Linda Stout: Blog/News

The new project produced by David Sale, "extended play," went off to the printer/manufacturer Friday. I expect to have it in time for South by Southwest. Think there'll be a little tour south in April, then an Ithaca release in May. It looks great, with a cool abstract photo by Simon Wheeler, design by Pat Burke.

Saw Rani Arbo and band open for Jerry Douglas Saturday at the State Theatre in Ithaca. She was charming; sweet band, all singers, bluegrass, gospel. I love her voice. Jerry Douglas and his band -- oh so tight, such pros, instrumental bluegrass, reminded me of Mark O'Conner's sound (maybe Mark reminds others of Jerry's band.) Po' Girl, saw again, after seeing them 2x about 2 years ago, in Ithaca and Kingston, Ontario. Fun. Someone I know, Charles, described them as neo-old time. Yeah, a little garagey in a good way, lots of fun, excellent musicians, a great girl band with a boy drummer.

There might be a few other blogs at my myspace profile, www.myspace.com/LindaStout. I am not regular. I used to get paid to write reviews...Well, I still have an amazing flexible dayjob as a reporter. I realize that songwriting, questioning every word, helped, some. I had been away from journalism, but went back to it and was happily surprised I could do it better, after years away. I used skills as a counselor in the past, listening, trying to make something of things; same with music, except I get to sing and play, and probably most songwriters should flex their writing muscles at prose, so I get paid to do it, not much, but better than working as a grocery clerk or something.

It was not just doing myspace listening last night. I went out to the Haunt, not far from my little house in Ithaca and heard Sometymes Why, 3 terribly talented women known for their other bands, Crooked Still, the Mammals and Uncle Earl. It was full of gorgeous harmonies, a touch of twang. How did old time (or old tyme) ever get so hip? It was kind of like Dixie Chicks, not so different from my favorite Ithaca group, Five2 (also 3 women). In Sometymes Why, they're all great singers, and Aoife O'Donovan sounds like Alison Krauss, all honey high and sweet (she can also sing low just fine, too). And they play baritone uke -- baritone uke, yay -- along with other instruments, and I understand this because I'm in love with my old uke lately. My old uke, hard as it is to tune, has been my sweetie lately; lots of new songs. I did cheat a little and found the strangest new tuning for guitar last night after the show.) I dream of having an all-girl band, of very talented, committed musicians who aren't too busy with a million other things, or will at least make the time. I saw an engineer I've worked with last night, too, Al Grunwell, Finger Lakes Recording, and he liked my girl group idea; he said, "Yeah, 3 Lindas." (I like playing with guys, too, always have.) Layered stuff is fun in the studio, and I want it live, too. I briefly met Ruth of the Mammals, and her young "niece" who's at Ithaca College. Ruth Ungar and I figured out we'd both been inspired by seeing Jennifer Kimball play her baritone uke. I took to uke like a love from multiple incarnations returned. I played soprano uke as a tiny little kid, along with toying with piano. I tune it strangely, kind of low and like a cello, in 5ths, or octaves and 5ths.

Saw Natalia Zuckerman play the other night in Ithaca. She's an excellent guitarist. When you grow up as the child of a virtuoso, guess it rubs off, even if you venture into singer-songwriter blues. She is quite lovely on stage. I wish the gabbing women in the club would have shut up, but maybe this is part of it; you get a bunch of women together, women, if I may generalize, know how to communicate, so that happens, lots of talking. However, drives me crazy when there's music on stage and people don't shut up, especially when it's me, although I also understand and like the casualness of a place where people can walk around, eat and drink and listen to music vs. a concert setting. That said, I do prefer playing concerts, though.

You can sign up for my e-mailed newsletter about once a month about my gigs and musical adventures. I'm always happy when people add their names to my e-mail newletter list, but in terms of avoiding my own spam, I'll delete added e-mails that don't have at least a first name and town; just feels like inviting spam otherwise, like some spammer signs up only to spam me after they get my newsletter. I also like guestbook entries, but there's the occasional spam there, too, which gets deleted.

Saw Five2 at Felica's Atomic Lounge tonight, all dolled up for Halloween, but the get-ups would work at glossier gigs, very glam, not scary. They sounded wonderful, as usual. Gotta love those lush girl harmonies. Singer Annie Burns of the Burns Sisters was there listening, too.

Another new song's up here, and more at http://www.myspace.com/LindaStout. Again, David Sale produced this upcoming EP.

Three gigs three nights in a row after being busy on the new EP, now mastered. Hear "Scary," a revamped song, posted here and at myspace. There'll be others up soon. ...Lots of music biz stuff to do now. Thursday it was a benefit for Israeli war victims at The Nines in Ithaca, played with Matt Robbins, fun; last night I played in Watkins Glen and met this guy who'd won a 2-bedroom cabin on Seneca Lake in a poker game and saw my old friend, Todd Stratton, a fabulous musician who taught me a ton about songwriting and guitar. Tonight, I'll soon leave for Cortland for Lawlerpalooza, a benefit for musician Jimmy Lawler's medical expenses. Those shows to raise money for medical expenses are rather an indictment on the impoverished health care system in the US, or lack thereof. I'm happy to play, but too bad it's so dire for so many people.

Look for some all-new groovy, tail-wagging melodic pop songs to get stuck in your head. Tracks produced by David Sale were mastered yesterday by Alex Perialis at Pyramid Studio. (David played multiple instruments, co-wrote some lyrics, and Linda co-produced one song, sang and played baritone uke and guitar.) Some of these tunes will be posted really soon, maybe today, here and at http://myspace.com/LindaStout soon. The new CD packaging is in the works. David continues to get rave reviews for his recent work producing Katharine Whalen's (formerly of Squirrel Nut Zippers) latest CD, "Dirty Little Secret," a raucous, sultry pop music party.

Suffice it to say that my old acquaintance Dave Sale/Camus (http://www.myspace.com/camuslives) is a pro and an artist, Mr. Creative. Working with him as a producer is a privilege. I am learning so much. This is intense. I understand intensity. I do not want to say anything more too soon and jinx it. We're immersed in this at the moment, though with sane breaks to cook and eat. I called my first CD "Good Luck Child," and it got better reviews than I ever would have expected, gratefully, and it has a certain sweetness. I am way lucky to be continuing to learn and grow musically. That's the thing I care about most (with some human exceptions), music.

Mark McKenna, manager for Swati, sent some info below. I have been lucky enough to see her play live and shared a gig once, too. She is an amazing guitarist, runs effects
through acoustic-electrics, plays in beautiful, odd tunings, and she's really a virtuoso. She totally rocks, and can be delicate, too. Her songs are compelling and sometimes funny. A musician/journalist friend said she was the first musician to make his blood boil in 10 years. The 1-hour show has no cover.You might be interested in listening to her online: http://www.swatilive.com and
http://www.myspace.com/swatilive. But there's nothing like seeing her live.
Mark wrote:
Friends and family, I'm not one to ask favors, but this IS one I'll ask.
Next Wednesday, Sept 27th at 7 PM, Swati is doing an important show at the Living Room, 154 Ludlow St. in NY If you've never heard her, do yourself a favor and go; there is no one like her on the music scene today. Please do your best to make it down and/or tell a friend too. We need a great turnout and it?s early so you'll still have time to make dinner and other engagements.
Thanks for your support.
Mark
http://www.swatilive.com
http://www.myspace.com/swatilive
http://www.livingroomny.com
Mark McKenna
Allaire Studios
486 Pitcairn Rd.
Shokan, NY 12481
Check out Mark's beautiful studio at www.allairestudios.com.

Here's an e-newsletter of Sept. 9 sent in the wee hours of the morning:

I have a Dam Show I hadn't planned on. I hope you
are as compulsive about checking e-mail as I am. The promoter just called me; I'd been on the schedule, but they'd forgotten to call. I'm really happy to do this,
this weekend:

2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10
The Dam Show, Route 872, near Austin, PA

This is Potter County, and they call it "God's Country." It is just beautiful, wooded and hilly. This two-day music and light festival at the former Austin Dam site starts at 2 p.m. Saturday. I'm honored to be among the other performers, Red
Headed Stepchild -- http://www.redheaded-stepchild.com/ -- and can't wait to hear
them live; Kathryn Koch is just a happening singer. And there's a 93-year old belter, somewhat local there, named Brother Dietz; I asked my parents, ever the
music critics, and they said he's really entertaining, has a fun band, so hope I can arrive soon enough to see him. Among many others, Buddhahood from Rochester, and
Steve Quelet (http://www.stevequelet.com) a darn good songwriter and his duo partner
songwriter and sweet harmony singer Eppie Bailey) and Larry Herstritt, http://larryherbstritt.com, a film orchestrator and songwriter who ended up back in
his hometown of Coudersport, PA, by way of LA and Nashville; I met this talented man
at a show where we both played last year. You've heard many of his songs including "I Just Fall in Love Again," an Anne Murray hit.

Thank you, thank you to you many lovelies who came out in big numbers to the Music
on the Lawn Concert in Wellsville, NY, that Matt Robbins and I played recently. It
was special, so fun and great to see so many people.

More on the dam:
http://www.coudy.com/Austin/Austin-dam.htm

Matt and I had fun concerts Aug. 23 and 24, one at a new series, the lovely little Ellis Hollow Community Center near Ithaca, and the next night in my hometown, Wellsville, NY, the Music on the Lawn in front of the huge gorgeous brick library there. Both audiences were great listeners, right there with us, and the Wellsville audience was large and eager for CDs. Downtown Wellsville looked better than I remembered it, buildings painted, some pride. It's a nice town, not all demolished by big boxes. I loved going back to my hometown to play. It was a wonderful night, our original music, lots of people, good feelings. We had fun. It has been fun to play with Matt lately. We've been playing together a while now, takes less thinking, more easy. He is way interesting with the piano, and his vocal harmonies are so fine, too. I am glad for this duo thing. Solo has its own charm, but two voices and harmonies and two instruments, makes it more interesting.

Check out this resource: http://www.jrp-graphics.com/houseconcerts/resources.html

You could host your one of your favorite performers, maybe me.

E-mail me, or post your interest in the guestbook.

Dave Sale, a wonderful musician I know, didn't really disappear, only went away from Ithaca. In this small world, I got this friend request from him today at myspace, and we e-mailed. It is great to see and hear him doing really well. He's in the band Library of Souls and just produced, with the coolest creativity -- jazz, hip hop, Latin, pop, folk, just zany polished, for Katharine Whalen, who had been singing 20s, then 40s jazz. It's a work of art, at least the part I heard. And it's even better to learn that someone I would run into on the Commons and the Rongo around Ithaca is back out in the world and doing well. Listen to Dave's "Wildest Dreams" and other songs: http://myspace.com/CamusLives

Dave is really a rock star.

I was honored to open for Dulcie Taylor and Steve Key and then sit around the circle at Songwriters' Roundtable in Genesee, Pa. Steve Quelet organizes these nights.

Dulcie and Steve Key and Steve Quelet write excellent songs. Steve Quelet was joined by his music partner Eppie Bailey, and having seen her once before, I remain just taken by her sweet country voice and how much she enhances the music with her harmonies.

Dulcie writes really great songs, full of depth, plays guitar really well, sings well and interestingly. I felt like I met Joni Mitchell or something. Wow, and she was so nice. She plays a dulcimer as well as guitar.

Steve Key writes very funny songs (I had to love the one about coupling and threesomes etc., hilarious, even with my parents sitting next to me), writes pointed political songs (and I agree with him) and sweet songs, too.

I am listening to Dulcie's 2002 CD Diamonds and Glass, beautiful. She was great live and solo, but this is another treat to hear her music produced with a tight band sound and lovely harmonies. Pop, with a little twang, gorgeous.

The song I felt attached to initially, from listening at her web site, "I Have a Ring" is playing now. I loved getting to hear her live.

The setting for these concerts is special, people come from an hour away to listen. It's a listening room. People really listen and love music. I'll be back there for an outdoor jam fest in a month. Yay. The place, Genesee Environmental Center, was a ski resort and restaurant, very rural, and my dad's band used to play there on weekends. He said he remembers packing the place. He had a country singer and a jazz sax player/English professor from LA, so did this country-rock-jazz thing. Maybe partly that influenced me, so connected to jazz and the most Appalachian roots stuff.'

Du

Check these out:
http://www.dulcietaylor.com

http://www.stevekey.com

http://www.stevequelet.com

LIsten to this, Sephideh Vahidi. It is so beautiful:  http://www.myspace.com/sepidehvahidi  

Tonight opened for the Red Stick Ramblers, a very happening touring band based in Baton Rouge. They play some fine swing tunes along with Cajun, and got to dance because I ran into my friend who's a major dance instructor, so it was very sweet.

Matt sang like he has never sung with me tonight, singing bass lines as well as horn. The boy can really, really sing; there is a Bobby McFerrin thing, no exaggeration. We were experimenting with free jazz in our last rehearsal. See where this all leads... Check out the new photos of me and Matt. Listen to Matt at www.myspace.com/MattRobbinsJazz. He's going to be famous, if he wants that.

Saw Tommy Emmanuel, the best guitarist I have ever seen, and I thought I knew some really fine guitarists. Do not miss any chances to see him live. He's also a drummer and uses his guitar as a drum at times and about every other way it can be used. He is a virtuoso, and a good singer, too. What a treat.