johnfoyle
06-28-2005, 05:17 PM
http://www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/cspstory.cfm?id_no=62300212005&vkey=56106527115948872b79247eefac775f26334324-C4C70CA1-D8FF-0CD0-9CD91486B62D5596213641432
Daily Hampshire Gazette
A fresh take on country
BY JOHN STIFLER
[ This story was published back on Thursday, June 23, 2005 ]
THE particular regional sound of contemporary country singer Laura Cantrell's voice hits with the first syllable. This is not the twang of Loretta Lynn country, nor the sleepy drawl of the bayou, nor the high, reedy sound of bluegrass and Appalachia.
No, ma'am. Cantrell speaks in the subtle, velvety accent of urban Nashville, the flexible Southern vowels held in check by a combination of formal education and exposure to an influx of new residents from elsewhere. She sounds less like the waitresses at the Loveless Motel Restaurant out on Highway 100, more like the customers who drive out there from Green Hills and Belle Meade on Sunday mornings for red-eye gravy and biscuits.
Born and raised in Nashville, Cantrell graduated from the city's excellent Father Ryan Academy and hit the road north to become a college student at Columbia University. Like many another Southern emigre, when she settled into her new environment in New York City she gained an enhanced perspective on her own background, and that perspective turned her into an artist.
''That was definitely my experience,'' said Cantrell on Monday, talking on the phone from her apartment in New York while packing for a 10-day northeast concert tour.
''I got a bit of the southerner's-outside-the-south perspective. It was the most profound experience, to see (Nashville) from afar. There's a long tradition of people who've left home and then see how fascinating where they lived is.''
The fascination took root at Columbia, where, Cantrell found, she became the de facto country music expert in a group of friends who had all grown up with their own music scenes in Boston, Washington D.C., or Chapel Hill, N.C. Their primary orientation was toward punk rock, but she found they owned a few country records.
''I discovered a community for enthusiasts for (country) music here, and I realized not every town had music stars walking among everybody. I'd gotten that exposure, because I could go to the Grand Ole Opry and see Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe. My father worked in a law firm, and I'd hear stories about how Lester Flatt would have a publishing question. I realize how important that was.''
Finally, she explained, becoming a country music performer herself was natural.
''My friends liked to play music, they had guitars, and it became an easy segue for me to learning some Louvin Brothers songs, and playing Hank Williams songs, informally for our own entertainment,'' she continued. ''Then I realized I really like to sing, and my voice sounded right on that country stuff. I got excited about finding musicians who liked performing, not just dorm-room strumming.''
With that motivation, Cantrell found New York an ideal environment. ''Once you're organized, you're a couple of steps away from getting some kind of bar gig in New York,'' she said. ''Then eventually you go to a bar downtown, or some open mike in the Village, and every goal conquered brings some new goal.''
Friendship with several musicians, including John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, helped her get further exposure. She released two independent albums on the label she created with her husband, and the momentum grew when she played on the Grand Ole Opry, ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien,'' ''Mountain Stage,'' and at the Newport Folk Festival - not to mention opening for Joan Baez, Ralph Stanley and Elvis Costello.
Cantrell's third CD just came out on the Matador label, usually associated much more with indie rock than with country. (Matador is also the label of the New Pornographers, who are playing Sunday night at Pearl Street.) ''We were shocked but excited when they expressed interest,'' said Cantrell. ''It was a great opportunity.''
The new disc, ''Humming By the Flowered Vine,'' is half originals, half superb covers. The originals include Cantrell's ''Khaki & Corduroy,'' a slow song about being a transplanted Southerner thinking about home and family; a rollicking, mandolin-powered ditty called ''California Rose'' in a reference to West Coast country music pioneer Rose Maddox; and ''Old Downtown,'' about Tennessee's World War I hero Alvin York.
Among the covers is the previously unreleased ''Letters'' by Lucinda Williams, certainly an obvious influence on Cantrell. Hints of Nanci Griffith are also audible occasionally, though not obviously. The album opens with the exquisitely Manhattan-flavored ''14th Street'' by Emily Spray.
One of the best things on the album is a fresh version of the old murder ballad ''Poor Ellen Smith,'' a tune that certifies Cantrell as part of the proto-country music tradition currently being re-introduced through a Sony boxed set of old Charlie Poole songs from the 1920s.
Two musicians who contributed to the splendid studio sound of ''Humming By the Flowered Vine,'' guitarist Mark Spencer and bassist Jeremy Chatzky, accompany Cantrell on her current tour. Joining them is mandolinist Jimmy Ryan, who played with Spencer, Cheri Knight and others in the Blood Oranges.
Laura Cantrell and her band first played at the Iron Horse last year, and they've also played at Pearl Street and opened for Joan Baez at the Calvin. They return to the Iron Horse tomorrow, 7 p.m. Paul Burch opens. $15. 586-8686.
Daily Hampshire Gazette
A fresh take on country
BY JOHN STIFLER
[ This story was published back on Thursday, June 23, 2005 ]
THE particular regional sound of contemporary country singer Laura Cantrell's voice hits with the first syllable. This is not the twang of Loretta Lynn country, nor the sleepy drawl of the bayou, nor the high, reedy sound of bluegrass and Appalachia.
No, ma'am. Cantrell speaks in the subtle, velvety accent of urban Nashville, the flexible Southern vowels held in check by a combination of formal education and exposure to an influx of new residents from elsewhere. She sounds less like the waitresses at the Loveless Motel Restaurant out on Highway 100, more like the customers who drive out there from Green Hills and Belle Meade on Sunday mornings for red-eye gravy and biscuits.
Born and raised in Nashville, Cantrell graduated from the city's excellent Father Ryan Academy and hit the road north to become a college student at Columbia University. Like many another Southern emigre, when she settled into her new environment in New York City she gained an enhanced perspective on her own background, and that perspective turned her into an artist.
''That was definitely my experience,'' said Cantrell on Monday, talking on the phone from her apartment in New York while packing for a 10-day northeast concert tour.
''I got a bit of the southerner's-outside-the-south perspective. It was the most profound experience, to see (Nashville) from afar. There's a long tradition of people who've left home and then see how fascinating where they lived is.''
The fascination took root at Columbia, where, Cantrell found, she became the de facto country music expert in a group of friends who had all grown up with their own music scenes in Boston, Washington D.C., or Chapel Hill, N.C. Their primary orientation was toward punk rock, but she found they owned a few country records.
''I discovered a community for enthusiasts for (country) music here, and I realized not every town had music stars walking among everybody. I'd gotten that exposure, because I could go to the Grand Ole Opry and see Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe. My father worked in a law firm, and I'd hear stories about how Lester Flatt would have a publishing question. I realize how important that was.''
Finally, she explained, becoming a country music performer herself was natural.
''My friends liked to play music, they had guitars, and it became an easy segue for me to learning some Louvin Brothers songs, and playing Hank Williams songs, informally for our own entertainment,'' she continued. ''Then I realized I really like to sing, and my voice sounded right on that country stuff. I got excited about finding musicians who liked performing, not just dorm-room strumming.''
With that motivation, Cantrell found New York an ideal environment. ''Once you're organized, you're a couple of steps away from getting some kind of bar gig in New York,'' she said. ''Then eventually you go to a bar downtown, or some open mike in the Village, and every goal conquered brings some new goal.''
Friendship with several musicians, including John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, helped her get further exposure. She released two independent albums on the label she created with her husband, and the momentum grew when she played on the Grand Ole Opry, ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien,'' ''Mountain Stage,'' and at the Newport Folk Festival - not to mention opening for Joan Baez, Ralph Stanley and Elvis Costello.
Cantrell's third CD just came out on the Matador label, usually associated much more with indie rock than with country. (Matador is also the label of the New Pornographers, who are playing Sunday night at Pearl Street.) ''We were shocked but excited when they expressed interest,'' said Cantrell. ''It was a great opportunity.''
The new disc, ''Humming By the Flowered Vine,'' is half originals, half superb covers. The originals include Cantrell's ''Khaki & Corduroy,'' a slow song about being a transplanted Southerner thinking about home and family; a rollicking, mandolin-powered ditty called ''California Rose'' in a reference to West Coast country music pioneer Rose Maddox; and ''Old Downtown,'' about Tennessee's World War I hero Alvin York.
Among the covers is the previously unreleased ''Letters'' by Lucinda Williams, certainly an obvious influence on Cantrell. Hints of Nanci Griffith are also audible occasionally, though not obviously. The album opens with the exquisitely Manhattan-flavored ''14th Street'' by Emily Spray.
One of the best things on the album is a fresh version of the old murder ballad ''Poor Ellen Smith,'' a tune that certifies Cantrell as part of the proto-country music tradition currently being re-introduced through a Sony boxed set of old Charlie Poole songs from the 1920s.
Two musicians who contributed to the splendid studio sound of ''Humming By the Flowered Vine,'' guitarist Mark Spencer and bassist Jeremy Chatzky, accompany Cantrell on her current tour. Joining them is mandolinist Jimmy Ryan, who played with Spencer, Cheri Knight and others in the Blood Oranges.
Laura Cantrell and her band first played at the Iron Horse last year, and they've also played at Pearl Street and opened for Joan Baez at the Calvin. They return to the Iron Horse tomorrow, 7 p.m. Paul Burch opens. $15. 586-8686.