Camp out in the redwoods and enjoy the sweet tunes of artists like Daniel Higgs, Mariee Sioux, Karl Blau, Sea of Bees, Salt Minds, and many more at the second annual Invisible Ocean Festival at Old Mill Farm in Mendocino September 11 and 12! Full details here.
Songs For Beginners is Graham Nash's first solo album, initially released in 1971. It's a revelatory, universally-themed record that celebrates the betterment of the world through improvement of self. Be yourself, Graham encourages us! And through that truth, the world will flourish around you!
It somehow seems so fitting that just a few weeks ago, Graham's daughter Nile Nash, along with founder and director of all things (((folkYEAH!))), Britt Govea, released Be Yourself: A Tribute to Graham Nash's Songs for Beginners on the always amazing Grass Roots Record Company. The record features covers by Alela Diane, Vetiver, Brendon Benson (Raconteurs), Sleepy Sun, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Mariee Sioux & Greg Weeks (Espers), Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) and more! You can hear samplings of tracks from the beautiful album below:
Britt was kind enough to answer my questions about the release and how it all came together. Check out the interview below!
It somehow seems so fitting that just a few weeks ago, Graham's daughter Nile Nash, along with founder and director of all things (((folkYEAH!))), Britt Govea, released Be Yourself: A Tribute to Graham Nash's Songs for Beginners on the always amazing Grass Roots Record Company. The record features covers by Alela Diane, Vetiver, Brendon Benson (Raconteurs), Sleepy Sun, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Mariee Sioux & Greg Weeks (Espers), Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) and more! You can hear samplings of tracks from the beautiful album below:
Britt was kind enough to answer my questions about the release and how it all came together. Check out the interview below!
Nevada City native Alela Diane has already made quite a splash with her just-released album, To Be Still. The record was released on her new label, Rough Trade Records and she was written up in the illustrious Mojo as one to watch in 2009. Alela's music sounds fresh and true and it rings with evocative references to nature, life and love. Her voice commands attention with its bold and warbling tones and her songs intertwine tales of days new and old. To read my review of Alela's album, click here, and for images from her Amoeba instore back in 2007, click here. For our recent chat, read on.
Miss Ess: Was there a lightning bolt moment when you were young and you realized how important music was for you? What albums/artists were important to you during that time?
Alela Diane: I think I always knew I loved song and melody. I remember being small and hearing my dad’s guitar through the wall as I fell asleep. I’d crash out on random couches as my folks finished up band practice. I remember listening to Patsy Cline with my mom, singing along… always singing along. As I got older I
branched out into more ‘popular’ music of the time and went through my preteen obsession with Hanson: I was not completely sheltered from pop culture, as it turns out. I began to write songs & play the guitar at 19. And shortly thereafter, when I was working at a breakfast café in Nevada City, I realized I was a lot better at singing than I was at filling water and coffee-- so I stuck to it.
If you live in a hectic big city like me, you probably need a bit of respite now and again, but maybe can't afford the time and dough needed to get somewhere as far-flung as you'd like. If this is your lot in life, and you just need a little escape, I can't recommend Alela Diane's new record To Be Still enough.
The songs are bittersweet fables, longing recollections and evocative bits of each season in turn. It's all
perfectly lovely, laid out with production work by Alela's own father and recorded partially in his studio in Nevada City. Alela is helped out on a few tracks by the always amazing Mariee Sioux and the legendary Michael Hurley, whose duet with Alela couldn't be more delectable.
The album chugs and flows along, from one memorable melody to another. The songs won't stay out of my head-- whether I am walking the street or attempting to sleep, Alela's always whispering in my ear. Her music has an openness and honesty that are quite reflective of the artist herself. The album can't help but be natural and real just as Alela is, yet it still has the power to pull you away from your reality and into an alternative existance, even for just a few minutes. Stay tuned for an interview with her on the Amoeblog sometime in the very near future! [It's up now! Check it out here.]
The songs are bittersweet fables, longing recollections and evocative bits of each season in turn. It's all
perfectly lovely, laid out with production work by Alela's own father and recorded partially in his studio in Nevada City. Alela is helped out on a few tracks by the always amazing Mariee Sioux and the legendary Michael Hurley, whose duet with Alela couldn't be more delectable.The album chugs and flows along, from one memorable melody to another. The songs won't stay out of my head-- whether I am walking the street or attempting to sleep, Alela's always whispering in my ear. Her music has an openness and honesty that are quite reflective of the artist herself. The album can't help but be natural and real just as Alela is, yet it still has the power to pull you away from your reality and into an alternative existance, even for just a few minutes. Stay tuned for an interview with her on the Amoeblog sometime in the very near future! [It's up now! Check it out here.]
