Jolie Holland

Spending a lot of time working with the group lately, and very little time on independent reading. It's strange how when I spend time reading by myself, I long for a chance to discuss it with other people, and when I am discussing it with other people, I long for a chance to read more about what we are discussing.

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Despite lamenting the fact that I don't have enough time to read, I have been spending my time looking at this this fascinating site with Civil War Photos (via Franklin Family ). To think that some people complain about the size of a digital SLR (I never have)... take a look at the camera these guys lugged around...

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When I wrote about Nellie McKay the other day, several people commented to me that they liked her. I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce another one of the artists I have been listening to lately. (I tend to only pick up a new artist or group about three times / year)

Jolie Holland. She "rawks", as someone I know might say. I guess I have some kind of fascination with young singer / songwriters playing original, "rawking" music. You can read the entire Bio of Jolie Holland.

If you happen to be on the BTH network, you can hear her two albums in full in my iMusic shared.

If not:
Listen to her entire "Catalpa" album.

Amazon: Escondida album

NPR All Songs Considered: "Sascha" from Escondida on NPR's

NPR All Songs Considered: "All the Morning Birds" from Catalpa album.

This of course leads to The Be Good Tanyas, also really great, but that is for another post. Watch The Be Good Tanyas perform live in NPR's studio 4-A (Holland was one of the founding members and co-wrote the first song of the video). The album also features trumpet playing by Olu Dara , who is the favorite musician of mine. (Tomoe and I shelled out big bucks to see him in Blue Note Tokyo where he was great, but the Japanese businessmen watching were a major let-down.)