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Event
ANA EGGE + ANNIE GUTHRIE - Sunday November 10th, at East Rock Concert Series @ mActivi
Fernando Pinto Presents; Ana Egge / Annie Guthrie
Sunday November 10th, at East Rock Concert Series @ mActivity, Sitting Room
Doors: 6:30 PM / Show: 7 PM
Tickets $15. Adv. / $20. at door.
All-ages
Ana Egge
https://www.anaegge.com
Ana Egge record release party for her new album Is It the Kiss Anas eleventh album with nine originals and one cover (by Diana Jones), and features wind and brass arrangements by multi-instrumentalist/producer Alec Spiegelman (Cuddle Magic) and guest appearances by Iris DeMent, Matt Davidson (Twain), Alex Hargreaves and Buck Meek (Big Thief) Ana Egge sees the world in a poetic, philosopher kind of way - Art, beauty and love, not death metaphors.
Video: https://youtu.be/XDAC99xukis
When Ana Egge got bit by the music bug as a teenager, she took matters into her own hands, building her own guitar, and moving to Austin, TX to observe, absorb and take musical risks. The striking depth and unusual maturity of her singing, playing, and songwriting got her noticed, and she recorded her first album, River Under the Road (1997) with the legendary western swing band, Asleep At The Wheel. The Austin Music Awards named her Best Singer/Songwriter and Best Folk Artist. Over the ensuing years and 8 subsequent CDs, Ana has made good on that promising debut. She has worked with producers Martin Terefe, Jason Mercer, Joel Plaskett, Steve Earle, and Stewart Lerman, and recorded full albums with The Stray Birds and The Sentimentals. Now, in 2018, she has released White Tiger, her tenth album, a new batch of Egge originals of such singularly articulate and affecting honesty and sensitivity, as to once again deserve USA Todays accolade, [Ana] can write and sing rings around her contemporaries.
Ana Egge grew up with parents who dropped out, choosing to raise four girls in a lovingly cobbled together combination of a small farmhouse on the North Dakota plains, a bus on the California Coast, and a hot springs commune in rural New Mexico, scraping together dimes and hand-me-downs. Ana learned that her life was truly hers to create. We were always the outsiders, she says. I was taught how to shoot a gun and how to enjoy alfalfa sprouts and tofu. I ran around barefoot and learned to ride a motorcycle when I was 5. I grew up with all the time and space in the world. Given her unconventional upraising, its not surprising that Ana has since been plotting her own journey, confident, fearless, and uncompromising. Shes been around the horn of lifes experiences, having forsaken the Great Plains for Sunset Park in Brooklyn, and gotten married and become a mother, but shes never lost touch with the free-spirited childhood and the Western landscape that formed her.
That questing spirit is everywhere evident on White Tiger. Western Movie finds a parallel for her freewheeling adolescence in the Tucson of Martin Scorceses Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore, while Last Ride fondly recalls a romance on the road (I borrowed my uncles motorbike / And I headed north on Interstate 5 / You were waiting and jumped on behind / I couldnt wait to make you hold on tight). Anas later, big city escapades are chronicled in Girls, Girls, Girls, an evocation of a young lesbian first making the scene (New York City was the place to to be / Waiting on my man, waiting on sweet Jane), while Dance Around The Room finds Ana as a more domesticated young(ish) mother serenading her 4-year-old daughter (Reaching for the stars with you / And for the sun and moon / It opens up, opens up our hearts). An open heart can be everything to Ana, and it beats in the love songs Be With You (The church in the mountains / The cave where we slept / The city underground / The true love we kept), You Among The Flowers (You among the others, I picked you in full bloom / Thought you were another, first time I met / You remind me of a woman I once knew / You remind me of all the ways I wanted you), and even in the sweet resignation of the album closer, Let The Light In (Some kind of spells been broken down / Now Im not afraid to be around you / Open the window and let the light in / Starting today we can finally be friends).
That open-hearted spirit of adventure is also evident in the communal music-making of White Tiger, most notably in Anas collaboration with producer Alec Spiegelman (Cuddle Magic), whose contributions on reeds, keyboards, and vocals, together with his wind, string, and vocal arrangements, elegantly inform the whole. Other featured musicians include singer Anais Mitchell, guitarist Buck Meek (Big Thief), drummer Robin MacMillan (Aoife ODonovan), bassist Jacob Silver (Amy Helm), and violist Adam Moss (The Brother Brothers). Particularly touching is Anas live trio version of John Hartfords In Tall Buildings with singer/guitarist Billy Strings and violinist Alex Hargreaves.
Ana wrote the song White Tiger as encouragement for a dear friend going through hell, and in need of her spirit guide (Keep your eyes on the tiger / Feed him, let him be your guide / Teach him freedom, that he might lead you / Through to the other side). Ana, herself, fiercely honest and compassionate, is not unlike that animal, near-miraculous, rare but real, and she, too, can take us through, enlighten our lives. She still plays that guitar she made herself all those years ago, and is still possessed by a self-determined sense of who she is and what she wants to do. As Lucinda Williams once told some friends, Listen to her lyrics. Ana is the folk Nina Simone. According to Shawn Colvin, Ana has the rare gift of being so eloquent and simple that she takes your breath away. I just love her.
+ Annie Guthrie
https://www.annieguthrie.com
Annie Guthrie is the middle daughter of folksinger Arlo Guthrie and artist Jackie Guthrie, and had many options for inspiration growing up. At a young age she saw a picture of her grandmother Marjorie, a Martha Graham dancer, which motivated her to become a dancer. Her stubborn personality meant nothing was going to stop her. Eventually a knee injury slowed her down; thats when Annies mother put a guitar in her hands and taught her a few chords. It didnt take long for Annie to reinvent her love she still dances, just a little differently now. She recalls her dad teaching her how to finger-pick Elizabeth Cottens song Freight Train. My dad started off showing me the chords and saying, Okay do this with your thumb, and hed go away for a few months. Hed come back and ask me if I practiced. I was in love and couldnt put the guitar down, so of course I practiced. Once he realized I wasnt giving up, he kept adding a new finger and another string.
Guthrie is a prolific songwriter and versatile musician who primarily plays acoustic guitar, bass, percussion and autoharp. Annies songs are honest, ranging from light and funny to gut-wrenching heartbreak (mostly gut-wrenching heartbreak); as her grandfather Woody Guthrie said, You can only write what you see, and she has taken that to heart, writing songs that tell it like it is.
Making her recording debut on Arlo Guthries Someday album at the age of four, Annie went on to contribute vocals on Woodys 20 Grow Big Songs (1991), More Together Again (1994) and joined her father Arlo & family on All Over The World, a track included on Occupy This Album (2012) in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Dragonfly is Annie Guthries long-awaited solo debut released in July of 2016. This collection of songs penned by Guthrie showcases her gift for directness and going straight for the heart. Annies honest approach to songwriting coupled with her soulful delivery makes Dragonfly a compelling and notable solo premiere.
Annie's single Feistier Than Gin, released December 2017, features Annies fierce wit and dark humor. Dont ask her how she really feelsshe will tell you! Feeling angry after the passing of her mother in 2012, Annie penned Feistier Than Gin in early 2013. I was trying to lighten my mood, this is what I got. Music is the soundtrack to life. I was pissed that my mom died, and in love at the same time. When I put those feelings together with my guitar, Feistier Than Gin surfaced.
Id like to thank you [Annie], for adding a whole new dynamic to folk music. One where we are not all sitting around reading our vegan cookbooks. David Amram
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