Liner Notes: Signature Sounds 20th Anniversary Collection: Rarities From the Second Decade

If you’d been prescient enough, 20 years ago, to suggest that in 2014 Signature Sounds Recordings would have a catalog of more than 100 releases, a Top 20 album, and a three-day celebration of the label’s artists, the most astute of scene-followers in Western Massachusetts would’ve told you to dream on. Even Signature Sounds president Jim Olsen, who co-founded the label and runs it with Mark Thayer, would’ve thought you were crazy. “We started the label as a glorified hobby, with no grand ambitions,” Jim reflects. “And Signature Sounds has grown slowly and organically.”

Organically, for sure. The Signature Sounds moniker is first seen on a pair of CD compilations released in conjunction with radio station WRSI in 1992 and 1993 as benefit projects to help fight hunger in Western Mass. But Signature Sounds isn’t incorporated until September 1994 and its first official release, Boneyard, by former Van Morrison sideman John Sheldon and his band Blue Streak, innocuously bearing the catalog number SSRC 1227, appears in January 1995. Including a duet with James Taylor, the CD hints at big things to come.

Jim, already known back then as the host of The Back Porch, the popular Sunday morning radio show featuring an array of Americana, bluegrass, country, and alt-country music, slowly begins building a catalog and roster of artists for the label. In 1997, Signature Sounds becomes his full-time job. By the time the label celebrates its 10th anniversary, it’s been home to dozens of acclaimed releases, including ones by Josh Ritter, Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer, Lori McKenna, Mary Gauthier, Salamander Crossing, Mark Erelli, and Richard Shindell.

And that’s only the first chapter in the Signature Sounds story. During the next few years, in an environment where record labels are constantly becoming more and more generic and the trend toward downloading makes physical CDs less essential for some music fans, the independent Signature Sounds continues to buck the system and thrive. For proof, you need look no further than the CD you hold in your hands. Signature Sounds 20th Anniversary Collection: Rarities From the Second Decade not only showcases the artistry as well as many of the artists who’ve populated the label in its second decade, but it’s a treasure trove of hard-to-find and previously unreleased gems that help define the Signature Sounds sound.

“We had some great material that hadn't been heard, and it was fun to round it all up,” Jim explains. “We didn’t want any demos, home recordings, or live stuff. We wanted everything to be intended for a release.” So there’s a Lake Street Dive track that was released as a vinyl 45 for Record Store Day 2014;  rare tracks by Crooked Still and Jeffrey Foucault; a bonus LP track from Winterpills; a newly recorded track by Chris Smither; EP tracks including one by Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers; previously unreleased cuts by Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem, Peter Mulvey, and others; and much more from the vaults, including a celebratory hidden track by the Signature Sounds artists who hold the distinction of bursting onto the Billboard top-selling 200 albums chart at a lofty Number 18.

So what’s been a key ingredient in the success and the durability of the Signature Sounds label… especially at a time when most record labels no longer have a true identity? “I think there is a continuity in what we do,” Jim explains. “We’ve only added one or two new artists a year, and worked with many of artists for a long time. Our artists tend to be friends and tour partners, which lends a real sense of community to the label.”

Back in the day, a small handful of record labels had personalities of their own. If you were a jazz fan, for instance, chances are you could trust a label such as Impulse Records to put out music worth seeking out, even if you were unfamiliar with a particular artist. For Jim, Reprise Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. was just such an inspiration back in the 1960s and ’70s: “They signed amazing but non-commercial artists like Randy Newman and Ry Cooder. And they stuck with their artists even when their records didn't sell. In time it has become clear that they were a visionary label.”

Just like Signature Sounds.

And just like the selections spanning this 20th Anniversary Collection, music from Signature Sounds—yesterday, today, and tomorrow—is always worth listening to. After all, good taste is timeless.

—David Sokol, Hadley MA, November 2014

David Sokol was music editor for the Advocate Newspapers from 1977 to 1993, going on to edit New Country magazine, which featured early Signature Sounds tracks on its monthly samplers, and Disney Magazine.

LUCIUS, DAWN LANDES, AOIFE O’DONOVAN OPINE ON KRISTIN ANDREASSEN’S NEW “SPECTACULAR” ‘GONDOLER’ (FEBRUARY 17)

WFUV’S JOHN PLATT: “GONDOLIER IS A BEAUTIFUL RECORD”

DAWN LANDES: “WARNING: THESE SONGS WILL FOLLOW YOU AROUND FOR DAYS”

Kristin Andreassen’s musical voyage from traditional folk to indie folk – culminating in the new album ‘Gondolier’ (February 17) – are apparent in the company that she keeps. On any given night, she might be hosting an old-time music jam in Brooklyn, recording backup vocals with Sufjan Stevens, calling a square dance in upstate New York, or singing onstage at Terminal 5 with Lucius.

WFUV’s John Platt, who hosted a set of hers at the On Your Radar concert Tuesday night, told the packed house, “‘Gondolier’ is a beautiful record.”

Andreassen says, “Being a part of the community in Brooklyn has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my career.” That respect is reflected right back at her from her peers:

Dawn Landes, with whom Andreassen has toured, says, "Andreassen has made another gorgeous album. These songs feel at once familiar and completely original. Her melodies seem to flow from a primeval stream. It's a perfect bed for these bemusing tales and subtle turns of phrase. Warning, these songs will follow you around for days! They are wonderful company."

Aoife O’Donovan, her former bandmate who sings on ‘Gondolier,’ says, “In Sometymes Why, we used to call Kristin ‘the mistress of metaphor.’ Her knack for drawing deep (and sometimes dark) meaning out of seemingly sweet lyrics is uncanny. On this new album, Kristin Andreassen has arrived at a whole new level- the production is spot-on, the songs eerily unique yet timeless, and her singing pristine. Gondolier is a spectacular record that we're going to be listening to for a long time…”

Holly Laessig of Lucius, with whom Andressen has sung backing vocals, says, “Kristin's new record Gondolier - it's an ear's chance to get a break from the New York winter and take a warm summer drive. "

Jess Wolfe, also of Lucius, declares, “Kristin's voice is effortless and silky smooth. The songs are refreshing and yet familiar. A gem for all to be delighted!”

Kristin Andreassen Tour Dates

12/17: Marlboro, NY - Concert & Square Dance (w/ Chris Eldridge & Mike + Ruthy)
12/31: Olivebridge, NY – Ashokan New Years Eve square dance
1/7/2015: New Haven, CT - Cafe 9 (w/ Chris Eldridge)
1/8/2015: Brooklyn, NY - Jalopy Theatre (APAP Showcase)
1/9/2015: New York, NY - Don’t Tell Mama (APAP Showcase)
1/10/2015: 1/10/2015: Cooperstown, NY – Cooperstown Concert Series (opening for David Wax Museum)
1/11/2015: Huntington, VT – Valley Stage (w/ Jefferson Hamer)
1/13/2015: New York, NY – Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1
1/14/2015: Baltimore, MD – Calvert Street House Concerts
1/16/2015: Raleigh, NC – Duke Energy Center for the Arts (opening for Aoife O’Donovan)
1/18/2015: Charleston, WV - Mountain Stage
1/20/2015: Knoxville, TN - The Blue Plate Special
1/21/2015: Nashville, TN - Music City Roots

KINGSLEY FLOOD SET TO UNLEASH 2015 DOWNPOUR OF NEW MUSIC: EP ‘TO THE FIRE’ OUT JANUARY 13, FOLLOWED BY SUMMER EP, FALL LP, VIDEOS, TOURING, ETC.

NPR WORLD CAFÉ TO FEATURE BAND AS “NEXT” ARTISTS WEEK OF DECEMBER 22

NEWPORT FOLK FEST MAIN STAGE ’13 SET LAUNCHED BAND TO NAT’L RECOGNITION

Kingsley Flood will be unleashing a deluge of music throughout 2015, including the January 13th EP ‘To The Fire,’ a summer EP, a fall full-length album, multiple music videos, and a rigorous touring schedule. The ambitious volume of output from the Boston and DC-based six-piece recognizes that the music business has changed and moved on from the era of the traditional album cycle. It also represents a shift in leader Naseem Khuri’s songwriting, channeling his personal journey as the son of Palestinian immigrants struggling to make change.

Since their breakout set opening the Newport Folk Festival in 2013, Kingsley Flood has opened tour dates for Lucius and Josh Ritter; earned raves from AV Club, Paste, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NY Times; played a session for Esquire; and premiered a video with NPR Music.

For ‘To The Fire,’ the fast-rising band partnered with producer Paul Kolderie (Radiohead, The Pixies, Speedy Ortiz) and crystallized the musical traits that help it stand out: the horn/violin combination that alternates between epic orchestral sweep and lush, low-key ambience, electric guitars that move from melodic arpeggios to howling feedback, an ever-expanding palette of keyboard textures and a versatile rhythm section, all topped off by Khuri’s raspy, desperate lead vocals.

On To The Fire, Khuri turns the focus inward, shifting from the chronicles of failed American dreams depicted on previous release (and Boston Music Awards Album of the Year) Battles, to his own struggle as a wanna-be do-gooder struggling to change the world around him.  Shaped by his Palestinian-American heritage and his hard-working immigrant parents, he spent his twenties working for organizations focused on conflict and inequality, in the Middle East and in his own backyard. The songs showcase both biting ambition and a reckoning that change is hard to come by.

To The Fire begins to explore that evolution.  “All In All” sets a danceable beat to the voice of political leaders in Khuri’s adopted home of Washington who leave their own behind on the way up.

“Set Me Off” may be the hardest-rocking Kingsley Flood song to date and one of its catchiest. The leftfield Ellie Goulding cover “Anything Could Happen” is reinvented as an indie rock song with hints of desperation. The Beatles-influenced “Thick of It” reality-checks that burning desire to change the world. The piano-based “Cavalry” fights complacency with the need to feel alive with Randy Newman-esque detail.

But like everything from Kingsley Flood, it’s the energy, dynamics, and musicianship that give life to Khuri’s reflections. From intricate arrangements and inspired lyricism to flashes of punk, the band behind To The Fire still delivers an experience that Paste Magazine said “is rapidly making an impression nationally [with its] rowdy on-stage anthems."

Upcoming Tour Dates:

January 9: Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
January 10: Boot and Saddle, Philadelphia, PA
January 16: Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
January 17: Stone Church, Newmarket, NH
January 30: The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA

‘To The Fire’ Track List
1.     Set Me Off
2.     All In All
3.     Thick Of It
4.     Anything Could Happen
5.     Cavalry

Of the band’s Newport Folk set, Rolling Stone said, "Kingsley Flood kicked off the main stage, shirking the rain with puddle-splashing, foot-stomping folk rock and their signature high energy."

Kingsley Flood "All In All" From 'To The Fire' EP

SUGAR RAY & THE BLUETONES LEADS BLUES MUSIC AWARD NOMINATION FIELD WITH SEVEN

Sugar Ray & The Bluetones – the storied blues ensemble celebrating its 35^th anniversary this year with the deeply felt new album ‘Living Tear To Tear’ (Severn Records) – led the Blues Music Award nominations today with seven:

+ Band of the Year – Sugar Ray & The Bluetones

+ Album of the Year – ‘Living Tear To Tear’

+ Traditional Album of the Year – ‘Living Tear To Tear’

+ Harmonica - Sugar Ray Norcia

+ Bass - Michael "Mudcat" Ward

+ Traditional Male Artist - Sugar Ray Norcia

+ Song for "Things Could Be Worse”

‘THE GLOAMING’ AMONG NPR’S 50 FAVORITES OF 2014

It’s been a remarkable year the Gloaming and NPR has capped it by naming the self-titled album (Brassland) one of its 50 favorites of 2014.

Bob Boilen writes, “There has never been an album quite like this, spare and textured, representing past and future as well as transcending all you may think you know about Irish music.”

SIGNATURE SOUNDS SCORES FOUR IN THE AMERICANA RADIO CHART TOP 100 FOR 2014, WITH LAKE STREET DIVE AT #7

LAKE STREET DIVE SHARES VIDEO FROM ‘SIGNATURE SOUNDS 20TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION: RARITIES FROM THE SECOND DECADE’

The Americana Music Association’s top one hundred airplay chart for 2014 has four Signature Sounds albums on it. Lake Street Dive’s ‘Bad Self Portraits’ came in at number seven. The others were Peter Mulvey’s ‘Silver Ladder,’ Zoe Muth’s ‘World Of Strangers,’ and Chris Smither’s ‘Still On The Levee.’

Signature Sounds is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this winter with a concert series, a tour, and celebration at next year’s Green River Festival. On March 3, the storied label will release ‘Signature Sounds 20th Anniversary Collection: Rarities From The Second Decade’ featuring thirteen unreleased tracks, eighteen tracks in total from the likes of Lake Street Dive, Crooked Still, Eilen Jewell, Chris Smither, and others.

Lake Street Dive has shared its in-the-studio video of “What I’m Doing Here,” from the ‘Signature Sounds 20th Anniversary Collection: Rarities From The Second Decade’:

KRISTIN ANDREASSEN CASTS ‘GONDOLIER’ DOWNSTREAM FEB. 17

GORGEOUS NEW INDIE-FOLK ALBUM FEATURES COMMUNITY OF BROOKLYN MUSICIANS INCLUDING AOIFE O’DONOVAN AND CHRIS ELDRIDGE

CMT EDGE PREMIERES “AZALEA”

ANDREASSEN JOINING “ON YOUR RADAR” WFUV SHOW DEC 9 AT ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL; AND SYNDICATED RADIO SHOWS MOUNTAIN STAGE JAN 18 & MUSIC CITY ROOTS JAN 21

Prairie Home Companion favorite and Brooklyn denizen Kristin Andreassen has created the gorgeous indie-folk album ‘Gondolier’ (February 17) by synthesizing and reorienting the core ingredients of the traditional folk tunes and old time music of her past. CMT Edge premiered the first track, “Azalea,” calling it “delicate beauty."

Lyrics from the album: “We lived by the freeway; I thought it was the ocean, Sounded like a seashell in my sleep in the night."

‘Gondolier’ abounds with inventive, unexpected melodies, lyrics, and arrangements, which contrast the pastoral with the urban. Largely written on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire but with her Brooklyn home in mind, ‘Gondolier’ finds Andreassen contemplating the differences between expectation and reality, from a cold night in Louisiana to wishing one’s childhood pet dog was a horse, to the way that dreams morph over time.
Another sample: "For some reason my dreams are all about water. It replaces the concrete; I can breathe it like air."

Starting out in Annapolis, MD as a professional clogger with the Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, she soon joined the old-time band Uncle Earl (Rounder Records). Soon, she became one third of the original singer-songwriter group Sometymes Why, with Aoife O’Donovan and Ruth Ungar, who each sing on ‘Gondolier.’ (O’Donovan mentioned Andreassen in the NY Times as one of the “amazing people” in the Brooklyn scene.)

Other accompanists heard throughout Gondolier include bassist Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers), multi-woodwind player Alec Spiegelman (Cuddle Magic), cellist Rushad Eggleston (Crooked Still), former Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone (heard here on clattering banjo bass), guitarist Jefferson Hamer, fiddler Stephanie Coleman (who has played alongside Andreassen in Uncle Earl and with whom she co-hosts a popular weekly old time jam session), and vocalists Aoife O'Donovan, Ruth Ungar Merenda (the Mammals, Mike+Ruthy), and Cassandra Jenkins.

Andreassen has spent her career building a community of folk musicians, hosting a weekly old-time jam at Brooklyn’s Lowlands Bar and founding the Miles of Music Camp for all ages but ‘Gondolier’ marks a new phase in her life and career and a powerful songwriter reaching new heights.

New Yorkers: Andreassen will perform duo with Chris Eldridge as part of John Platt’s WFUV On Your Radar show at Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 3 on December 9.

Kristin Andreassen Performance Schedule

12/9: New York, NY - WFUV’s On Your Radar at Rockwood Music Hall (Duo w/ Chris Eldridge)
12/17: Marlboro, NY - Concert & Square Dance (w/ Chris Eldridge & Mike + Ruthy)
1/4 - 5/2015 - Cambridge, MA - Club Passim (as member of Sub Rosa Collective)
1/6/2015 - Northampton, MA - The Parlor Room (as member of Sub Rosa Collective)
1/7/2015: New Haven, CT - Cafe 9 (w/ Chris Eldridge)
1/8/2015: Brooklyn, NY - Jalopy Theatre (APAP Showcase)
1/9/2015: New York, NY - Don’t Tell Mama (APAP Showcase)
1/11/2015: Huntington, VT – Valley Stage (w/ Jefferson Hamer)
1/13/2015: New York, NY – Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1
1/16/2015: Raleigh, NC – Duke Energy Center for the Arts (opening for Aoife O’Donovan)
1/18/2015: Charleston, WV - Mountain Stage
1/21/2015: Nashville, TN - Music City Roots

Kristin Andreassen - Gondolier Album Preview

ANTIBALAS AND ZAP MAMA ANNOUNCE FIRST-EVER NATIONAL TOUR

Two World Music Trailblazers Unite as Zap Mama Returns for First US Tour Since 2009

(New York, NY) America’s premier afrobeat band, Antibalas, is excited to announce a collaborative tour with Zap Mama, Marie Daulne’s international polyphonic vocal group, that will travel across North America in January and February 2015.

Antibalas, founded in 1998, evolved out of the same Brooklyn-based musical nucleus as Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, and emerged onto the world music scene around 2000. After years of heavy international touring the band rose to greater prominence in 2007 for its role in the musical direction of the Broadway musical “Fela!.” 

“I've been a fan of Zap Mama for twenty years. We’ve never had the chance to collaborate before, nor with any other group on this scale. This is a thrill and a privilege for us to be working together,” says Martín Perna from Antibalas. "I think the energies and talents of each group are complementary and really exciting things will happen when we get to perform."

The 29-date Zap Mama / Antibalas tour, produced by Columbia Artists Management LLC, will be presented at performing arts centers around the country, as well as venues including the Fillmore in San Francisco, Park West in Chicago, and the Highline Ballroom in Manhattan.  The tour begins at the University of Florida at Gainesville on Jan. 21, 2015 and concludes on Feb. 27 at the University of Texas, El Paso.

The concerts will feature a brand-new presentation, deeply combining the two groups into one show specially created for this tour.  “Every time I do a tour, I want the show to have its own unique story arc which, even if it’s not explicitly expressed, still gives a certain flow or cohesiveness to the presentation,” says Zap Mama founder Marie Daulne.  “I’m very excited to explore the intersections between our globally influenced vocal harmonies and the polyrhythmic rhythms of Antibalas.  I’m sure it will be an exciting and fun journey.”  

Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof"), is a Brooklyn, NY based big band inspired by the golden age of West African and Afro-Caribbean musical styles of the 1970s as well as the jazz and improvised music traditions of their native New York. Members of Antibalas are sought-after session and touring musicians, regularly recording and performing with a spectrum of artists including the Roots, TV on the Radio, Jovanotti, Arcade Fire, Allen Tousaint, David Byrne and St. Vincent, Angelique Kidjo, and Betty Lavette.

Zap Mama, is an all-female troupe of afropop vocalists based in Europe who first created a sensation in the US world music scene in 1991 with their critically-acclaimed self-titled release on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label. Marie Daulne, known worldwide as the creative force behind Zap Mama, redefines the word "vocalist” by creatively expressing sound and storytelling through tone and pure voice. Melding afropop and with American and European urban music using ethnic polyphonic vocal structures, Zap Mama is a world-music revue that can transport the listener around the globe in the course of a song.

# # # 

Itinerary listed below:

ZAP MAMA and ANTIBALAS on tour: 

Date	City	State	Venue
1/21/15	Gainesville	FL	Curtis M. Phillips Performing Arts Center - Mainstage
1/22/15	Tampa	FL	Ferguson Hall
1/23/15	West Palm Beach	FL	Michael and Andrew Gosman Amphitheatre
1/24/15	Cutler Bay	FL	Main Stage South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center
1/25/15	Lake Buena Vista	FL	House of Blues - Lake Buena Vista
1/27/15	Atlanta	GA	Variety Playhouse
1/28/15	Richmond	VA	University of Richmond - Carpenter Theatre
1/29/15	Newport News	VA	Ferguson Center for the Arts Concert Hall
1/30/15	Washington	DC	The George Washington University Lisner Auditorium
1/31/15	Union	NJ	Kean University - Wilkins Theater
2/3/15	University Park	PA	Pennsylvania State University - Eisenhower Auditorium
2/4/15	Pittsburgh	PA	Byham Theater
2/6/15	Detroit	MI	Music Hall Center for Performing Arts
2/7/15	Toronto	ON	Koerner Concert Hall
2/9/15	Brattleboro	VT	The Latchis Theatre
2/10/15	St Johnsbury	VT	Fuller Hall
2/11/15	New York	NY	Highline Ballroom
2/12/15	Storrs	CT	University of Connecticut - Jorgensen Auditorium
2/14/15	Chicago	IL	Park West Theatre*
2/15/15	Madison	WI	Wisconsin Union Theater
2/18/15	Chico	CA	California State University, Chico - Laxson Auditorium
2/19/15	Arcata	CA	Humboldt State University - John Van Duzer Theatre
2/20/15	San Francisco	CA	The Fillmore*
2/21/15	Santa Monica	CA	The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage
2/22/15	Solana Beach	CA	Belly Up Tavern
2/24/15	Scottsdale	AZ	Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts - Piper Theater
2/25/15	Tucson	AZ	Fox Tucson Theatre*
2/27/15	El Paso	TX	UTEP *

 

* = On sale date TBA

The Strike 3 Foundation Presents Brewing with Breslow

...in Newton, MA

Signature Sounds 20th anniversary press clips

Boston Globe feature (November 26, 2014)

Valley Advocate (MA) (November 29, 2014)

Wall Street Journal track preview (Feb 24, 2015)

The Wild Honey Pie Winterpills track premiere (Feb 17, 2015)

Rolling Stone festival premiere (April 24, 2015)

Billboard album stream (February 27, 2015)