J. C. Hopkins
JC Hopkins is an American bandleader, record producer, Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter. JC Hopkins was born and raised in Cypress, where he attended school and played in various bands in his youth, he plays guitar and piano concentrating on the latter. Upon moving to San Francisco in the late 1980s Hopkins began performing solo works as a folk singer, his first band there, began as a folk rock ensemble whose debut self-titled album was produced by Peter Case. The band's second album, garnered favorable reviews including ink in Spin magazine. In 1998 he debuted his first jazz musical, Show Biz'ness, at the legendary Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. In 2000 Hopkins moved to Brooklyn, New York, to pursue his interest in transitioning from folk and musical theater to jazz, created a big band by the name of JC Hopkins Biggish Band. Hopkins was introduced to a fledgling singer Norah Jones through bassist Lee Alexander who played on Victoria Williams' album Water to Drink, which Hopkins co-produced.
Jones began singing with the Biggish Band and they performed in venues throughout New York City. A 2008 interview with Judy Carmichael delves into Hopkins' creative relationship with Jones. Upon Jones signing to Blue Note Records and recording her debut album Come Away with Me on which Hopkins co-wrote "Painter Song" with Lee Alexander, singer Madeleine Peyroux took her place on the bandstand and began writing songs with Hopkins, many of which would appear on Hopkins' album Underneath a Brooklyn Moon. Peyroux continued to perform with the band along with vocalist Queen Esther, who became the band's mainstay singer. Legendary country singer/songwriter Willie Nelson heard a demo of Norah Jones singing Hopkins' song "Dreams Come True" with the JC Hopkins Biggish Band and decided to record the tune as a duet with Jones; that song appears on Nelson's album It Always Will Be and was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Country Collaboration. In 2005 Hopkins released the full-length album Underneath a Brooklyn Moon consisting of nine original songs co-written by Norah Jones and Madeleine Peyroux.
The album received positive press on a national scale, including The New Yorker, as well as on National Public Radio. Actor John Lithgow, upon hearing Hopkins in his NPR interview, inquired with Michael Krumper of Razor & Tie Records who sent Lithgow a copy of Underneath a Brooklyn Moon. Shortly after, Lithgow asked Hopkins to produce his album of Tin Pan Alley children's songs, titled The Sunny Side of the Street; that album was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Children's Album. A 2017 sophomore release, Meet Me at Minton's, serves as a display of the diligently thought-through and arranged collaborations between a wide-ranging spectrum of jazz talents, both renowned and emerging, has been met with great applause for its innovation and generation-spanning and acclaimed featured vocalists; the album is launched by vocalist Brianna Thomas, alongside solos by Troy Roberts and Bruce Harris on Hopkins' original "Remember When". On "Suddenly", jazz legend Jon Hendricks trades 4's with Charles Turner and Brianna Thomas, in a generational hopping scat.
Andy Bey's evocative vocal on the Hendricks/Monk tune, "Looking Back" features revered harpist Brandee Younger. Alicia Olatuja lends her vocals to Hopkins' composition "Dreams Come True", covered by Norah Jones and Willie Nelson. Vocalists Charles Turner and Queen Esther perform the title track "Meet Me at Minton's" and the Billie Holiday classic "Spreadin' Rhythm Around". Young guitar phenom Solomon Hicks, made lead guitarist for the Cotton Club Orchestra at the age of thirteen, is featured on "Alright Okay You Win"; the album is drawn to a close by Jazzmeia Horn and Jon Hendricks as they perform a duet of the Hendricks/Monk ballad "How I Wish". The recording features saxophonist Claire Daly, drummer Charles Goold, bassist Noah Jackson, trombonist Corey Wallace, saxophonist Christopher McBride and vibraphonist Joseph Doubleday. Concord recording artist Jazzmeia Horn, the 2016 winner of the Thelonious Monk Prize, has two features on the album, Hopkins' original "What Is Love" and the duet with Hendricks.
Horn's relationship with Hendricks is evident despite a seventy-year age difference. Alicia Olatuja, who joined Gregory Porter on his recent Grammy-winning album, performs Hopkins' Grammy-nominated ballad, "Dreams Come True". Album photography features images of the band by Grayson Dantzic, son of photographer Jerry Dantzic, whose new book Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill was released in 2017 with Thames and Hudson and features never before seen photographs of Billie Holiday. Recorded in 2004, this collection of original songs saw the light of day in July 2018; the album features an impressive lineup of musicians from rock world. Levon Helm and Garth Hudson in a rare appearance recording together in post The Band period and Martha Wainwright are featured on notable tracks from the record. From the jazz world Victor Lewis, Vincent Chancey, Doug Wieselman provide accompaniment, giving the sound of the record a genre-crossing baroque-pop feel. In addition to concerts and events throughout the country, JC Hopkins Biggish Band notably played two tribute shows honoring—and featuring—seminal jazz songwriter Mose Allison.
The first, in 2001, was held at Joe's Pub in Manhattan and included Hopkins' longtime friend and collaborator, singer Martha Wainwright, Norah Jones, Madeline Peyroux and Queen Esther. One decade in 2011, the band held its second tribute to Allison, again featuring the jazz
Rebecca Jenkins
Rebecca Jenkins is a Canadian actress and singer. She had starring roles in the 1990s CBC series Black Harbour, the films Bye Bye Blues, Marion Bridge, Wilby Wonderful, Whole New Thing, South of Wawa and Supervolcano, she had a supporting role in the 1992 film Bob Roberts, as Dolores Perrigrew. In NBC's miniseries 10.5 she portrayed California governor Carla Williams. Jenkins appeared in the January 17, 2006, episode of the WB series Supernatural, where she played the loving wife to a faith healer, her next project was a television movie entitled Past Sins directed by David Winning, in which she co-starred with Lauralee Bell. Past Sins aired on Lifetime in November, 2006. In 2012, she appeared in Sarah Polley's documentary film Stories We Tell, playing Polley's mother Diane in dramatic recreations; as a singer, Jenkins has been a backing vocalist for Jane Siberry and Parachute Club. She has recorded tracks for a number of Canadian benefit and compilation albums, participated in the Count Your Blessings concert with Siberry, Holly Cole, Mary Margaret O'Hara and Victoria Williams.
As well, Jenkins is featured prominently on the Bye Bye Blues soundtrack album. She performed the title track "Bye Bye Blues" in Calgary at the September 1, 2005, opening the night of the celebration of Alberta's centennial. In 2007, she was scheduled to release a collection of jazz standards, her husband, Joel Bakan, an accomplished jazz guitarist, accompanies her as well as Al Matheson on trumpet and Liam Macdonald on drums and percussion. Following this jazz release, there was to be a release of an album of her original material, she cohosted a five-week radio series called Quiet, There's a Lady on Stage with singer-songwriter David Ramsden. The radio show was recorded with four new female singers weekly in the CBC's Glenn Gould Studio. Guests included Carole Pope, Holly Cole, Lee Whalen, Lori Yates, Molly Johnson, Kate Fenner and Mary Margaret O'Hara, she married Joel Bakan, the writer of the book and documentary film The Corporation, in July 2004. Rebecca Jenkins on IMDb Rebecca Jenkins Fan Website
Portrait of Narcissus
Portrait Of Narcissus is the third solo album by David Wolfenberger. It was released in 2006 on Fundamental Records with Blue Jordan Records as an imprint; the album contains 12 original tracks and features such notables as Victoria Williams on vocals, Michelle Shocked on vocals, Joshua Seurkamp on drums, Kim Taylor on vocals and Joshua Grange on pedal steel guitar. Victoria Williams painted the portrait of Wolfenberger, on the cover and inside the album, it was well received by British and European critics and ended up at #12 on the independent Euro Americana Chart for April 2006 Something's Gotta Give Freezin' Walt Disney Blues Inconsolably Overjoyed Parking Lot Martyrs Vespa Girl See The Evening Star Cicada Summer Ferris Wheel Portrait Of Narcissus The Wreck Election When Everything Is Over Sad, Rotten World David Wolfenberger Website Fundamental Records Website
Glory, Glory (Lay My Burden Down)
"Glory, Glory" is an American spiritual song, recorded by many artists in a variety of genres, including folk, blues and gospel. It is very melodically similar to another popular gospel song, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". Lyrically, the song has many variations, but the best-known version of the song opens with: The Elders McIntorsh and Edwards' Sanctified Singers – "Since I Laid My Burden Down" Blind Roosevelt Graves – "When I Lay My Burdens Down" Maddox Brothers and Rose – "When I Lay My Burden Down" The Soul Stirrers – "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" Odetta – "Glory, Glory" The Big 3 – "Glory, Glory" Mississippi John Hurt – "Since I've Laid This Burden Down" Furry Lewis – "Lay My Burden Down" Mississippi Fred McDowell "When I Lay My Burden Down" Roy Acuff – "When I Lay My Burden Down" The Byrds – "Glory, Glory" Otha Turner – "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" Dr. John with Mavis Staples and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band – "Lay My Burden Down" Larry Sparks – "Lay My Burden Down" Glenn Kaiser – "Since I Laid My Burdens Down" City and Colour & The Coppertone – "When I Lay My Burden Down" Will McFarlane – "Lay My Burden Down" "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" performed live by Robert Sims and Odetta AllMusic: review of The Byrds' version of "Glory, Glory" AMG: All performers of "Glory, Glory", "Glory Glory", "Lay My Burden Down"
Maria McKee
Maria Luisa McKee is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice, her 1990 UK solo chart-topping hit, "Show Me Heaven", her song "If Love Is a Red Dress" from the film Pulp Fiction, she is the half-sister of Bryan MacLean, best known as a guitarist and vocalist in the band Love. McKee was a founding member of the cowpunk and proto Americana band, Lone Justice, in 1982, with whom she released two albums. Several compilations of both released and unreleased material and a BBC Live in Concert album have been released since the group disbanded. Bob Dylan wrote the song "Go Away Little Boy" for the band's debut album, Lone Justice, which appeared as a B-side; the band opened for such acts as Tom Petty. During this period of her career she was managed by Jimmy Iovine; when she was 19, she wrote Feargal Sharkey's 1985 song, "A Good Heart", which she has since recorded and released on her album Late December. Sharkey also covered "To Miss Someone" on his third solo album "Songs From The Mardi Gras".
In 1987 she appeared in the Robbie Robertson music video "Somewhere Down the Crazy River" and contributed back-up vocals to his debut solo album, which included the song. She released her first solo, self-titled album in 1989. On the album Richard Thompson played Steve Wickham from The Waterboys played fiddle, it received critical acclaim in Europe. Her song "Show Me Heaven", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Days of Thunder, was a number one single in the UK for four weeks in 1990, she performed this song in public up until when she sang it at Dublin Pride. Her song "If Love Is a Red Dress, Hang Me in Rags" was selected by Quentin Tarantino for his feature film Pulp Fiction, it is the only original song on the soundtrack. In 1992 she released the song "Sweetest Child", produced by Youth and featured Robert "Throb" Young from the band Primal Scream. Following her debut, McKee has released two live albums; the album Life Is Sweet debuted McKee's lead guitar work described as "feral" by Mojo magazine which listed it as runner up to album of the year in their critics poll.
The raw postmodern album represented a smash up of her roots rock persona and is seen as a demarcation event in her career. It is now considered a minor classic and out of print; the three, High Dive, Peddlin' Dreams and Late December, were released independently via her own Viewfinder Records label. In 1995, Bette Midler recorded McKee's tracks "To Deserve You" and "The Last Time" for her platinum album Bette of Roses. In 1998, The Dixie Chicks recorded McKee's "Am I the Only One" and included it on their Grammy-nominated album Wide Open Spaces. McKee appears on the 2014 compilation Songs from a Stolen Spring that paired Western musicians with artists from the Arab Spring. On the album, McKee's performance of the Tony Joe White song "Ol' Mother Earth" was meshed with "I Still Exist" by the Egyptian band Massar Egbari, she recorded a medley of "Ride a White Swan" and "She Was Born to Be My Unicorn" for the Marc Bolan tribute album, Angel Headed Hipster, produced by Hal Wilner. The album includes tracks by Gavin Friday, Father John Misty and Nick Cave.
In addition to writing Sharkey's hit "A Good Heart", McKee has contributed to the Victoria Williams' tribute album Sweet Relief, on the song "Opelousas". She has provided backing vocals to U2's cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son", as well as to the Counting Crows' 1993 debut August and Everything After on "Sullivan Street" and "Mr. Jones". On Robin Zander's 1993 solo album she sang backing vocals for the track "Reactionary Girl", she sang backing vocals on Robbie Robertson's debut and self-titled solo album, on the track "American Roulette". Much lesser known is her contribution of lead and co-lead vocals on two tracks on a contemporary Christian praise and worship album called Come As You Are. McKee contributed a song, "Never Be You," for the soundtrack to the Walter Hill movie Streets of Fire, she recorded a duet, "Friends in Time", with The Golden Horde on their eponymously titled album in 1991. She recorded another duet, "This Road is Long," with Stuart A. Staples of the band Tindersticks on his 2006 album.
In addition she co-wrote the duet, titled "Promise You Anything," with Steve Earle which appeared on his 1990 album, The Hard Way. She teamed with Dwight Yoakam for a duet on "Bury Me," from his 1986 debut, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc. McKee contributed the lyrics and vocals to the song "No Big Bang" on the only album by The Heads, No Talking, Just Head playing guitar and synthesizer on the song together with the band ex-members of Talking Heads. In 2016, she performed the Blind Willie Johnson song, "Let Your Light Shine On Me", on the tribute album God Don't Never Change: The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson. In 2013, McKee and her husband, Jim Akin, self-released their first independent feature film, After the Triumph of Your Birth, through their production company, Shootist Films; the film was written, shot and edited by Akin and features McKee in her acting debut as an ensemble cast member. They scored the film together and the soundtrack was released in 2012. Shootist Films' second feature film The Ocean of Helena Lee was released May 2015 with accompanying soundtrack.
The film played a week run at The American Cinematheq
Mark Olson (musician)
Mark Olson is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of alternative country bands the Jayhawks and the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers. Olson formed the Jayhawks in 1985 with singer and guitarist Gary Louris and was the principal singer-songwriter in the group. Along with Marc Perlman and Thad Spencer, they released their eponymous debut album in 1986 through the independent label Bunkhouse Records; the band were signed by Minneapolis label Twin/Tone in 1987 and released Blue Earth, which saw Louris sharing more songwriting and singing duties with Olson. It was this album, their first album for Def American was the Drakoulias-produced Hollywood Town Hall in 1992. After a successful single, "Waiting for the Sun", extensive touring the band went back in the studio and released the follow-up, Tomorrow the Green Grass in 1995, which yielded the radio hit "Blue"; the same year Olson quit the Jayhawks to look after his wife, Victoria Williams, after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the band continued without him, releasing three more albums before going on hiatus in 2005.
For his post-Jayhawks career, Olson returned to his folk and country roots and with Williams and multi-instrumentalist Mike "Razz" Russell released the well-received album The Original Harmony Ridge Creek Dippers in 1997. The trio teamed up again for the 1998 album Pacific Coast Rambler and 1999's Zola and the Tulip Tree. By 2000, Olson releasing the autobiographical My Own Jo Ellen as Mark Olson and the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers. Two more albums recorded with the Creekdippers followed, December's Child in 2002 and Mystic Theatre in 2004; the same year saw the release of Political Manifest. After splitting from Williams in 2005, Olson paired up once again with Louris for two short tours in the winter of 2005 and the spring of 2006, he released his acclaimed solo album The Salvation Blues in June 2007. The album, written while he was staying with Cardiff-based folk singer and writer Charlotte Greig and her husband, novelist John Williams, was inspired by his divorce. After the release of The Salvation Blues, Olson toured the United States and Europe with Italian violinist Michele Gazich and Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Ingunn Ringvold playing djembe and piano and singing harmony vocals.
They played more than 300 shows together. An album with Louris, Ready for the Flood, produced by Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, was released in November 2008. In 2011 the Jayhawks recorded a new album; the lineup consisted of Olson, Perlman, Karen Grotberg, Tim O'Reagan, and, as Louris says, "Our goal is to make the best Jayhawks album that's been done". The album, Mockingbird Time, was released September 20; the band toured in support. In 2012 Olson again left the band; the Jayhawks Blue Earth Hollywood Town Hall Tomorrow the Green Grass Mockingbird Time The Original Harmony Ridge Creek Dippers Pacific Coast Rambler Zola and the Tulip Tree My Own Jo Ellen December's Child Mystic Theatre Political Manifest The Salvation Blues Many Colored Kite Ready for the Flood Good-bye Lizelle Spokeswoman of the Bright Sun March 2011 - Métronome / Interview with Mark Olson
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk and country music singer and musician. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released Lucinda Williams; this release featured "Passionate Kisses," a song recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter, which garnered Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994. Known for working Williams recorded and released only one other album in the next several years, Sweet Old World, in 1992, her commercial breakthrough came in 1998 with Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, an album presenting a broader scope of songs that fused rock, blues and Americana into a distinctive style that remained consistent and commercial in sound. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which includes the Grammy nominated track "Can't Let Go", became Williams' greatest commercial success to date; the album was certified Gold by the RIAA and earned Williams a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, while being universally acclaimed by critics.
Williams released the critically acclaimed Essence three years and the album became a commercial success. One of the album's tracks, "Get Right With God," earned Williams the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 2002. Williams has released a string of albums since that have earned her more critical acclaim and commercial success, she has won 3 Grammy Awards, from 15 nominations, received 2 Americana Awards, from 12 nominations. Additionally, Williams ranked No. 97 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll in 1998, was named "America's best songwriter" by Time magazine in 2002. Williams was born in Lake Charles, the daughter of poet and literature professor Miller Williams and an amateur pianist, Lucille Fern Day, her parents divorced in the mid-1960s. Williams's father gained custody of her and her younger brother, Robert Miller, sister, Karyn Elizabeth. Like her father, she has spina bifida, her father worked as a visiting professor in Mexico and different parts of the United States, including Baton Rouge.
Williams never was accepted into the University of Arkansas. Williams started writing when she was 6 years old and showed an affinity for music at an early age, was playing guitar at 12. Williams's first live performance was in Mexico City at 17, as part of a duo with her friend, a banjo player named Clark Jones. By her early 20s, Williams was playing publicly in Austin and Houston, concentrating on a folk-rock-country blend, she moved to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1978 to record her first album, for Smithsonian/Folkways Records. Titled Ramblin' on My Mind, it was a collection of blues covers; the album title was shortened to Ramblin'. She followed it up in 1980 with Happy Woman Blues. Neither album received much attention. In the 1980s, Williams moved to Los Angeles, where, at times backed by a rock band and at others performing in acoustic settings, she developed a following and a critical reputation. While based in Los Angeles, she was married to Long Ryders drummer Greg Sowders, whom she had met in a club.
In 1988 Rough Trade Records released the self-titled Lucinda Williams, produced by Gurf Morlix. The single "Changed the Locks", about a broken relationship, received radio play around the country and gained fans among music insiders, including Tom Petty, who would cover the song, its follow-up, Sweet Old World produced by Morlix, is a melancholy album dealing with themes of suicide and death. Williams' biggest success during the early 1990s was as a songwriter. Mary Chapin Carpenter recorded a cover of "Passionate Kisses" in 1992, the song became a smash country hit for which Williams received the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994. Carpenter received a Grammy for her performance of the song, she duetted with Steve Earle on the song "You're Still Standin' There" from his album I Feel Alright. In 1991, the song "Lucinda Williams" appeared on Vic Chesnutt's album West of Rome. Williams had garnered considerable critical acclaim. Emmylou Harris said of Williams, "She is an example of the best of what country at least says it is, for some reason, she's out of the loop and I feel that that's country music's loss."
Harris recorded the title track from Williams's Sweet Old World for her career-redefining 1995 album, Wrecking Ball. Williams gained a reputation as a perfectionist and slow worker when it came to recording; the long-awaited release, 1998's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, was Williams' breakthrough into the mainstream and received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Containing the single "Still I Long for Your Kiss" from the Robert Redford film The Horse Whisperer, the album received wide critical notice and soon went gold; the single "Can't Let Go" enjoyed considerable crossover radio play. Williams toured with Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, on her own in support of the album. An expanded edition of the album, including three additional studio recordings and a second CD documenting a 1998 concert, was released in 2006. In 1999, she appeared on Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parso
