Ain’t Me – review
Posted by raegun on August 5th, 2008After her well-received solo debut Seven Angels on a Bicycle, Carrie Rodriguez spent much of 2007 on a whirlwind tour schedule that included opening for friend/fan Lucinda Williams. The Associated Press raved, “. . . her voice has a character few achieve. Rather than a support player taking a minor turn, she uses her first solo album to mark her ground as a singular talent.”
Carrie’s sophomore release, ” She Ain’t Me,” still showcases her intimate croon, but this classically trained singer/songwriter has just begun flexing her artistic muscles. “She Ain’t Me” is an expectation-confounding statement from Carrie, who notes, “Because I took some chances, wrote with some new people and actually co-wrote most of the songs on the album, it’s very different.”
For She Ain’t Me, the Austin-born, Berklee-trained violinist-turned-fiddler teamed with producer Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Patti Smith, Kaki King) and wrote with Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, as well as Mary Gauthier, Dan Wilson, and Jim Boquist. The album also features a guest vocal appearance by Lucinda Williams.
The great:
“She Ain’t Me” – Like her idol Lucinda Williams, Rodriguez takes a bit of country and mixes it with a sweet bit o’ honey. This is a very rare song that wins you over without a perfect explanation why it’s so satisfying.
“El Salvador” – When Sheryl Crow first came out there was something magical about her songs. Many of these songs weren’t commercially viable and yet they were great and fans loved them. Rodriguez has many of those similar qualities.
“Infinite Night” – Biting, interesting lyrics with Rodriguez full of venom.
“Grace”The rest:
“El Dorado”
“The Big Mistake”
“Rag Doll” – Not Rodriguez at her best.Finally:
Neither Carrie Rodriguez, nor her record label, are well known and its a shame they may not find their way into the masses. Rodriguez is an interesting artist who has a very good voice but what makes her interesting are the lyrics and the way she makes you feel everyone of the words she sings.http://www.hiponline.com/music-reviews/carrie-rodriguez-she-aint-me-review/
well ya know that greg can do no wrong in my eyes, he was wonderful! and so was don heffington on drums. javier was definitely there, and a wonderful sax player/melodic keyboards. carrie said something about javier classing up the band (i paraphrase) so i imagine he’s quite a musician in his own right and i’d be interested in hearing what his thing is.
hans and greg played well off each other and looked like they were having fun. i believe the bass player’s name is kyle.
i know carrie was in heaven playing with the band she had. i’m sure she’s going to miss greg and don.it was wonderful having lucinda there and it meant a lot to carrie.
i’m so glad no one cares about me enough to write how awful i look, what a sexist jerk to add that dig, which wasn’t even true….
what did that add to the overall review this guy wrote? it was just a jerky boy thing to say…but he did nail the review…it was shorter then mccabe’s but looser cuz of the venue.carrie is hitting her stride, i feel lucky i made it to see her, and wish there were more shows lined up around here….wish i could see her in new york/her element.
really liked kaiser cartel too, they were a great compliment/good opener for carrie. i sat for a while with someone who came to see K-C after seeing them open for his son in kansas (chris tolle, i need to check his myspace). this guy was interesting as he is/was dee dee ramone’s cousin.
i could have listened to his stories all night.real fine show carrie put on at mccabe’s…
check her out if she’s in your neck of the woods……..http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/rodriguez_carrie/2301812/album.jhtml
as it is, we paid $20 per disc, later in the tour they were $15 each…..
now come on now people, bob dylan NEEDS your money……..
ha…….i have a dylan story….i was in a bathroom stall during the dylan, dead show in oakland coliseum…when i see a rent a cop/woman stick her head under the stall door to “see what i was doing”/to make sure i wasn’t standing there with a microphone! hahahahaha, cuz the cement bathrooms make the acoustics ssssssssooooooooooooooooo gooooooooodddddd!!!!
i yelled at her to mind her own business/i was incredulous……..
he doesn’t like bootlegs for sure, touring with a band that had a taping section at all shows (that went over like a lead balloon)
happy weekend all! sorry i can’t give a lucinda report, i didn’t go to the greek show
lisahttp://tinyurl.com/5m6mjg
Listening to the upcoming album by Lucinda Williams, Little Honey, I was thrilled to come across the voice of Elvis Costello on a song called “Jailhouse Tears.” Country/rock duets have a pretty long history and even some commercial success (see Jon Bon Jovi with Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles). But recently, they’ve also gotten pretty damn cool. Here are the best country/rock duets of recent years (and a few don’t even involve Emmylou Harris):
can’t wait for an L.A. date, might have to hit santa cruz (i can’t travel the way some here do, but i love their spirit in doing so!)
lisa
who will get to hear carrie rodriguez and greg leisz this sat at mccabe’shere’s a series where she talks about the songs, this is part one
http://journal.nonesuch.com/journal/2008/06/video-emmylou-h.html
Monday, June 02, 2008
Video: Emmylou Harris Interview Series (1 of 5), “Shores of White Sand”
Today, the Nonesuch Journal launches a week-long series of video interviews with Emmylou Harris, leading up to next week’s release of her third solo record on Nonesuch, All I Intended to Be. Over the course of these five episodes, the singer/songwriter discusses the making of the new album and her relationship to its songs. The album, produced by Brian Ahern, is due out on June 10 and is available for pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store or through the link at the bottom of this entry.In this initial episode, Emmylou shares the story behind the disc’s opening track, “Shores of White Sand,” the song that first inspired her to record the new album. The song, written by Jack Wesley Routh, is one that Emmylou says she has admired since the early 1980s, when it was first recorded by Karen Brooks. Here Emmylou explains the inextricable link between her own version and the original, and to the late drummer Keith Knudsen, in whose memory it is dedicated.
lisa
