vibes|Music
Connect Savannah 08.23.06 www.connectsavannah.com
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eams Come Tru r D r eA u o Y tT ke a he M • Music lessons on most instruments • Private lessons & introductory courses available • Beautiful facility
912-354-1500 7650 Abercorn Street (1 block North of Oglethorpe Mall) www.portmansmusic.com
CaledOnIan
the Midtowns local pub Daily Happy Hour 4PM-8PM Come See Why We’re One of Savannah’s
Best New Bars!
Every Monday Is Trivia Night! Every Wednesday Is Ladies Night: Half Priced Drinks For The Ladies
Live Music Saturday Night: Red Eye Jedi Wednesday Aug. 23rd: $2 Pints of Old Savannah Brew All Night Abercorn and Victory • 236-8787 • www.caledonianpub.com
MOROCCAN RESTAURANT & BAZAAR
Thank you for voting us Best Exotic Restaurant 2006 Also voted Best International Ethnic Cuisine 2002 by Savannah Morning News Delicious Moroccan Cuisine! Authentic ceremonial atmosphere! Belly dancing shows nightly! Fun & memorable dining experience!
We specialize in birthday parties!
234-6168 118 East Broughton St. Downtown Savannah Reservations Suggested. 5:30 to 10:30pm nightly www.casbahrestaurant.com
Interview
by Jim Reed
Local songstress unveils third CD Jan Spillane celebrates with a free show and release party
Jan Spillane can still remember her first forays into the world of music. At the age of five, she says she first began to compose her own lyrics, pluck out melodies on the piano, and dabble in singing. Before the age of ten, this driven performer found herself in a professional recording studio. Perhaps it was her upbringing which aided her in such heady endeavours. Spillane recalls an early childhood filled with music, which is not surprising, given that she comes from a long line of musicians. Later in life she would throw herself into the performing with a passion, becoming immersed in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s singer/ songwriter movement. To this day, she credits such idiosyncratic artists as Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Carly Simon and Carole King as seminal influences on what would later become her own soulful, emotionally direct approach to song craft. “I’m inspired by the world around me,” she says. “I find music in every corner and in every person I meet.” The act of drawing inspiration from personal relationships and acquaintances is not a new development in the world of popular music, but in the case of Spillane’s brandnew album Painting The Blues, it was key to developing the material which makes up the emotional core of the record. “This CD is a little different from my previous two,” Spillane opines. “I think it’ll probably come as a slight surprise to those who have heard those. Folks know me for being more bluesy than anything else, but this is more similar to folk blues than the things I’ve recorded in the past.” “My first album, Gut Feeling, was more of a jazzy, contemporary blues sound. This one reflects that a little bit as well, but I have a feeling that people will see this as me moving in more of. — I don’t know what you’d call it. Maybe a new direction?” Jan’s right in assuming the mood and orchestration of Painting The Blues may throw some of her longtime fans for a bit of a loop. At first blush, her description of the record as being similar to “folk blues” will seem inaccurate —if one assumes that to mean the rural, country blues typified by early
Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins or Sleepy John Estes LPs— but if Spillane is referring to a mixture of both contemporary, keyboard-based blues and modern folk, then her description is on the money. The dozen cuts on this independently released CD run the gamut from the coun-
try-tinged opener “5-Star Hotel,” which sounds not unlike Jan’s idol Joni Mitchell channelling the idyllic, jovial Americana of John Prine, to the plaintive, solo piano ballad “Sure Is Nice” — a brooding paean to true love and happiness that one could easily imagine Aretha Franklin cutting down in Muscle Shoals for producer Jerry Wexler (back in her Atlantic Records years). As if that weren’t enough of a stretch, the driving drumbeat and interplay between acoustic and electric guitars help propel “The Bitter End” into the kind of modern, adult-oriented female-led folk-rock commonly associated with The Indigo Girls or Suzanne Vega. Spillane says the new record is all over the map in part because of the genesis of the material itself. “I consider this to be my most inspired CD to date,” she explains. “By that I mean that many of the songs were inspired by the people who have touched my life in meaningful ways.” “I think that when we started working on the album, there were little more than a few cuts on there that were definitely inspired by particular people. Then as work progressed from one studio to the next, I started to find myself becoming even more inspired by the other musicians on the record. The energy I get from being around other creative players is similar to the feel-