DBT #182 International Women's Day
I was browsing around today and found out it was International Women's Day so I thought I could jump around the globes to listen to some of my favorite women.
Let's start with the global melting pot that is Chicago and visit with one of my favorite finds from Folk Alliance Regional Midwest (FARM) Show; Nikki Morgan. She really got my attention in a showcase playing harmonica and washboard, but oh my her music is a breath new air to my library. I great mix of all music styles of blues, country, folk, rock and pop blended together in her own style. Maybe I'm choosing her for the American leg because she loves my dancing, but hey being friendly to a blogger will get you mentioned more often. All kidding aside this woman is a rising star. She has a wealth of music in Bandcamp, and I own it all; but here's a great single she recently released.
Ok, let's jet you out to my favorite Swedish Americana Folk performer, Sofia Talvik. She has played my house concert, graced the blog many times (This post will make it 14 times), and I do know I'll host her again someday when schedules line up. Keeping it really global, Sofia and her husband Jonas also live in both Germany and Spain, while touring the US once or twice a year in their Mini-Winnebago. She is truly a strong woman both in writing and remodeling houses. I have seen her pictured wielding a sledge hammer, so don't get her mad. Her writing is personal and polished by her travels. Again to be fair I'll share one song but I too own her entire library in Bandcamp.
On the way back to North America, let's stop and listen to a voice that truly makes me stop and go "Oh that's Ellie Gowers" each time a song of hers comes up in a playlist or random play. Such clarity in her voice and I reviewed her fully in a Thursday review. She did make it to the states for FAI show in Kansas City, and I was sad not to make the journey but my wife did also have toe surgery so we stayed home for 4-6 weeks. Out of these four incredible women, Ellie is the least known to me but she has been polite to my posts over the last year. Ok this is sounding redundant, but yes she has nice small collection of music in Bandcamp (Yes I own it all) and with women in mind; here's a great song she wrote about the history where she grew up.
Now back to North American, let's go north to Canada, and here I found it so difficult to pick. Norah Rendell is from Canada and has played our house concert, but she is such a great leader of people in St. Paul's Irish community so I think of her as an American now. I just celebrated Jill Barber; so it HAS to be Carolyn Arends. (Right regular readers might recognize her name too.) I'm a Christian who believes firmly that people mostly think of the right wing conservative Christians first, and that's not me. Raised Catholic, I'm now an ELCA Lutheran which definitely has an open arms and is filled with Jesus's grace for ALL people (yes EVERY Path you walk, just like Jesus would love you too). I have played so many Christian hymns at church and most bore me, unless I can get a chance to get one of Carolyn's tunes into the mix. We bonded a long time ago on our love of Pierce Pettis who really avoids any reference to Christian music, but has written some of the most touching hymns. Actually Carolyn shows up in my playlist for my future wake singing Pierce's song, "I've Got a Hope"
What makes Carolyn so special is the way she weaves normal daily life into songs, and there is mostly joy and not preaching going on. Again, I own practically everything she has released either in CD or digital from Apple or Bandcamp; and she has it all out on Bandcamp. So, so, difficult to pick one song; so how about we end this celebration of women like how it began with me being Nikki's favorite dancer. Carolyn does such a fun job writing the Bible story of King David dancing into a song... but I'm no kind just a music blogger that does tend to buy a lot of music of people once I get hooked.
Next steps if you have time:
- Browse the rest of the blogs by stopping at this "Theme Page."
- Enjoy Tune Tuesday which brings you one song from a past blog post.
- See what other post have been most popular recently with our Stats Page.
- Find out who in the world thinks he has the authority to write this blog in the About.
- Let me answer why you won't find the playlists on Spotify here.
- Finally, the Mission page explains why there is no advertising cluttering the page.
If you use Facebook, we have a page that will help you remember to read the next post.
