NY City Slickers Answer Seven Questions Three Times, or to the Third Power of Annie, Linda & Abigail

Annie Chadwick NYCity Slicker Singer/Songwriter

1. What motivates you to write?
As a singer/songwriter, there's nothing better than writing a song that fits my voice, that is a true expression of the musical style that speaks to me and that reflects in the lyrics my take on life! Plus, to hear it realized by the awesome City Slicker guys is magical!
2. Who is the greatest unknown influence on your music?
While I was home visiting my family about a year ago, I was talking to my successful singer/songwriter cousin, Caroline Herring, and I asked her how she got inspired to write. She replied, just pick an event or moment that really means something to you and start writing. On the drive back to NYC, I started writing and haven't stopped. I love it. If you don't know Caroline Herring, go to her website www.carolineherring.com and hear some of her songs. She is AWESOME!
3. What is your most closeted, secret, guilty and humiliating musical pleasure?
I really don't feel guilty about any musical obsessions that I have. I shamelessly love and indulge myself in all music from classical to root. What ever gives you joy and speaks to your soul is what's important to me.
4. What established artist made you want to write songs, and why?
Dolly Parton is my singer/songwriter Queen! Her music and lyrics are clever, funny, sexy, richly meaningful, and constantly evolving! I would love for the City Slickers to be her opening band!
5. Advice for just-starting songwriters?
Never limit yourself and say"I could never write." JUST START. Creative inspiration comes when we stop trying too hard to be something. When I clear my mind and allow ideas to flow, it happens effortlessly!
6. Why country?
I grew-up in Mississippi and started singing in church choirs and school programs. As a teenager, I performed in an all girls acoustic folk band, "The Petticoat Minstrels" that toured around the neighboring states. I then went to college and grad school at IU and performed mostly opera and classical music. I feel like I have now come full circle back to my first love, root/country/bluegrass/gospel music. The instrumentation and acoustic sound of bluegrass along with the traditional harmony singing puts it all together for me.
7. Favorite backwoods expression?
My daddy would always say "Annie, that's mighty fine. Mighty fine!"

Abigail Hardin NYCity Slicker Singer/Songwriter

1. What motivates you to write?
What excites me most about writing is the ability to imagine and create a world. I love the challenge of creating a story of characters that can engage people in the span of 3-5 minutes. I am a very passionate person and I guess what motivates me is the opportunity to channel that energy into song.
2. Who is the greatest unknown influence on your music?
Honestly, my parents (my dad's gonna get all mushy when he reads this). I was brought up in such a musical household and was encouraged from day one to create. I learned how to be a storyteller by observing my mom. I have never seen anyone communicate through song the way she does. My dad is one of the most brilliant musicians I know. Give him an instrument and he'll learn how to play it. Watching him write and arrange music over the years has taught me how to construct a song and give it some "umph." Key changes, jazz chords, gospel choirs singing a rock opera - everything my dad does has an element of theatrics and I think people respond to that. I know I do. Being in a band with my parents has and continues to be the most amazing experience. I am so lucky.
3. What is your most closeted, secret, guilty and humiliating musical pleasure?
Guilty & humiliating pleasure.....hmmm....I don't know if it's a pleasure but one embarrassing thing I do is act out all of my songs in a mirror at home. I pretend it's my music video or I'm on stage and I get really into it. I like to live in the world of the song. I've done this since I was a little girl and would act out pop songs in reflective surfaces. It's very funny when caught in the moment.
4. What established artist made you want to write songs, and why?
Abigail Washburn. The songs she creates on the banjo and with her voice are so inspiring. She has created a unique sound, borrowing from different cultures. In my eyes, she elevates the banjo to a high class instrument. Her songs are simple, yet complex and her storytelling is so vivid. When I heard her first CD, I knew then and there that that's what I wanted to do - Play the banjo and perform my own songs. I'm still working on the banjo part, but I have found a home in writing music.
5. Advice for just-starting songwriters?
Don't judge a single thing that you write, no matter how silly or stupid it sounds. You never know where it might lead you. There is no "right" way to compose a song. Do what works for you. And write, write, write, all the time!
6. Why country?
Growing up in NYC, the two genres I was exposed to were Country & Musical Theatre. Country music lends itself to story telling almost more than any other genre, and I love that. Also you can have so much fun with country. You don't have to take yourself too seriously. Some of the best bad lyrics are in country songs, and they are amazing! Lastly, the country music that I like most has a feeling of history. I love the rich background of country music and all the different genres that it has crossed over.
7. Favorite backwoods expression?
"Tibbies on the Drumstick!"

Linda Dwyer NYCity Slicker Singer/Songwriter

1. What motivates you to write?
Being freshly in or out of love is always a motivation to write. Some of my most prolific spans have been due to love gone bad or new love highs. But I also pick up motivation on the streets of NYC. There is so much going on, and people having one sided conversations on their cell phones are an endless source...so watch out!
2. Who is the greatest unknown influence on your music?

Sheryl Crow.
3. What is your most closeted, secret, guilty and humiliating musical pleasure?

Heavy Metal.
4. What established artist made you want to write songs, and why?
James Taylor, his lyrics are amazing.

5. Advice for just-starting songwriters?

Just do it. Write all the time...even in the bathroom!
6. Why country?

Bluegrass is like Jazz, intrinsically American.
7. Favorite backwoods expression?
"I'm fixin' to...", works for everything!

Andi Rae Healy, NY City Slickers, and Savannah Sky at Rodeo Bar: Honky Tonk Angels December 9th

Jamie Lyn brings HONKY TONK ANGELS back to the Rodeo Bar for a spectacular final show of 2010. The peanuts on the floor, the VW bus, and the iconic taxidermied Bison onstage at the Rodeo will be the backdrop for a stellar lineup that includes vetted honky tonk heroines Andi Rae Healey, the NY City Slickers, and Savannah Sky.

The show at the Rodeo promises to please country music fans of all stripes: with Andi Rae Healy’s neo-traditional honky tonk and stratight-drive country sound, then the raucous and lovely bluegrass-infused NY City Slickers, and Savannah Sky’s boot scootin’ interpretations of Classic Country songs.

Honky Tonk Angels is one of the hottest regular NYC-Country events running, and has been playing to standing room only crowds for two years now. The monthly songwriter series was recently featured on the front page of Delimagazine.com, has twice been featured on the Country.com blog, is a Voice Choice, A TimeOut NY Recommended Event, and was named the BrooklynCountry.com “Event of the Month” in June 2008, September 2008, and February 2009. A night of raucous original music from New York’s finest female alt-country bands, HONKY TONK ANGELS provides a stomping ground for women who write cutting edge music across a variety of sub-genres – classic country, country-rock, alt-country, Americana, bluegrass, western swing, and country-folk. The show curates artists who pay homage to the raw and eclectic soul of American roots music cultivated in the heart of New York City.

On Thursday, December 9, HONKY TONK ANGELS presents Andi Rae Healy (10:00 pm), The New York City Slickers (11:00 pm) and Savannah Sky (12:00 midnight) at the Rodeo Bar, 375 3rd Avenue (at E. 27th street), New York, NY 10016-9065.

Honky Tonk Angels is BACK!!!!

Jamie Lyn and company bring HONKY TONK ANGELS back to Hill Country BBQ on Thursday, November 11th with a lineup that features the talents of Brooklyn songstress Kelli Rae Powell, Lindy Loo & the Jake Leg Strutters, and country-rock maven Michaela Anne Band. A night of raucous original music from New York’s finest female alt-country bands, HONKY TONK ANGELS provides a stomping ground for women who write cutting edge music across a variety of sub-genres – classic country, country-rock, alt-country, Americana, bluegrass, western swing, and country-folk. The show curates artists who pay homage to the raw and eclectic soul of American roots music cultivated in the heart of New York City.

This month's lineup:
9:00 pm Kelli Rae Powell
Kelli Rae Powell is the tiny ukulele-wielding, redheaded stepchild of Billie Holiday and Johnny Cash. Whether she's growling out wry ruminations or purring her way through a drinkaby (a lullaby-meets-drinking song of her own device), she delivers the kind of consistently literate lyrics that once prompted Tommy Ramone to call her a poet. The Deli Magazine NYC says, "Kelli is a talented folkstress, a great performer and a wonderful entertainer. Particularly suited for all the ones who have relationship problems."
www.kelliraepowell.com

10:00 pm Lindy Loo & the Jake Leg Strutters
Lindy Loo and the Jake Leg Strutters are a honky tonk bluegrass band. Lindy Loo, who first went to Nashville as Miss Minnie Pearl's protégé, blends music and comedy in that same old school country tradition and her Strutters play right along. With a balance of heartstrings and humor their honky tonk tales illuminate big city country living. Lindy has long been a fixture on the New York Country music scene, and has been called "…One of the funniest gals in this great country of ours…" by Country Weekly. http://www.myspace.com/bigcityhick.


11:00 pm The Michaela Anne Band
Growing up in a military family, Michaela Anne lived as a modern day gypsy - traveling the American terrain as well as abroad. Drawing inspiration from great artists like Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris and Hank Williams to name a few, her result is a rich blend of the down home folk and country of her family's Midwestern roots, with the sophisticated worldly sounds of the city. Whether it's a soft intimate moment you're searching for or a boot-stompin hollerin' good time, a show with Michaela Anne is sure to bring it! www.michaelaanne.com

Drina Seay answers seven questions for songwriters

SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR SONGWRITERS

1. What makes you write?

That’s a question I ask myself all the time! Everything has already been done, why even bother? I always come back to the fact that every single one of us on the planet has a different perspective. I think about the songs I love and how it feels to be able to relate to them. I hope that by writing what I like and what’s true for me that somebody else will relate to it, too.



2. Who is the greatest unknown influence on your music?

By far, my husband Dave. He always believes in me. Thank you, Dave! I love you!



3. What is your most closeted, secret, guilty and humiliating musical pleasure?

Love Hurts, the Nazareth version. There, I said it.



4. What established artist made you want to write songs, and why?

Holy cow, there are so many. Here in NYC I would have to say that my 2 favorite established songwriters are Monica Passin of Li’l Mo & the Monicats and Elena Skye of the Demolition String Band. Both are amazingly strong, bold women, excellent instrumentalists, and know how to throw down and have a great time. They both made me realize that you can write and play all different kinds of songs from all genres, and that silly and fun songs can be just as good as or better than serious and sad ones.



5. Advice for just-starting songwriters on establishing yourself as a woman in the industry?

Well, I’m certainly not established. Here’s some advice I have been given that I try to keep in mind: write everything you think of, don’t self-judge. Even if you think a song is terrible, it’s still good to go through the process of writing it so you can move on and get to the next thing. Not every great songwriter can be like Bob Dylan and have the songs just pour out. I’ve heard many great songwriters say you have to write a hundred bad songs before you get a good one. The point is to just keep on doing it.



6. Why country?

Funny, I grew up NOT liking country music at all. I’m still not fond of mainstream pop country. I’m more of a vintage girl. I like the roots of country, a bunch of folks sitting around, singing and playing their hearts out together. I love jam parties in peoples’ living rooms and sitting around campfires. I love melodies and songs that seem timeless.



7. Favorite backwoods expression?

Hard tellin’, not knowin’!

Hey, Loretta!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Hey, Loretta...




As many of you know, I am a huge Loretta Lynn fan-- and today being her birthday, I thought I might take a moment to jot down a few thoughts I have on the road she forged for all women in music, but particularly for Appalachian women and those of us working in country music in particular. I wracked my brain this morning, trying to come to grips with a way to articulate what Ms. Lynn's music-- coupled with her experience making it-- really means to me.

A few weeks back a good friend of mine and I were batting stuff back and forth on the ubiquitous facebook page, and he asked me who Loretta Lynn is; "Is she a singer?"
I was amazed. How could someone not KNOW Ms. Lynn's ouvre? Her stature as an artist, a writer, a woman, a warrior?

Anyway, this here is what I told him:
Loretta Lynn is the iconic female trailblazer in American country music. A honky tonk maverick, she demurred from taking the "Stand By Your Man" stance of most of her peers, penning hits such as "Don't Come Home A Drinkin' With Lovin On Your Mind", "Your Squaw is on the Warpath Tonight", "Rated X", "One's on the Way", "The Pill"..., and won a grammy in 2005 at the age of 74 for her rock and roll collaboration with Jack White of the White Stripes for their studio album, "Van Lear Rose". Ms. Lynn was married at age 13 to "Doo" Lynn, and did not pick up a guitar until she was 26; transforming herself from housewife to country music superstar, she never lost touch with her rural roots, once telling a record executive, "Record?! I can't come to Nashville and record! I'm canning sausage!".

So in writing all this, I recalled a song that I don't sing that often anymore, but that I wrote as a tribute to her. Here are the lyrics, and a little pigdin recording I did a long time ago. I hope you like it.

"Country Girl's Lullabye"

Sister’s in the driveway, peddalin’ her life away
I try to play along to “The Pill”
I always wanted to sing like Loretta and I guess I always will
It was miles of dirt road to the nearest town
And no neighbors to holler, “turn the radio down”
So we listened to it loud and long as we could
sang along till thought we sang it just as good

Patsy, Dolly and Kitty and Emmylou
If not for them women pushin’ through every Kentucy’ gal’d be alone and blue
With a sound so sweet it’d get you high, keening so fierce it’d make you cry
They brought us the sound of a country girl’s lullabye


Them label reps on the Nashville scene, with their synthesizers and drum machines
Can’t tell me what nothin but a dollar means
The neighbors never holler “turn the radio down” because ol’ country’s gone to town
I turn it on to pick me up and it just lets me down


CMTV jumps and screams with girls more fit for magazines
Than singing about working peoples dreams
None of the sound gets me near high, and I just hang my head and cry
Is this the sound of a country girl’s lullabye?


I don’t know where all them years have gotten to
I spin that dial searching for a tune
half as true as “Sixteenth Avenue”
Work your hands to leather on that old guitar
saw that fiddle like you got some heart
Take back the sound from the boys in A & R


Break the radio and throw it in the pond
Lord knows where the music’s gone
And the ones that’s left behind gotta carry it on
With a sound so sweet it’d get you high
keening so fierce it’d make you cry
And listen to the sound of the country girl’s lullabye
I was born to sing a country girl's lullabye...

love,
Jamie Lyn

Honky Tonk Angels April 29 at Hill Country!

New York’s finest all-female alt-country show continues to bring you high quality roots music straight from the heart of the five boroughs on April 29 at Hill Country Barbeque. Jamie Lyn & The Red Tail Hawk Band make a rare appearance, kicking off the show at 9pm with bassist Ryan Combs joining Jamie Lyn’s roster of venerable honky tonk heroes. At 10pm, The Rosy Nolan Band takes the stage, bringing their spiky, rustic, country-inspired style of music and Nolan’s disarmingly honest lyrics. Banjo Jim’s booker and local country music maven Drina Seay headlines the show, with Drina and the Deep Blue Sea. NYC music blog Lucid Culture (www.lucidculture.wordpress.com) describes Drina as "honey-voiced". Drina is a frequent guest harmony singer with Li'l Mo & the Monicats and Sean Kershaw & the New Jack Ramblers, and appears on both the new album by Li'l Mo & the Monicats ON THE MOON, and Sean Kershaw's new release CONEY ISLAND COWBOY.

The show begins at 9 pm and live music continues until midnight, with each set starting on the hour. Honky Tonk Angels is of the most highly acclaimed NYC roots-country events running. The monthly songwriter series was chosen as a recommended event on NYCountry.com in January 2010, featured on the front page of Deli Magazine in October 2009, named a Voice Choice in December 2008, is a a TimeOut Recommended Event, and was named BrooklynCountry.com “Event of the Month” in June 2008, September 2008, and February 2009. Honky Tonk Angels is in its third year of providing a stomping ground for women who write cutting edge songs across a variety of sub-genres: classic country, country-rock, alt-country, Americana, bluegrass, western swing, and country-folk.

On Thursday, April 29th Honky Tonk Angels presents Jamie Lyn & The Red Tail Hawk Band (9:00 pm), The Rosy Nolan Band (10:00 pm) and Drina & The Deep Blue Sea (11:00pm) at Hill Country Barbeque, 30 W. 26th Street, New York, NY 10010.

Honky Tonk Angels Pre-Show Caucus

Helllloooo Honky Tonk Angels
I'm not a big fan of meetings but we're going to try to have a quick powwow before the show this Thursday, from 9-10 pm in the basement bar at Hill Country. Rosy and I have a bunch of ideas to throw out there, and I kinda want to touch base with the ladies since I'm not in town much any more and seldom call unless I'm in a booking frenzy.
Here's the agenda:
-Upcoming show dates
-Songwriter series
-The Lorettas (sort of like the grammys, but for us)
-Resource Bank and Mentoring-- i.e. where do you record, how to find a bass player who's not criminally insane (present company excluded, of course), etc. etc.
Come by for a drink and I'll see ya'all there!
Love,
Jamie Lyn & Rosy