Dear Friends,
Happy New Year!
I hope the New Year is off to a great start for everyone. Here in Los Angeles we are laughing at ourselves at how we cannot take this cold snap ~ our friends and family in more northern climates are chuckling too, as they are used to below freezing for this time of year. Angelenos, it seems, are mightily “put out” when the temps get below 85!
Otherwise, we’ve been lucky out here so far (knock wood) this
winter. I had a most marvelous Christmas
season, with luminous Hilonesome Band shows mixed with a lot of great singing
at my beloved All Saints in Pasadena.
The cool new thing was that our Christmas Eve service was streamed on
the web, so friends in other parts of the country (and city) who couldn’t
attend could watch and hear the whole thing on the internet. It was great to hear from them how much they
enjoyed the music and it’s great to be able to share it this new way.
Now, as I write, we are thick into the campaign to release our
new album “White Swan.” We’ve set our CD
release concert at the venerable McCabe’s Guitar Shop (www.mccabes.com) for Sunday, March 3rd
and you’ll be hearing more about that below and next month. Also, we received a nice new review on the
album just a few days ago:
“Glaze and company have done a wonderful job of charming us in
the past but now it seems like her recent vintage live set was to clear the
palette before the next stage was set. A bluegrass crew that could easily stand
toe to toe with Union Station, this crew has elected to widen the lens and take
newgrass into the wide open mixing in Celtic, folk, roots, Americana and a full
range of indigenous sounds that blend into a wonderful down home, home grown
stew. Boldly powering their way down their own new cut road, if you haven't had
the chance to enjoy the Glaze sound yet, this is the place to jump in to be
totally blown away. This is the perfect record for anyone that's ever wondered
what the big deal about roots/Americana is to find out what‘s what.”
Chris Spector for Midwest Record
Chris Spector for Midwest Record
“Exceptional musicianship…stunning, timeless ballads…like a clear mountain stream is the pure, clear voice of Susie Glaze…this is one gorgeous album – a ‘must discover.’”
Stories of tragedy and transcendence ~ the overpowering confrontation
with one's destiny ~ the sweet pathos in losing love and growing older ~ this
is the human condition that gave rise to the urge to create folk songs from the
earliest ages of human history...With the introduction of new evocative writing
by our Rob Carlson, integrating historical elements along with new and deeper
complexity in music, our sound has made a most interestingly subtle shift:
we've cast a wider net to find a sound unlike anything we've done before. What
is here is a true melting pot of influences that move us, from bluegrass to
country to Celtic to Appalachia, and we've found our true home in this, our
new, unique sound.
Lead guitarist Rob Carlson's original songwriting is again a
main focus of this album with four new songs, and some of the most
sophisticated folk music on the scene today. The eclectic range takes the listener from bluegrass
(“Little Rabbit”) to pensive country (“Evangeline”) to Bossa Nova (“April
Fools”) to Celtic-inspired torch song (“Dark Eileen”). The album begins with a newly-interpreted
“Mill Worker,” James Taylor’s classic, introduced by Mark Indictor’s beautiful
fiddle on the traditional “Si Bheag, Si Mhor.”
Indictor’s fiddle is featured again on Carlson’s new take on the old
“Polly Vonn” story, this time as the title track “White Swan.” Jean Ritchie’s little-known but powerful “The
Soldier” sends a message about the costs of war on the soul.
Also included is a recording originally appearing on Susie's
"Singin' The Moon Up" Jean Ritchie tribute, the great "Lord
Thomas and Fair Ellender (here as "Fair Ellender"), one of the most
well-known of the original "Child Ballads" developed by Ritchie.
Susie on the haunting lead vocal is joined by Ritchie sons Peter and Jon
Pickow, and famed East coast fiddler, Kenny Kosek.
**************************************
The album is now out for pre-release review and will be posted
for sale on line after the official release date, March 19th. I’ll make sure to let you know when it’s out
there! Until then, if you’re in the
area, please come out to a show and pick up a copy from us! We’ve made commemorative posters of the album
art which we’ll have signed and available for collecting also. The album cover is getting a lot of nice
attention ~ our graphic artist Anita Atencio again did a magical job on our
package design.
We’ve got nice things going on during January and February, so
please read below. We hope to see you at
a show and please stay tuned for more news of “White Swan.”
Susie and the Hilonesome Band
Steve Rankin, Mark Indictor, Rob Carlson and Fred Sanders
**************************************
Friday, January 18, Camarillo Café Concert Series
Camarillo Community Center, 1605 East Burnley Street
Camarillo, CA 93010.
8:00 p.m. show. $10.00
www.camarillocafe.com.
Contact Phone: 805.907.8318 or email: WhatsHappening@CamarilloCafe.com
Saturday, January 26 NAMM show
12 noon show at the Shubb Capo booth
Anaheim Convention Centerhttp://www.namm.org/
Saturday, February 2, David Harvey Presents
At the Cahuenga General Store, 5510 Cahuenga Blvd, North
Hollywood, CA 91601Call for more info: 818-985-5916. An intimate venue furnished as an early 1900's General Store with great homemade food (all ages welcome!). http://cahuengageneralstore.com.s121086.gridserver.com
Show at 7:30, $10 cover charge. http://cityofangelsacoustic.weebly.com/
Saturday, February 16, West Valley Music Center
With Ernest Troost. 24424
Vanowen Street, West Hills, CA 91307. 8:00 p.m. Call for info: 818.992.4142 and visit http://www.westvalleymusiccenter.com/acoustic-music-series.htmlSunday, February 24, KCSN
Live performance on Americana Matinee
with Kat Griffin. http://www.kcsn.org/programs/americana-matinee/
