I unearthed two treasures, Canadian treasures:
New Canadian Music posts full length songs. Both new and old Canadian singer/songwriters.
and
RootsMusicCanada does the same for folk, Celtic, Latin American, African, and just about every genre of roots music (except blues! I wonder what my friend Johnny V thinks about that!).
Aren't you curious what Canadians do with bluegrass and "Latin American" music? Doesn't a singer named A Girl Named Sue singing A Homicidal Love Song intrigue you?
Leonard Cohen is 70? How is this possible? Okay, so I'm not a hardcore Leonard Cohen fan, but I know Suzanne (and played it badly on the guitar!) and remember that photo of him and Joni (the Canadian folk singers!) at a music festival in the 1960s. There's certainly plenty on the web to taste his music, lyrics, poetry, art. Go and eat.
3hive has turned out to be a revelation for me. Today, I heard City Girl, a song by The Owls . Airy, profound yet unencumbered by legacy. Kinda reminds me of early Suzanne Vega or Jane Siberry -- but new -- I haven't heard them before. Know what I mean? They don't remind me of how great Joni Mitchell is. How original Ani is. Surprised, not bored. I wanted to tell someone.
Read an MPR interview with them that captures them:
Owls' music is spare and quiet. The singing, always prominent in the mix, features ethereal and occasionally dissonant harmonies. The melodies are often deceptively bright, given the dark emotions the lyrics sometimes convey. Because of the occasionally sober tone of the songs, and the group's tentative stage presence, the Owls have been described as a band of librarians. For Allison Labonne, making music with The Owls is about stripping away any persona, and getting to the essence of things.
Listen to Air, City Girl, and Black Hands of Tyme
Reading my email on AOL tonight, I turned on the AOL Radio to the Folk station. Came in on the middle of Best of Friends sung by Tom Paxton, Anne Hills, and Bob Gibson. Ahhh the fine, time-tested harmonies. Paxton has been around since the mid-1960s, making music and records for adults and children. Bob Gibson, who died in 1996 (which makes this newly released recording even sweeter) started playing in the 1950s. Anne Hills, recording since the early 1980s, has sung with others like Paxton, Gibson, Cindy Mangsen and solo. This fall Hills is performing and singing with Priscilla Herdman and Mangsen
Sometimes, the voice that's been around sounds sweeter than those untried sopranos aching over the same romance and naivete. An old, new classic for sure.
I listened to Dios this morning on 3hive, a new mp3 web site.
3hive is another source for new folk. No need to worry: this site links only to mp3 available on label or official artist web sites.
A couple of singers and songwriters who stopped at the Country fame station: Mary Chapin Carpenter started out as a folkie in Washington, DC, playing Kramer's Books and Music while folks ate and browsed books. Then she went electric and country. Wrote a fun song about the Twist and Shout -- a club my friend Carol took me too in the 80s. Now she's back as a singer/songwriter. Was she ever gone? Nah -- just re-categorized.
Kathy Mattea is another one. Used to be a popular country singer before Faith Hill and Shania Twain and their mutants took over. Now that fame has blown over, more gorgeous songs with her rich voice. I really loved Lonesome Standard Time and Willow in the Wind.
Dolly Parton is a country star gone bluegrass. I just love her songs and her unorchestrated voice, guitar and banjos. I always loved Coat of Many Colors and Jolene
I often want to buy a cd by someone I don't already know. How to find new singer/songwriters? Check out WXPN's list of featured albums.
Another place to browse is CD Baby, where independent artists sell their wares. Lots of sound clips and links to artist web sites. Here are the different types of new folk:
During one browse on CD Baby, I found Michelle Greene. I love to listen songs in Spanish, even Gloria Estefan, even if I don't understand all the Spanish.
Record labels are great sources too, but you have to know the labels first.
Of course, festivals, where lots of artists play are a way to hear artists you already know and hear new ones with relatively low risk.
Saw Working Girl on cable recently and it reminded me of how much I like the Carly Simon song Let the River Run. It had a pop-ish world beat and her magnificent voice. Her new greatest hits album has its own site and a video and audio of the song. Like other classic singer/songwriters of the late 60s and early 70s, I like Simon's early, more acoustic, simple albums the best. In fact, I think I'll prefer her earlier Best of collection.
And, naturally, this reminiscing leads me to Carole King. I almost always prefer her Tapestry versions of her songs to other interpretations. I found her latest CD Love Makes the World a bit, um, boring. I don't think I listened to it more than twice. I've heard, though, her daughter Louise Goffin's latest is very good. I may have heard it on the radio, somewhere between Philadelphia and New York.
Where does the name of this blog come from? One of the mothers of singer/songwriting....Joni Mitchell:
I remember that time you told me you saidfrom Case of You
"Love is touching souls"
Surely you touched mine
'Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet