Iris DeMent Sing the Delta
K.O.K.O (Keep On Keeping On) Yvonne Ramage
have to admit that until very recently I had not heard of Iris Dement. But when I saw the cover of her new CD I had to hear what she had to say in her new book of songs. Just by looking at her I was positive that this was a singer with deep roots in Arkansas and would surely deliver a soulful combination of gospel, blues, folk and country. I was not disappointed. DeMent’s new album, her fifth, is her first in eight years. All the songs on Sing the Delta are written by DeMent and she explores varying kinds of loss as she captures her times spent in “tiny, over-crowded bars, half-empty theatres, libraries, churches, museums, parks, parking lots and tents…you name it.” Her mother used to ask her: “Ain’t you got tard yet of trapesin all over the country?” Dement was born in the Arkansas Delta, and although she moved to California as a child, the influence of the region is vividly recalled both in her voice and in her own words. She says it’s where “my people on both sides going back eked out a livin’ farmin’ and fillin’ cotton sacks.” DeMent explains that she comes from a musical family and says she got from her religious parents that “music was something to lean on.” The songs about her early childhood in Arkansas - where she would sometimes attend a Pentecostal church seven days a week - are tales of love and pained stories of death and faith questioned. You’ll be both captivated and soothed by The Night I Learned How Not to Pray, Go On Ahead and Go Home (which brings touches of Loretta Lyn to memory) and the wonderful Before The Colours Fade and Sing the Delta. As DeMent plays the piano she lifts her drawling voice and delivers the memories of the Arkansas Delta. John Prine, one of her early advocates, said, “Iris’s songs talk about isolated memories of life, love and living.” by Pamela Hulse Andrews
vonne Ramage, an acoustic solo artist, wrote and produced a CD called K.O.K.O, featuring her funky-folky mix of upbeat pop sounds. Ramage returns to her roots in the Pacific Northwest after touring internationally and living in Las Vegas performing original music and polishing her songwriting skills. K.O.K.O showcases Ramage’s smooth vocals while on guitar and flute with Anthony Pickett on bass. Soulful lyrics are written by Ramage to capture “a single journey that can be shared and understood by many.” The neo-soul blended with the pop and folk sounds on this CD will move you to Come Dance and put a spring in your step, to pause, enjoying a moment in life. The second song is called Jah Motion, representing our need for more “Jah” (oneness, Hallelujah, divine nature) in the world.” Her musical journey began in Antarctica in 1995 where Ramage focused on music as “an avenue of expression.” She has drawn from her travel experiences and adventures in Antarctica, New Zealand, Fiji and Micronesia to illustrate her own journey as a lyrical story. Keep On Keeping On being the third song on her seventh CD has a groovy and sultry vibe. Taking a break from live performing, Ramage focused her time on the sound and studio production of this soulful, rhythmic album and now is taking it on the road. Ramage recently settled in Bend and has a local performance on March 9, 6:30pm at River Rim Coffeehouse in Brookswood Plaza. www.yvonneramage.com. by April Lewis
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www.CascadeAE.com| February 2013
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Janiva Magness Stronger for It
ontemporar y blues singer Janiva Magness has been nominated for the 2013 Blues Music Awards / B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year-- Stronger for It, Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year-- Stronger for It and Song of the Year–I Won’t Cry (by Magness and Dave Darling) from Stronger for It. (She previously won the Blues Foundation’s 2009 B.B. King Entertainer of the Year.) Her robust and soulful voice graces her newest CD, Stronger for It, which is deemed a little more passionate than some of her previous recordings including Devil is an Angel Too (2010), What Love Will Do (2008) and Do I Move You (2006). A brief rundown of how Janiva came to the blues was recently unveiled in an interview with Lauren Daley: When Magness was 13, her mother committed suicide. When she was 16, her father followed suit. So Magness ran away from home. She was homeless on the streets of Berkley, California for six months, and got pregnant when she was 16. Magness kept her baby girl for four months before realizing she could not take care of the infant, and gave her up for adoption. She numbed her pain with drink and drugs. She was often homeless, in and out of foster homes and social workers ultimately didn’t know how to help her, she said. Today, at 55, Magness is an ambassador for Foster Care Alumni of America. Magness — who hasn’t recorded her own songs since her 1997 debut — co-wrote three for her new album: There It Is, Whistling in The Dark and I Won’t Cry. The new album also includes songs by Tom Waits, Matthew Sweet, Buddy and Julie Miller, Shelby Lynne, Grace Potter and Ray Wylie Hubbard — all with her unique vocal strengths that tug at your heart. Stronger for It seems assertive and inspirational, more inventive than other recordings. Following recent difficult events in her life, she professes this is a statement of survival, singing about loss and now recovery. We profess this to be yet another outstanding and passionate recording by a rather incredible original vocalist. by Pamela Hulse Andrews