New Music from Eden Brent and more Eden Brent picks up the pieces of her Jigsaw Heart with a soul-baring set of new songs

Take Eden Brent to a Nashville studio and you still hear the Mississippi Delta. Recording in the historic RCA Studio A with producer/guitarist extraordinaire Colin Linden, the blues-piano powerhouse stretched her musical legs, ambling into soulful Americana territory. But by reaching back to Mississippi, recalling memories, old friends and all she learned from her piano mentor Boogaloo Ames, she combined an immensely satisfying array of American music styles — blues, gospel, soul, country and R&B — to forge her deepest, most reflective album yet. Read the full article »

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"Crafting her own genre that mixes blues, roots and her own vision, this is an unflinchingly gorgeous album that never strikes a false note..."  –Midwest Record Recap "It smoked a hole in our soul..."  –Blues Music Magazine

Final Recordings of Counterculture Legends Asylum Street Spankers Unearthed

Look: it’s embarrassing for such an acclaimed band as this to have to admit that they honestly don’t remember where their final album came from. What becomes clear upon listening to these recordings is that none of these songs has ever been recorded by the Asylum Street Spankers before. What’s even clearer is this: the band is in their finest form ever here, living up to their firmly cemented reputation as an acoustic powerhouse. Who else can blend string-band virtuosity, multi-instrumental skills, tight vocal harmonies and counterculture wit like this? Read the full article »

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"One of the most ribald and irreverent roots music acts of our time... they've got hearts of gold, even if they have blood of chemicals and minds of mirth."  –The Independent Weekly "A roots-rock riddle, nestled in a satirical Vaudeville enigma, packaged in an old-timey radio-show puzzle and slathered with hippie-fried mystery sauce..."  –Tampa Weekly Planet

Independent Music Awards voting closes soon

Congratulations to The Claudettes and The Soul of John Black, who each recently took home honors in the 13th annual Independent Music Awards. Each were nominated in two categories, and The Claudettes won Instrumental Album of the year (Infernal Piano Plot...HATCHED!) while JB's song "Higher Power" won Soul Song of the year. Well done, boys! The judges have spoken, but the general public is also invited to vote in each of these categories for the IMA’s "Vox Populi" award. Visit the links below to check out these songs, albums and videos... and vote!

• The Soul of John Black – A Sunshine State of Mind – R&B/Soul Album
• The Soul of John Black – “Higher Power” – R&B/Soul Song
• The Claudettes – Infernal Piano Plot...HATCHED! – Instrumental Album
• The Claudettes – “The Claudettes: Live in the Studio” – Long Form Music Video

Yellow Dog Records artist: Eden Brent - Jigsaw Heart - New Release Review

I just received the newest release (May 6, 2014), Jigsaw Heart, from Eden Brent. This new release has a definite weight toward country music but remaining all Eden. The opening track, Better This Way is a solid ballad illustrating clearly why Eden is regarded so highly for her vocal skills. A slow, easy waltz paced ballad, it's a nice opener. Everybody Already Knows busts out with honky tonk pride, Brent swinging on piano as she hammers out cool piano riffs. Title track, Jigsaw Heart, has a definite country feel again in ballad rather than easy pop style. There is a definite class to her songs separating them from today's pop country efforts by other artists. Dan Dugmore add a nice easy steel guitar counter to Brent's vocals. Very nice and air bound. Opportunity has a gospel/R&B feel and is one of my favorites on the release. Brent gets into a super groove and really delivers vocals nicely against her own rhythm piano. Drums by Gary Craig bass by John Dymond and Colin Lind on guitar and with super vocal backing woven into the fabric of the track by Ann and Regina McCrary. Easy blues track with a gospel base, I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free features not only fine vocals but a slick slide guitar solo by Linden. Very nice. The Last Time has a distinctive country ballad feel. The clarity of Brent on piano contrasted against the sounds of Kenzie Wetz on fiddle create a nice environment for this subtle track. Panther Burn maintains a country sub feel with bouncy piano riffs and gospel/revival like vocals. Let's Go Ahead And Fall In Love has a definite southern delta blues feel. Brent really leads the way on keys and her vocals are tops. Chris Carmichael on viola and Dan Dugmore add to this New Orleans sound, woven together like a dixieland band. Cool track. Tendin' To A Broken Heart is a straightforward blues ballad. Brent has this style down to an absolute science and her vocal with piano accompaniment (and light drums) is superb. Locomotive has a train trestle rhythm and an open country delivery. You can tell that Brent is just having a pure ball with this release. Get The Hell Out Of Dodge is a quirky little rag tune with nice acoustic guitar accompaniment by Linden and fiddle by Wetz. He blues styling on vocal is really clean and warm. This track features one of the longer instrumental interludes on the release in a nice laid back format. Valentine is a simple heartfelt ballad to wrap the track. Charmichael on violin adds nice warmth to a simple backing of acoustic guitar by Linden and John Dymond on bass.

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 Not from this release but a good representation of Brent's style:


 

Eden Brent - Jigsaw Heart

There's a ton going on with the Mississippian:

+ NPR <3s her, calling her "irresistibly fresh" and having profiled her in 2010: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129300778
+ She came up apprenticing with Abie "Boogaloo" Ames, a local piano player in the Greenville area, and the two made for a close friendship and musical partnership for 16 years. A PBS documentary "Boogaloo and Eden: Sustaining the Sound" was made about them.
+ Eden's a three-time Blues Music Award-winner.
+ USA Today made her a Pick of the Week: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/music/reviews/2010-08-16-the-playlist17_ST_N.htm
+ For her new album 'Jigsaw Heart,' she traveled to Nashville, TN to record with producer and multi-instrumentalist Colin Linden (Lucinda Williams, Lindi Ortega, a member of Bob Dylan's band).
+ Eden was born and raised in the Greenville, Mississippi area to a family that's been in the towboat business for generations.
+ Her sister Carole wrote and Eden recorded the definitive version of "Misssissippi Flatland Blues," which was recently quoted in the New Yorker, in a Calvin Trillin feature on Mississippi hot tamales.
+ She studied classical piano growing up and moved to jazz in college.
+ 'Jigsaw Heart' was made in Nashville's famous RCA Studio A, which was designed by Chet Atkins and has been used to record such artists as Leon Russell, Waylon Jennings and Dolly Parton.
+ In addition to her normal touring schedule, Brent has also performed at The Kennedy Center, the British Embassy and with B.B.King at the 2005 presidential inauguration.

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