Blues/Jazz

Celia Ramsey: I’ll Just Lie About It

No producer listed

Released: 2012

http://www.celiaramsey.com/

This is Celia’s second album and shows a lot of vocal talent. Those who like the old torch music will find this album very satisfying. The atmosphere takes me back to the black and white movie era. She grew up listening to Scottish ballads and music from the thirties and forties and sings the songs as if she grew up in that time. Celia is currently residing in the San Francisco Bay area and is becoming well known in San Francisco and Berkley.



The album includes a few old ballads from way back when and also nine new compositions of her own that could very well have come from the same era as the others. Her voice and style provide a dreamy style and atmosphere to the songs.

The first song which is the title song, I’ll Just Lie About It, starts the album off as a bluesy ballad with a nice clarinet solo and old fashioned torch lyrics. It could have come from an old black and white movie.

Do your kisses stir my soul

Do I think you make me whole

Should I sigh and lose control

Please don’t lie about it

She describes her composition Lament as true confessions of the mid-life kind. The song has a strong bluesy saxophone solo in it and some good lyrics in a humorous vein.

What would I do without you my libido

Without you men are just friends

Not all of the songs are slow torch songs. There is a good mix of slow and swing music like Bad Girl Song with her voice and a clarinet woven around each other in a good swing style. The album is very well produced and put together and displays a great singer with a nice old dreamy style and some great arrangements with some very talented musicians. She is a seasoned singer and this album is well worth listening to.

[Greg Bennett]

Music Reviews30's, 40's, Berkley, black and white movie., Blues/Jazz, Celia Ramsey, clarinet, I'll Just Lie About It, Music Reviews, old torch music, San Francisco, Scottish ballads

Country/Acoustic
Randy Sharp, Jack Wesley Routh, Sharon Bays, Maia Sharp: Dreams Of The San Joaquin
Produced by: Randy, Maia, Jack

Released: 2012


www.blixstreet.com

This group of musicians and singers does not have a group name but is instead a collection of performers who have gotten together and recorded an album featuring all of them with all original songs. The performers are Randy Sharp on guitar, bass, mandolin, keyboards, programmed drums, and other instruments, Jack Wesley Routh on guitar, Sharon Bays on vocals, and Maia Sharp on vocals, along with a few other musicians adding instruments and background vocals. All of them sing and take turns on lead vocals.

Their voices harmonize beautifully and all are very good singers for their lead vocals. The style is an acoustic style with a country flavor to the music and is very well produced and arranged and performed. The songs have a romantic old fashioned feel to them. Some of them could have been performed by country western singers back in the fifties and sixties. There are also many songs and arrangements that fit in with today’s music. They all go well together make for a good cohesive collection.

In fact, the first song, Burn Day, sets the tone with a vocal performance that makes the song very pleasant to listen to. The rest of the album is the same way.

I was wide awake and waiting long before first light of morning

As the radio announcer promised – an almost perfect day

The skies are clear, the winds are down, no local weather warnings

As a song began he said the words I was hoping he would say

It’s a burn day. It’s a burn day

The subject throughout is about lost romances and lost dreams, but mostly lost romances, which is a common theme in most country music and probably in most music in general.

This is evident for example in Shores Of White Sand:

Here I go again

Back to that feelin’

Of no worthy cause

To carry me on

My heart’s been skippin’

Like a flat rock on water

And with each ripple

The further I’m gone

Some say I’m sinkin’

To the muddy bottom

Somehow I’m sailin’

To the shores of white sand

The Jack Wesley Routh/Randy Sharp composition Ridin’ On The Night Train is a song about a flight from justice that could be from long ago:

Well I lay my head on a southbound rail

Need a train comin’ down the track

I’m a wanted man since I jumped my bail

Ain’t no turnin’ back

Now is that the howl of the lawman’s hound

Or the moan of the midnight train

Will I fly away, or will my wings be bound

By a ball and chain

A tribute to their songwriting skills is the fact that three of them, Randy Sharp, his daughter Maia Sharp, and Jack Wesley Routh, have all written or co-written songs that have been recorded by such artists as Emmylou Harris, Reba McEntire, Marty Robbins, Bonnie Raitt, Cher, Trisha Yearwood, and Art Garfunkel and others. In fact, seven of Randy’s songs have been number one singles on the country charts. They have all been in the business for some years and it shows in the music they make together.

[Greg Bennett]

SingerSongwriter/Instrumental“Night Radio”  (EP)
Simone Dinnerstein & Tif Merritt
www.tiftmerritt.com
www.simonedinnerstein.com

Tift Merritt was born in Houston, Texas, but was transplanted in North Carolina where she was raised and completed her formal education in creative writing. From background checks, her father appears to be the major influence on her music, but that would be a bit simplistic.  With nine albums to her credit the influences covered are diverse and wide.  Merritt seems to have absorbed the best of folk, rock and country and somehow found her own voice within all that data.  She is a player working on piano, keys, guitar, harmonica and her distinctive vocal style.

Simone Dinnerstein is New York based, Julliard trained pianist with a deep classical background, making her mark in that world with her release of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.  She has three other classical releases to her credit and from a bit of background research and from listening it is easy to see why she made such a huge impression in that community of players and listeners.

From research material both artists are very much into collaboration, which in my world means listening to and honoring the tune at hand.  They met in 2008 and have been working on honing a new sound for both of the palettes.  Merritt has the Americana approach with her influences while Dinnerstein brings a sophistication and a beautifully played instrument to their collective table.

Six tracks fill this EP with a wide diversification of material. Two of the tunes are Merrits, “Still Not Home” & “Colors”.  There is a traditional cover of “Wayfaring Stranger” as well as “Night” a Patty Griffin tune.  Johnny Nash’s, “I Can See Clearly Now” is covered as well as Lady Day’s (Billy Holiday), “Don’t Explain”, which was arranged by the wonderful Nina Simone.

Merritt’s first track commences with a lone guitar riff as well as a stark, clear, distinct vocal clearly showcasing her roots in Americana.  With the second track the duo sets in for the upcoming tracks.  What I like in Tift’s vocals is a vulnerability that she is willing to share with her listening audience.  Dinnerstein’s piano gently embellishes her approach and lyric.  Simone listens and adds to, never distracting from the tenderness or the tale, which is a much underrated attribute in music these days.  The inter play between the vocal, guitar and piano is a delicate balance that is glaring in the tender ballad of “Colors”.  “Wayfaring Stranger” is again handled with care as it gently appears with Merritt’s vocal and guitar.  This track appears to be a solo cut, if Dinnerstein is working on the track her pads are almost invisible.  Griffin’s tune is the first to highlight the piano and vocal, which works beautifully.  Patty Griffin must be proud of the representation and care given to her work.

Nash’s tune is lightly approached with guitar and vocal.  As Dinnerstein enters with her piano the tune transforms from a pop anthem to a wonderfully balanced piece somewhere between folk and a tune played in a dimly lit club somewhere between the second or last tune of a set. I like the smoky feel it gains with the piano.

If these two artists continue to hone and listen to their hearts and risk with material like this cut, there could be a long career ahead for both artists with this vehicle.

[Christopher Brant Anderson]

Country/Americana/Singer-Songwriter
Walt Wilkins
“Plenty”Ride Records
www.waltwilkins.com

Wilkins is from Texas, after a ten year stretch in Nashville he ventured back home to the rolling hills of West Texas, found Austin, wrote and co-produced this release.
What strikes me with the first few bars is the easy laid back feeling of someone in control of their material, vocally as well as being at home on guitar.  The first tune, “Just Be” is as smooth as a baby behind, very relaxed and assured of the message and mood the tale it weaves.  Walt Wilkins lays back on the vocal work and allows the production its due.  There is a very warm quality to his vocals with a dash of earthiness or throatiness that works for the artist.

“Ain’t It Just Like Love” the third track continues Wilkins exploration of the heart of a young man.  Wilkins is a fine writer and appears to have taken something with him besides Nashville dust.  His tunes are hooky and filled with lush backing vocals that work well with his production values.

This product came out of Jumping Dog Studios in Austin, co-produced with Ron Flint.  There are some great players backing Wilkins.  The bass work is split up between Flint, Bill Small and Dick Gamble.  Pianos & organ are handled by Flint and Patterson Barrett.  Electric guitars are covered by Corby Schaub, Brett Danaher, Marcus Eldridge, Scrappy Jud Newcomb and Brian Langlnais.  Lap steel guitar is masterfully played by Corby Schaub and pedal steel work is handled by Kim Deschamps, Mike Daly and Lloyd Maines.  Strings were furnished by Warren Hood.

Wilkins finds his groove early on in the project and doesn’t vary much on the theme of a young man dealing with the ups and down of love, life and self-realization.  There’s something of an old soul found in his word riffs and approach to a very old art form.   Wilkins also, it would seem, has been influenced by the rock world or his co-producer was as there are hints of the best of some of rock standards from the early 1970’s through its demise in the later part of that decade.  But, make no mistake Wilkins is a student of the national treasure that is country music.

All in all a great listen and a great production from an artist that is in the game for the long run.  There are twelve self-penned tunes with that distinctive Texas vibe.

[Christopher Brant Anderson]

Singer/Songwriter “In This Present Form”
Jon McAuliffe


McAuliffe is a veteran writer and player from the East coast.  Jon has worked the road and publishing companies since the mid 1960’s and like any working musician has been involved in many bands, either fronting or as a supporting player. The consistent fact is that McAuliffe is a songwriter.

Details or PR are in short supply for the product, but it does not diminish the music held within.  “Gotta Get Back to Memphis”, the second track following the first track quickly illuminates the years of influence McAuliffe has drank in during his years working in the industry.  The lyric and delivery vocally are significant signs of a man that has honed his skills.  The guitar work he displays are precise and another obvious account of time in on the craft.

McAuliffe has a rock vibe, but influences in country, folk and jazz are apparent in the work as well.  At his best, Jon McAuliffe is a great story teller.  His writing is crafted around amazing arrangements of some great players.  I’m not sure who he’s using within the ensemble, but another apparent factor is that he has drawn deep from his well of players over the years and brought the best to this project.  The work was carefully produced by Seth Connelly, Connelly took care in his production and mix values to insure the singer’s stories and vocals were always shinning through.

“Tear Down Every Wall”, track five has a great gospel feel to it and again highlights McAuliffe’s talents as a writer and vocalist.  There is an economy in the writers use of the language coupled with the production that is lost on many of the younger artists I hear these days, but time has been McAuliffe’s friend. Whatever his influences are or have been, he takes from the best of them and rolls his work into an authentic style that is pretty amazing for an indie artist.  His use of country, folk and rock to embellish his lyrical approach to his subject matter is amazing. His other great assets are his steady vocals and willingness to risk.  He can range from straight ahead rock tunes to very tender ballads.

“In This Present Form” is in the present, but illuminates a professional who has forged his own destiny in the industry and  takes no back seat or thought to what is currently an industry  that looks toward the very young to exploit for a decade and move on to the next cash cow.  Jon McAuliffe has been doing this thing awhile and will continue to walk his own road musically, which is a very good thing.

The product is a great listen and some of the best singer/songwriter chops I have had the pleasure to review.

[Christopher Brant Anderson]