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| Brigitte DeMeyer to Release Red River Flower CD Singer/songwriter Brigitte DeMeyer, one of the most discussed artists in the Americana movement, announces the February 17, 2009, release of her latest album, Red River Flower. The album will be released on the Bdm Music label and distributed nationally by Burnside Distribution. DeMeyer will debut songs from her new Cd at a showcase performance during the South By Southwest Music Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas, which runs from March 18-22, 2009. Produced once again by Brady Blade (who also plays drums on the CD), Red River Flower is a major step forward in DeMeyer's musical journey, taking her closer to the sound toward which she has been working for years. The CD showcases her creative growth and the gathering of some of her favorite collaborators, including No Depression magazine's "Artist of the Decade" Buddy Miller, along with guitarist Mike Henderson, steel and dobro player Al Perkins, keyboardist Phil Madeira, bassist Chris Donohue and backing singers Regina McCrary and Gayle Mayes – musicians whose empathy for DeMeyer's songs impresses nearly as much as the songs themselves. That's evident from the first notes of the opening track, the finger-snap, street song feel of "Looking for Moses." The feeling continues throughout Red River Flower, whose acoustic textures, lashed by flashes of rock intensity, illuminate the ache and understatement of DeMeyer's vocal. On "Shepherd, " the groove is relaxed but irresistible, sweetened by rustic dobro fills from Al Perkins and down-home harmonies on the chorus prayer: "Oh, Lord, make a shepherd out of me." The music flows naturally with the soaring metaphor and stark eloquence of "Bird, " the gospel-meets-Bourbon-Street swagger of "Justice, " the roadhouse stomp "Wicked to Win" and the steamy blues shuffle on "When I'm Gone": Listening to all of Red River Flower is like spending an hour or so with a friend or a loved one in the comfort of a living room. "That's exactly what I wanted, " says DeMeyer about the sessions. "That's why we made Red River Flower sound real instead of affected and layered. It's the kind of music I like to listen to, so it's the kind of music I wanted to make." The 12 original songs and one cover were recorded essentially live in Nashville, and on "Shepherd, " while assembled in one room, like a prayer circle in the former church known now as Ocean Way Studios. "The harmonies and maybe a few guitar tracks were overdubbed, but that was it, " she says. Over the course of her previous three albums, Brigitte DeMeyer has earned rave reviews from the music public and critics alike. She's opened shows for Bob Dylan, Marc Cohn and Dan Fogelberg. She writes songs as weavers thread tapestries, her most vivid colors being a Southern feel, a churchy soulfulness in her vocals, and a way with words that bore comparison to literature as easily as to the best contemporary lyrics. The music press noticed immediately. DeMeyer was compared favorably to Sheryl Crow in Dirty Linen and to Steve Earle in Vintage Guitar. Her CDs have been described as "impressive from start to finish" in No Depression and playing "like one long seduction" in Performing Songwriter. Radio promotion for Red River Flower is being handled by Al Moss Promotion. Brigitte DeMeyer will also tour extensively in support of her new CD. write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Jazz News :: home page |