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"Love and Circumstance" - Album Reviews
Album released April 13th, 2010
"...simply an understated triumph. Grade: A " - Glide Magazine (Jun 07, 2010)
“Carrie Rodriguez proves herself an astute interpreter of other people's material via her latest - and best album to date.” - Lee Zimmerman/BLURT (April 21, 2010)
“...a case of the right album at the right time.” - Village Records (04/02/10)
“...her latest absolutely floored me. It’s a dozen covers so skillfully done that some of the original artists might be tempted to enter the witness protection program. If this isn’t her breakthrough album there’s no justice!” - Phoenix Brown & Lars Vigo/Off-Center Views (May 1, 2010)
“This is an album that you do not want to miss.” - NoDepression.net (02/04/10)
“Taken as a whole, the album is a slow burn reminiscent of Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball.... the best showcase of Carrie Rodriguez’s talent to date.” - Juli Thanki/Music & Musicians (May, 2010)
“Rodriguez has taken a handful of classic tracks from her genre and truly made them her own. - Daniela Garcia/Venus Zine (May 3, 2010)
"Those who have been following Carrie Rodriguez throughout her career will find Love & Circumstance an exciting addition to her oeuvre, new fans will get a glimpse of the rising star’s influences; both will revel in the sterling musicianship and heartfelt interpretations of new and classic songs. ”" - Barry, Birdland (May 03, 2010)
“Cover albums by artists known for writing their own material can be double-edged swords. It's a tricky balance to put your own stamp on material that others have created without losing the original's unique qualities. For every illuminating spotlight into their formative influences such as Bowie's Pin Ups or Willie Nelson's Stardust, there is an equally misguided dud like half of Bob Dylan's Self Portrait. Singer/songwriter Rodriguez gets it right, though... Actually, if you didn't check the liner notes, it might seem that M. Ward's "Eyes on the Prize" or Richard Thompson's "Waltzing's for Dreamers" are Rodriguez-penned since their breezy, easy flowing melodies feel similar to her own. Rodriguez also interprets songs written by her family, in particular father David's "When I Heard Gypsy Davy Sing," and one from her great aunt, the only Spanish-language-sung track here, "La Punalada Trapera".... That's especially critical when Rodriguez attempts standards such as a stripped-down rendition of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and Merle Haggard's "I Started Loving You Again." .... The bigger, more layered approach on Lucinda Williams' "Steal Your Love" and Little Village' s obscure "Big Love" help make them centerpieces that both ground the disc and allow Rodriguez to show she's as powerful on them as on the more sparse arrangements. She rescues David Rawlings' and Gillian Welch's little-heard "I Made a Lover's Prayer" and bolsters it with drums and dark strumming, even aggressive guitars highlighted by a stunning Frisell solo. Love and Circumstance is beautifully conceived, passionately performed, and every bit the equal of the other two terrific releases in her solo catalog.” - All Music Guide review by Hal Horowitz
“Albums of cover songs are curious things. An artist can often reveal more in the choice and interpretation of someone else's song than in an original composition -- a fact that comes to light in brilliant effect with Love and Circumstance, the new album from Carrie Rodriguez. Rodriquez has that rare ability to make her songs work completely, where the scope of instrumentation is equal to the lyrics and melody. It is that special innate gift as well as her obvious love of a perfectly attuned and deeply personal song that makes the dozen covers on Love and Circumstance such a compelling and revelatory listen... Just one of many standout tracks is "Big Love", a song originally written and recorded by the one-off Little Village (John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner). We're also smitten by the sumptuous version of Lucinda Williams' modern roots classic "Steal Your Love", a towering, transcendent anthem of goose bump-raising proportions. Highly recommended.” - Direct Current“I’ve really pretty much had it with covers records — but even I have to admit that not all of them are created equal, and very, very few of them boast pedigrees as stellar as Carrie Rodriguez’s Love and Circumstance. Rodriguez herself is no slouch, and I happen to think she actually excels when she’s interpreting others’ material — and here, she’s not only joined by an ace band that includes Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz, but she cherry-picks from some spectacular songbooks, including John Hiatt (the Little Village cut “Big Love”), Lucinda Williams (“Steal Your Love”), and Townes Van Zandt (“Rex’s Blues”). The result is a collection that does a wonderful job of paying tribute to some of roots rock’s leading lights. The band is marvelous, as you’d expect, and Rodriguez’s vocals have the sweetness and fine texture of dark honey. In fact, she damn near makes these songs her own; if you aren’t familiar with the originals, you’d never suspect their disparate origins, and even if you loved these songs the first time around, you’ll be hard-pressed to deny that Rodriguez does right by them. Looking at the album artwork, you might be tempted to dismiss her as purely a pretty face, but don’t be fooled — the ever-so-slightly burred edges of her voice hint at a spiritual depth beyond her 32 years, and musically, Love and Circumstance has more to offer than your typical covers project. Just listen to the tangled knots of guitar that unspool in “Punalada Trapera,” and you’ll understand that this is a labor of love, not a lazy holding pattern between “real” albums.” - Jeff Giles, CD Review
Carrie Rodriguez doesn’t just cover the love songs in her fourth album, she inhabits them. The Austin, Texas, singer-songwriter grew up among musicians, studied violin at Berklee College of Music, plays fiddle, electric mandolin, and tenor guitar, and toured with Chip Taylor. That pedigree shows on Love and Circumstance, which has a big, polished sound rich in texture and instrumentation. Hans Holzen (guitar and mandolin) and Kyle Kegerreis (bass) are joined by guests Bill Frisell (guitar), Greg Leisz (lap steel), and Buddy Miller and Aoife O’Donovan (harmony vocals). Rodriguez’s voice is arresting whether she’s slowing down Lucinda Williams’s “Steal Your Love,” giving a fresh interpretation to Richard Thompson’s “Waltzing’s for Dreamers,” or belting it out on “Big Love” (Little Village). This is masterful musicianship, with primacy given to the guitars, which blend beautifully yet inhabit different spaces within the songs, so that the character of each—tremolo, acoustic, electric, tenor—shines. There are lovely touches on every cut, like the ecstatic single lines on “La Puñalda Trapera” that play up Rodriguez’s soulfulness or the way Frisell’s guitar dances jazzily around the single repeated notes chiming from Rodriguez’s mandolin on Hank Williams’s “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” A stunner. (Ninth Street Opus) - Celine Keating, Acoustic Guitar
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"We Still Love Our Country" - Album Reviews:
Album released February 1st 2011
"…this album is more than just a pair of talented musicians - with fine and subtle voices - imitating the styles of past greats. They have imposed their own talents on some exceptional songs. "
"…they rise to the challenge. It feels like a proper homage to Harris and Parsons but stands on its own merits." - 10/10/11 The Telegraph, UK
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"Rodriguez & Kyle harmonize brilliantly and you can feel the respect that sits between these two – I hesitate to say passion because this is one of those rare ‘couples’ albums that doesn’t sound as though the two are desperately in love – they just sound as though they are enjoying the music together." - Andy Snipper / Music News, UK (November, 2011)
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"Rodriguez and Kyle bring back to country music some of that old romantic and much missed sparkle." - Allan Wilkinson/Northern Sky, UK (November, 2011)
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Carrie Rodriguez has slowly carved out a name for herself over the past few years in the Americana field. Originally teaming up with veteran Chip Taylor her voice and fiddle made their four albums together a delight before launching a solo career. Here she returns to a duet format in tandem with Ben Kyle from the mid west band Romantica on an album that basically does what it says on the tin, proclaiming their love of country. Kyle’s youthful vocals replace Taylor’s sepia toned veteran’s voice and the pair of them sing wonderfully together on a selection of six covers and two originals. With a fine band in the shape of Luke Jacobs on pedal steel, Hans Holzen, guitars, Kyle Kegerreis, bass and Ricky Fataar on drums the playing is sweet and tender and always sympathetic.
Kyle’s Your Lonely Heart opens the album and immediately recalls classic vocal duos such as Tammy and George or Dolly and Porter on a humbucking country jaunt with exuberant fiddle guitar and pedal steel. A fine start. The other original song, Fire Alarm, penned by Rodriguez and Kyle is a rollicking rendition of a bickering couple who find their faults but stick together. The meat of the album however is in the covers which are in the main ballads, delivered with an intensity that raises the album well above that of a covers collection. Townes Van Zandt’s If I Needed You is given a reverential treatment with a shuffling rhythm and delicate fiddle playing. Kyle’s vocals come into focus here. He’s got a fine voice, slightly worn, wispy, vulnerable, perfectly matched to Rodriguez’s voice. They repeat this feat on their version of John Prine’s lachrymose Unwed Fathers but the gem here is Chip Taylor’s Big Kiss where their voices melt into each other with an ebb and flow that is spinetingling.
Squirrelling away throughout the album is the memory of what some might call the supreme male/female team of alt country, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. It’s reinforced with the inclusion of You’re Still On My Mind, a song Parsons sang with the Byrds and which Emmylou has covered. Rodriguez and Kyle grab the bull by the horns on the last song, their version of Love Hurts, a song covered by many but within the Americana idiom owned by Emmylou and Gram via their version on Grievous Angel. Kyle acknowledges this saying “ Gram and Emmy were a deep inspiration for this project and so you can say we chose this song as an acknowledgement or a sort of homage to them.” Suffice to say that the shivers sent up the spine on listening to this proves that they can carry this off.
A short album, only 30 minutes long, it’s a miniature gem and well worth grabbing a hold of.
– October 15, 2011 by Paul Kerr
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"…when these two sing together they produce a natural, wonderful sound that makes you think that they were born to sing together. In time this short, but perfect, selection of six covers and two originals might well prove to be the highlight of Rodriguez’s career. It’s an inspired project, not just the two musicians getting together but the songs they’ve chosen to cover really are made for this duo." - November, 2011, Malcolm Carter/Penny Black Music, UK
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Somewhere along the line, country became cool again. It seems that since Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” cover, folks having been flocking back to the side of country again, from rocker Kid Rock to even actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow and pop stars like Jessica Simpson. Yet some have more organic and honest connections to the genre, like Austin-based singer/songwriters Ben Kyle and Carrie Rodriguez. We Still Love Our Country shows just how seamless that connection is.
To be frank, the album has a very indie-Americana vibe for it going as opposed to classic or modern country but that’s just fine as it stands more as homage to the genre as opposed to a blatant rip-off. The instrumentation is perfect, subtle, and played with ease as Rodriguez and Kyle’s voice melt together like butter onto a hot biscuit. It’s a winning combination that fuels this eight-song record with laid-back passion.
“Your Lonely Heart,” one of two original tracks here, is a fine start, with its boozy tale of love and shuffling two-step fueled by tasteful flourishes of pedal steel. The Townes Van Zandt tune “If I Needed You” is treated warmly, with a subdued soundscape and beautiful harmonies while “Fire Alarm,” the other original, gets the toes tapping again with playful lyrics and warm accompaniment that make you long for more originals from the tandem.
“You’re Still On My Mind” is a signature barroom weeper, complimented nicely by Rodriquez’s fiddle touches but its John Prine and Robert Braddock’s “Unwed Fathers” that steals the show. The lyric already solid, Kyle and Rodriguez deliver the song with passion and poise, and making it one of the most poignant tracks on the album. Added to album closer “Love Hurts,” which captures the heart of the lyric with poignance, one is left with a desire for more.
Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Kyle are the real deal and We Still Love Our Country is a great calling card. Give it a listen and see if you don’t agree. - Soul Audio - www.soul-audio.com
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With Kyle and Rodriguez sounding, in a powerful dialogue, as if they’re on the verge of tears, the narrative’s sorrow is underscored by the distant cry of pedal steel and the lonely twang of electric guitar. Albums twice as long as this rarely get to as profound a place of loss and longing as what Rodriguez and Kyle discover in these eight songs, theirs included. Flat nail it, they did. - The Bluegrass Special - David McGee (Feb, 2011)
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"Live in Louisville" - Album Reviews
“...a masterpiece of erotic persuasion, a haunting meditation of rhythmic sounds. ...a work of voodoo.”
- Shelton Ivany / National News Bureau, his review of Live in Louisville“Flirty, dirty and pretty, Live in Louisville is Rodriguez at her best.”
- Michael Swanger/Des Moines Cityview, from his review of Live in Louisville“The cinematic scope of "Mask of Moses" and the overly sexual "50's French Movie" will have some listeners thinking Nickel Creek has melted into Sonic Youth.”
- Gene Armstrong/Tucson Weekly, from his review of Live in Louisville -
"She Ain’t Me" - Album Reviews
"Yes, Miss. Rodriguez is a fiddle player, having gravitated toward the instrument since age 5. Nevertheless, 'She Ain't Me' presents a number of additional identities that suit her well, from songwriter to guitarist, singer and mandolin player. Try to pigeonhole or label such an artist - an unclassifiable musician who, in less than 10 years, has packed more change into her career than someone twice her age - and there's only one appropriate response: It ain't over."
- Andrew Leahy - The Washington Times (12/12/08) -
Live Performance Reviews:Show review: Bill Frisell & Carrie Rodriguez @ Continental Club Friday
The set-up for the early show at the Continental Friday was pretty minimal: a couple of old Fender Deluxe Reverb amps on gray milk crates, a somewhat worn Telecaster that looked like it had stories to tell, a vintage Martin tenor four-string, a fiddle and a few effects pedals on the worn stage carpet.
With these tools and their voluminous talents, Bill Frisell and Carrie Rodriguez kept a packed house spellbound for a couple of hours. The year is young, but this might have been the best show Austin sees all year. (Sorry, Radiohead.)
Club owner Steve Wertheimer nailed it introducing the pair: “When you have two of the best players in the world, this is what happens.”
Both are omnivores when it comes to the American songbook. Frisell’s roots in jazz are plain — he can even find places to put jazz chords in a Townes Van Zandt song and make the listener think, “Oh, yeah, that was what was missing before.” Rodriguez is a violin virtuoso was a strong, pure voice that served the mostly vocal set well. As Frisell is wont to do, the two extensively reworked covers to make them sound wholly original. The opener, Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway,” with Frisell’s celestial tones, made a pretty strong case that Hank may have been the original space cowboy. The Beatles’ “I’m So Tired” sounded like it belonged on heaven’s jukebox.
Frisell, without question the least ego-infected guitarist alive, kept his eyes on Rodriguez and she on him. It was plain they love playing with each other; the creative sparks were hot even if the sound was quiet.
So quiet. Frisell kept turning down so that we could barely hear him even three feet from the lip of the stage. So quiet you could hear him clicking pedals on and off with his foot. So quiet you could hear the crowd collectively have its breath stolen.
Her Royal Blondness remarked that Frisell’s demeanor and vest reminded her of Mr. Rogers and she’s right. The man is a gentle and generous soul, not to mention a guitar god. With Rodriguez at his side, the guy has the chops and imagination to turn a Kinks song, “Tired Of Waiting,” into a virtual symphony.
They encored with Hank’s “Bucket’s Got a Hole in It,” and pretty much every person in the house left smiling, shaking their head and likely thinking, “Best show of the year.”
There, I said it.
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"Even though she has been part of the Belcanto elite in the genre of country folk music for a long time, one has to praise Carrie Rodriguez' courage in daring to tackle quite a number of the most famous songs of such artists as Hank Williams and Merle Haggard in this new CD of a dozen covers. She succeeds just splendidly , accompanied by such artists as Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz. Even more amazing are her interpretations of Lucinda Williams, Rawlings/Welch, Richard-Thompson and Little Village pieces. It is a musical feast to hear the beautiful Carrie instead of John Hiatt sing "Big Love " with such a longing voice. - Franz Schöler, Stereo Review, Germany
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"Carrie Rodriguez was to be at her strongest tonight. Opening with "Rex's Blues", she perfectly captured the melancholy world weariness of Townes Van Zandt's hidden treasure. The pure mountain stream of her voice suddenly sounded suitably battered and bruised as she and Jacobs' duetted on "Today I Started Loving You Again". They somehow managed to imbue Merle Haggard's lovelorn tune with a scarcely believable flickering hope. And then on the closing "La Puñalada Trapera", she grabbed the microphone with one hand and her violin with the other and properly embraced her Tex-Mex roots, setting a smouldering light to this already incredibly powerful torch song.
After "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", Rodriguez wondered aloud what Hank Williams would have made of her take on his country classic, where her mandobird guitar intertwined effortlessly with Jacob's mournful pedal steel and the song's inherent sadness was slowed down to a point where every last drop of melancholy was wrung from it. Well, if Hank had been able to stick around long enough to hear it I feel damn sure he would have approved. .... clearly a huge, huge talent." – Simon Godley/All Gigs, UK (November, 2011)
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"Regularly losing herself in the music, you know she was born to do this. Her connection with her array of instruments makes her even more of a talent. Her intuition in when to go wild with the violin or simple to restrain her voice makes for a wonderfully diverse and accomplished set." - November, 2011 - Click here for full review
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So, to the Old Queens Head on drab Essex road, to catch Carrie Rodriguez’s only London show on her latest tour. And, not knowing what to expect; and not really being a fan of this particular genre, I was in need of some convincing.
Upon arrival and after some saccharin tri-melodic delights, from Bristol’s ‘The Cadbury Sisters’ Carrie Rodriguez took to the stage and played her first love song of the evening. A song she wrote with renowned country artist Mary Gauthier no less.
What Carrie has to offer, is a little more than heartbreak Delta blues, or country music. She’s fashioned her chosen form of expression in a way that has brought traditional country blues from it’s secluded monogamy, and presented it as a contemporary form that makes it immediately accessible for all, but without selling out, and without any hidden intent, just pure expressionism.
To describe Carrie’s voice as mellifluous, is an understatement. And the way that she strikes the fiddle – so confidently, yet, so gently; synchronising every movement, as if she is trying to shake the rhythm loose; but with an urgency that is serene and not in any way anxious – is something that really needs to be witnessed.
The lack of percussion only serves to strengthen the performance – Carrie often improvising by stamping on the floor – often visibly making spontaneous changes to the live performance, due to the stripped down set-up, by deliberately not finishing chorus lines in favour of hitting the first note of the fiddle response.Her fourth song – a new one from her forthcoming album is about a lake in a pretty town in Minnesota – Lake Harriet. We’re being serenaded again; Luke Abbot - on steel string guitar, perfectly punctuated Carrie’s every word; her every draw of the bow. Abbot - often using the delay demonstratively, to great effect – almost in a percussive manner.
I barely have time to absorb the beauty with which I’ve been bestowed….then she’s gone again, in a flash of white, and cheekbones – beautiful grimaces and prettily pursed lips. Carrie Rodriguez has won the room.
Truth be told, she’d won it when the very first words that left her mouth.- by Jeremy Walton, Live at the Old Queens Head, UK 11/1/11 - Livemusic.fm
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"Opening the show was singer and multi-instrumentalist Carrie Rodriguez, coming back to the stage after a few months off from her usual never-ending tour cycle. Her time off certainly didn’t hinder her performance, as she launched into the John Hiatt-penned tune “Big Love” from her 2010 album Love and Circumstance. All throughout her set Carrie switched effortlessly between the violin, tenor guitar and electric mandolin; the instruments accompanied her gorgeous voice perfectly. She interacted well with the crowd, speaking to us between songs and letting us know what was coming next. Although she played everything well, it was when she had violin in hand that she really shined. Whether she was playing soft melodic lines or tearing up the stage with a boot-stomping fiddle attack, it her virtuosity was never in question. Her set closer was “Seven Angels on a Bicycle,” for which she was joined onstage by Erin McKeown and Tania Elizabeth — a glimpse at what was to come later in the show." - KDHX Blog - Matt Champion (2/15/2011)
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“If there was such a genre called “post-Americana”, I think Carrie Rodriguez would be the poster child. In fact, she may have invented the genre without meaning to or knowing it. For those non-music geeks, the label “post” usually refers to indie rock that is darker, has crunchy guitar riffs and typically lots of angst.”
- Ian Morales / Austin Vida (12/2/09)***
“Having experienced Rodriguez several times, I’ve come to this simple conclusion: Give the girl a stage and she’s going to shine bright." - Mike Jurkovic / Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange (12/18/09)
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“”Fiddle” and “deadly” don’t usually appear in the same sentence together – unless you’re talking about Carrie Rodriguez. Austin-born and bred and ready to take on the world. She closed out the night with some attitude on stage. ...she brought the crowd to their knees with her songs of love and regret, and a bit of vengeance.” - Jason Claypool / Denver Post (May, 27 2009)